This week’s top 5 long reads

In this week’s issue:

• The magic of F1 racing.
• Deepen your bond with cruel humor.
• A thoughtful look at Mexico’s mezcal industry.
• AI: The good, the bad, and the downright creepy.
• Swim in the sea with Kate Winslet.

kate wagner | roads and tracks | March 1, 2024 | 5,474 words

I can’t say with 100% certainty that this is my first time. long lead has recommended works that don’t actually exist, but 99% of the time that’s enough. In case you missed this week’s media scandal. roads and railways He published this work and immediately launched a nuclear attack. I just pulled it from the site. (That’s why this article links to the archived version via the Wayback Machine.) Why did they do that? Hard to say. The editor-in-chief claims that it was assigned to her before she became EIC and that she would have killed her in the womb if she had known about it. Either way, you won’t find a better example of the Streisand effect this year. The premise was simple. Research and Development We sent a message to Kate Wagner – cycling fans may know from her newsletter derailleur, and others may know you from her blog “McMansion Hell” about the press junket to the F1 race in Austin, Texas. This was a culture-shock setting, as Wagner reminds his readers some 51 times. When Wagner covers professional cycling, she’s used to adhering to strict ethical guidelines. The petrochemical company funding her junket sent her first class to Austin. She says Wagner is a socialist. The F1 paddock is a stage for the super wealthy. The ironic juxtaposition ensues. But really, it’s the film’s gonzo approach and Wagner’s relentlessly vivid depictions that make it work, even after the me-versus-them stance wears thin. “The equipment of the set-up unfolded, group after group retreated until only the alien car remained, a technological marvel kissing the ground,” she wrote of the pre-race chaos. “You started breathing before your heartbeat started.” She applies this to the areas that really matter, at least for car magazines: cars, racing, and racers. Indeed, even if this article were simply a critique of the rich, it might still have gotten attention. However, what makes it a great work? memorable This work is Wagner’s way of entering into the magic of spectacle. —PR

Fintan O’Toole | New York Book Review | March 2, 2024 | 4,359 words

A few years ago, I wrote a book about white nationalism that required me to spend a lot of time in the worst corners of the internet, reading and listening to the worst people spouting the worst things. there was. This content was sprinkled with humor and served both as a communication system and as a weak moral cover.That’s just a joke! Get lighter!–For abominable thoughts. I am often reminded of a passage written by journalist Joseph Bernstein. I quoted it in this book. “What good do racist jokes serve other than to cause harm and create the cognitive distance needed to dissolve bonds of moral obligation?” Bernstein is right, but by Fintan O’Toole As this new essay shows, cruel humor can also be create Bonding: We invite people who are willing to laugh at the punchline, or want to laugh, into a like-minded community. O’Toole’s analysis focuses on Donald Trump and why supporters of the disgraced former president find him funny. “His badinage is by no means wild, but his putdowns, honed to stiletto sharpness, are many people’s idea of ​​fun,” O’Toole wrote. “He entertains anger, fear, and indignation.” (DeSantis,” he quipped.) Trump has spent decades honing his behavior, “playing with the unspeakable” and figuring out just how wide his range is. He can make an Overton window. In doing so, he provided “an opportunity for consent and collusion for listeners.”But, as O’Toole warns, “What is allowed as funny will sooner or later be offered as serious. . . . The inside joke becomes the killer line.” Even if Trump Even if you don’t laugh at something, if you have a moral compass, don’t make the mistake of laughing. in He also. —SD

Rowan Jacobsen | Bloomberg Businessweek | February 20, 2024 | 4,228 words

The agave, a striking succulent that grows in Oaxaca and other parts of Mexico, “flowers only once in its life and slowly stores sugar in its heart for six to 30 years,” writes Rowan Jacobsen. . The flower stalk is quiet, which rises when it is ready and alerts the bats to the nectar. Once the agave flowers have finished flowering, they will wither. The way Jacobsen describes this slow, once-in-a-lifetime act is beautiful, and he applies the same respect and care to his reporting on this country’s mezcal production as a whole. The appeal of mezcal lies in its craftsmanship and the centuries-old, small-batch, single-village methods of the region’s producers. This spirit is often considered the anti-tequila. Of course, that authenticity is something companies want to capitalize on, and if the growth of the tequila industry is any indication, global demand for mezcal could devastate the region’s villages, small businesses and landscapes. . Enriched by Rubén E. Reyes’ gorgeous photography of Oaxaca landscapes and mezcalo portraits, Jacobsen’s snapshots show Mexico’s mezcal industry in the shadow of Big Liquor and the threat of “textilization.” What will the future hold for the region’s remaining family-run distilleries, and for the agave plant itself, which has thrived and supported the ecosystem and indigenous Mexican way of life for thousands of years? —CLR

Tamara Nice | Baffler | January 8, 2024 | 3,360 words

I discovered Alexa while touring pre-lease rentals. She unplugged it the day she moved. Spy, in the bedroom too? Creepy++! Amazon’s Alexa has been recording everyone’s conversations for years. Now, as Tamara Nice reports, The Baffler, Amazon uses our personal and not-so-private family jokes to train its “signature large-scale language model,” Alexa LLM, to help us learn about our lives after we’re gone. We have made it possible for people to share their disembodied voices with their loved ones. Suddenly, it seems like we’re all living in an AI lawless, Wild West gold rush era. Everything committed to a byte or pixel is being fed back to us in increasingly bewildering iterations. To be fair, Nice points to good examples of what AI can do, such as Stephanie Dinkins’ oral history project “Not the Only One.” It is a “voice-interactive AI entity designed, trained, and tailored to your concerns and ideals.” The number of people who are underrepresented in technology. ” As we collectively hurtle toward an uncertain AI-dominated future, I try to take a balanced view of what lies ahead. I came here for AI that breaks down systemic barriers for marginalized communities. I’m here for AI that truly benefits humanity. What I have a hard time understanding is how an AI created by hopelessly flawed, biased, and bigoted humans can overcome our collective flaws and inherent biases and make all the difference. The question is: will we create a more just future for people? I think I’ll unplug Alexa for now. —K.S.

Susan Dominus | New York Times Magazine | March 3, 2024 | 4,947 words

I was an early fan of Kate Winslet, who played Juliet in the movie. heavenly creatures She also gave a charming performance as Marianne, opposite Emma Thompson. sensible and sensitive.Then came titanic. This film launched her career into the stratosphere (and made her mother insist that she take a whistle with her on every voyage). However, despite her fame, Winslet always struck me as down-to-earth. Susan Dominus’ adorable profile proves this to be the case. Winslet is known for being an asset on her sets, which she explains to Dominus by being interviewed for hours in a cold beach house on the English coast. ideas). I laughed when Winslet pointed out that she never says “I have to stop because it’s cold” on set. Dominus wrote: It has to stop. She was also amused when the Dominus realized her own commonplace thoughts. When she blurted out that she wanted to go in the ocean, Winslet, a fan of her cold-water swimming, brought her back the next day to do just that. There are as many other insights as there are in the interview itself, including the half-eaten bowl of oatmeal found in the wreckage of Winslet’s car as a spy for Dominus, and the pastry she ate while expressing fear in Ozempic. Contains trivia to provide you with. That’s not to say that Winslet’s story isn’t persuasive. Her rise to fame during the vagrant chic of the ’90s was nothing short of tragic. But this little aside makes you feel like you know Winslet a little better after reading this piece. No matter how cold it is, I would gladly swim in the sea with her. —C.W.

audience award

This week, we’re highlighting our readers’ favorite stories.