Bill Gates

Bill Gates was the monopolistic father figure who Silicon Valley’s young founders rebelled against—and, in so rebelling, became.

An in-depth reckoning with the Gates Foundation as a discrete actor is long overdue.

How did the “moral economy”—a concept that once encompassed a radical critique of capitalism—become the province of billionaires?

Twenty years ago, Microsoft tried to eliminate its competition in the race for the internet's future. The government had other ideas.

Twenty years ago, another high-profile tech executive testified before Congress. It was a more innocent time.

It started as a trade secret. Then it became an icon.

In every generation, charlatans come along with a plan to make education better by spending less money on schools.

What the tech pioneer can, and can’t, teach us.

Maintaining the internet data of dead people.

Until more Americans know what happened in periods such as the Gilded Age, they can’t protect themselves from those who abuse history to advance poor policy.

The story of the modern web is often told through the stories of Google, Facebook, Amazon. But eBay was the first conqueror.

Understanding the battle over immunization—from the pre-Victorian era onward—between public health and the people may help in treating anti-vax sentiment.

Sweeping the human story into a cosmic tale is a thrill but we should be wary about what is overlooked in the grandeur.

The cosmic delusions of Elon Musk and Wernher von Braun.

We do not often think of Paine as a revolutionary inventor. But in a very real sense, that is what he believed himself to be.

What we can learn from the Spanish flu.

George Soros after the open society.

The left's Pyrrhic victory in the culture wars.

How Americans got so weird about science.

Historians are losing their audience, and searching for the next trend won’t win it back.