Articles By Karl D. Stephan

Climate bait and switch: why fossil fuels are 'not essential'

Karl D. Stephan

November 26, 2024

Should governments run the internet?

Karl D. Stephan

November 19, 2024

The tragedy of the AI romance between Sewell and Daenerys

Karl D. Stephan

November 01, 2024

Deer Park pipeline fire raises questions

Karl D. Stephan

October 08, 2024

Deepfake porn: a bizarre backstory

Karl D. Stephan

September 25, 2024

Deepfake porn: where AI goes to die

Karl D. Stephan

September 18, 2024

Why do AI bots always lean Left?

Karl D. Stephan

September 13, 2024

The hazards of smartphones for kids

Karl D. Stephan

August 28, 2024

Sao Paulo flight crash raises questions about ATR 72s

Karl D. Stephan

August 11, 2024

Swimming with fibreglass: the fallout from the Nantucket turbine accident

Karl D. Stephan

August 04, 2024

CrowdStrike violates 'no headlines' rule

Karl D. Stephan

July 23, 2024

The future of US energy: more like Texas or Germany?

Karl D. Stephan

July 08, 2024

'Inside Out 2' is a fantastic antidote to contemporary nihilism

Karl D. Stephan

June 19, 2024

Can a social media algorithm give you enriching spiritual advice?

Karl D. Stephan

June 13, 2024

What 'IF' says about AI and love

Karl D. Stephan

May 21, 2024

Does bitcoin use an immoral amount of energy?

Karl D. Stephan

April 30, 2024

It's time to ban social media on smartphones for children and adolescents

Karl D. Stephan

April 18, 2024

Havana Syndrome: is it real, and who's causing it if so?

Karl D. Stephan

April 15, 2024

What lessons can be learned from the Key Bridge collapse?

Karl D. Stephan

April 05, 2024

Once again, US Congress considers banning TikTok

Karl D. Stephan

March 22, 2024

Will banning minors from social media break the internet?

Karl D. Stephan

March 14, 2024

Will Apple's Vision Pro be the next iPhone?

Karl D. Stephan

February 14, 2024

Technological diversity is America’s strength

Karl D. Stephan

January 08, 2024

Corpus Christi gets a new harbour bridge — eventually

Karl D. Stephan

December 11, 2023

Cruise gets bruised: robotaxis pose unacceptable risk

Karl D. Stephan

December 04, 2023

Should social media data replace opinion polls — and voting?

Karl D. Stephan

November 20, 2023

AI can fake love and affection. So is it ethical to skip visits to your aged parents?

Karl D. Stephan

November 13, 2023

Carbon indulgences: the South Pole scandal

Karl D. Stephan

October 27, 2023

Don't bet on online gambling

Karl D. Stephan

October 24, 2023

A fatal ammonia tanker crash in Illinois shouldn't lead to regulatory overreach

Karl D. Stephan

October 06, 2023

Unintended consequences: the California electric truck mandate

Karl D. Stephan

September 26, 2023

Can we really prove that yesterday’s storm is evidence of human-induced climate change?

Karl D. Stephan

September 22, 2023

Greenhouse gas abatement that makes some sense: methane-sniffing drones

Karl D. Stephan

September 01, 2023

Journalism and tech: AP faces AI

Karl D. Stephan

August 25, 2023

Is AI better regulated after the White House meeting?

Karl D. Stephan

July 31, 2023

Air-condition Texas prisons!

Karl D. Stephan

July 21, 2023

Is the bloom off the self-driving rose?

Karl D. Stephan

July 16, 2023

An AI church service: Whom will you serve?

Karl D. Stephan

June 30, 2023

Prudence, justice, democracy – and how technocracy thwarts them

Karl D. Stephan

June 19, 2023

Will AI end civilization?

Karl D. Stephan

June 05, 2023

Yes, climate change is making people depressed and angry – but not for the reasons you might think

Karl D. Stephan

May 30, 2023

Would you buy a used Tesla from Elon Musk?

Karl D. Stephan

May 18, 2023

To pay or not to pay—ransomware attacks on public institutions

Karl D. Stephan

May 10, 2023

Digidog to the rescue: the NYC parking garage collapse

Karl D. Stephan

May 04, 2023

The only climate change book you need to read

Karl D. Stephan

April 17, 2023

Utah clamps down on social media for teens

Karl D. Stephan

March 30, 2023

ChatGPT as judge and jury in our justice system?

Karl D. Stephan

March 20, 2023

Is Twitter a wholly-owned subsidiary of the FBI?

Karl D. Stephan

March 08, 2023

Who's at fault in the catastrophic East Palestine train derailment?

Karl D. Stephan

March 01, 2023

Tick, tick, tick ... does the Doomsday Clock need a reset?

Karl D. Stephan

February 01, 2023

It is possible to reconfigure – and regulate -- the internet. Let’s try it.

Karl D. Stephan

January 27, 2023

Adventures with mustard sauce, or the turn of two screws

Karl D. Stephan

January 17, 2023

What? Twitter neutral?

Karl D. Stephan

January 09, 2023

Engineering and the immigration crisis

Karl D. Stephan

January 05, 2023

Global warming, monsoons, and engineering

Karl D. Stephan

December 13, 2022

The Dallas air show crash: How old is too old?

Karl D. Stephan

November 17, 2022

Pulse oximeters and the colour of your skin

Karl D. Stephan

November 10, 2022

Sorry! I take it back (but only with iOS 16)

Karl D. Stephan

November 02, 2022

The case for nuclear power

Karl D. Stephan

October 25, 2022

TikTok and the Chinese connection

Karl D. Stephan

October 12, 2022

The metaverse: is Nowhere going somewhere?

Karl D. Stephan

September 26, 2022

Will Artificial Intelligence make humanity irrelevant?

Karl D. Stephan

September 20, 2022

The thin line of trust: China Eastern Airlines Flight 5735

Karl D. Stephan

September 07, 2022

Why I’m averse to the Metaverse

Karl D. Stephan

August 25, 2022

AI illustrator still looking for work: the shortcomings of DALL-E 2

Karl D. Stephan

August 18, 2022

Get real with Vaclav Smil

Karl D. Stephan

August 07, 2022

Hacking the French internet—with a saw

Karl D. Stephan

July 28, 2022

New cause for concern over chemical abortion and data privacy in the wake of Dobbs

Karl D. Stephan

July 19, 2022

Crouch's Razor: device or instrument?

Karl D. Stephan

July 14, 2022

Social media: for adults only?

Karl D. Stephan

June 24, 2022

A disaster that didn't happen, thanks to the FBI

Karl D. Stephan

June 14, 2022

What Tom Brady and I have in common

Karl D. Stephan

May 20, 2022

Is cryptocurrency the future of money?

Karl D. Stephan

May 12, 2022

Locating drones in peace and war

Karl D. Stephan

May 04, 2022

Is the internet making us too literate?

Karl D. Stephan

April 30, 2022

Will solid-state batteries bail out electric vehicles?

Karl D. Stephan

April 21, 2022

China's Flight 5735 crash: mechanical failure or human action?

Karl D. Stephan

April 01, 2022

Fitness watches: too much (health) information?

Karl D. Stephan

March 25, 2022

Electrifying New York — again

Karl D. Stephan

March 16, 2022

If we could stop ICBMs, would we want to?

Karl D. Stephan

March 10, 2022

SpaceX versus the astronomers: Starlink in the telescope crosshairs

Karl D. Stephan

February 17, 2022

The surveillance state of the Olympics

Karl D. Stephan

February 09, 2022

Obliging bridge makes political point

Karl D. Stephan

February 04, 2022

Ukraine under cyberattack again

Karl D. Stephan

January 20, 2022

Three responses to climate change

Karl D. Stephan

January 08, 2022

The James Webb Space Telescope: science, engineering, or worship?

Karl D. Stephan

January 07, 2022

Will Facebook kill Holly?

Karl D. Stephan

December 16, 2021

New York City may soon put computers in charge of employment

Karl D. Stephan

December 13, 2021

Does money trump ethics in architecture?

Karl D. Stephan

November 24, 2021

Can we have too much innovation?

Karl D. Stephan

November 18, 2021

Asteroid mining: what's in the stars for it?

Karl D. Stephan

November 04, 2021

How a 17th Century French philosopher still shapes pro-life battles

Karl D. Stephan

October 26, 2021

Is Instagram about to become the next taboo product?

Karl D. Stephan

October 12, 2021

Texas moves to ban social media banning

Karl D. Stephan

October 05, 2021

Has the time come to regulate social media?

Karl D. Stephan

September 28, 2021

Spaceflight: why aren’t we talking about rocket pollution?

Karl D. Stephan

September 15, 2021

Will fusion energy always be 40 years in the future?

Karl D. Stephan

September 10, 2021

Two kinds of logic

Karl D. Stephan

August 27, 2021

Are students losing their capacity to think logically?

Karl D. Stephan

August 17, 2021

The price of safety is eternal vigilance -- even if it's boring

Karl D. Stephan

August 05, 2021

Facebook is watching your friends

Karl D. Stephan

July 28, 2021

Social media and the fourth deadly sin

Karl D. Stephan

July 20, 2021

Why did the Champlain Towers South in Surfside collapse?

Karl D. Stephan

July 06, 2021

The microchip shortage: rethink tech reliance

Karl D. Stephan

June 27, 2021

Censoring the censors? Florida's anti-censorship law

Karl D. Stephan

June 10, 2021

Why Instagram for kids?

Karl D. Stephan

June 04, 2021

The pros and cons of conning pros

Karl D. Stephan

May 27, 2021

Out of gas: what does the Colonial Pipeline shutdown say about US defence readiness?

Karl D. Stephan

May 21, 2021

Mexico City metro train crash: did the structure fail or the system?

Karl D. Stephan

May 13, 2021

Man versus machine: miscarriage of justice in the UK's postal service

Karl D. Stephan

May 07, 2021

After that fatal crash in Texas, should we ask whether Tesla's marketing is 'deceptive and hypocritical'?

Karl D. Stephan

April 28, 2021

Not grading on the curve: the White House's infrastructure report cards

Karl D. Stephan

April 23, 2021

In Facebook we trust

Karl D. Stephan

April 18, 2021

Don't be a technocrat

Karl D. Stephan

April 07, 2021

Getting used to liquid modernity

Karl D. Stephan

March 25, 2021

Can civilisation survive flip-top tartar sauce?

Karl D. Stephan

March 13, 2021

The Texas power crisis — will it happen again?

Karl D. Stephan

February 26, 2021

Can American democracy survive Big Tech?

Karl D. Stephan

February 11, 2021

They're not coming home tonight

Karl D. Stephan

February 04, 2021

Axing of social-media network raises questions about free speech

Karl D. Stephan

January 20, 2021

Time for Twitter & Co to take responsibility for news -- and lies

Karl D. Stephan

January 15, 2021

Trust and the COVID-19 vaccine

Karl D. Stephan

January 08, 2021

Betrayal of faith: Muslim Pro and the U. S. military

Karl D. Stephan

December 17, 2020

Technology, demography, and destiny

Karl D. Stephan

November 30, 2020

Who will get Covid-19 vaccines, and when?

Karl D. Stephan

November 24, 2020

Asteroid dust, anyone?

Karl D. Stephan

November 16, 2020

Those disagreeable inventors

Karl D. Stephan

November 11, 2020

Can the US Government end Google's reign as 'monopoly gatekeeper' of the internet?

Karl D. Stephan

November 04, 2020

How can Facebook possibly police itself?

Karl D. Stephan

October 23, 2020

Making life-saving decisions in a pandemic

Karl D. Stephan

October 15, 2020

Is the ban on WeChat the first move in a diplomatic chess game?

Karl D. Stephan

September 24, 2020

Not recommended: flying a jetpack near Los Angeles Airport

Karl D. Stephan

September 12, 2020

From toilet paper to laptops: the school computer shortage

Karl D. Stephan

September 02, 2020

Clouds gather over solar panels

Karl D. Stephan

August 20, 2020

Accused Twitter hackers arrested

Karl D. Stephan

August 13, 2020

Twitter hack revelation: people are still human

Karl D. Stephan

July 24, 2020

'I'm going to go with the data, I don't go with stories'

Karl D. Stephan

July 15, 2020

What is Section 230 and why should Americans care?

Karl D. Stephan

June 29, 2020

Amazon's ban on police use of its face recognition software

Karl D. Stephan

June 17, 2020

That viral video of George Floyd’s death shows why deepfakes are incredibly dangerous

Karl D. Stephan

June 11, 2020

The sky's the limit for commercial space flight

Karl D. Stephan

June 04, 2020

Do we need do-it-yourself insulin?

Karl D. Stephan

May 28, 2020

Is there a contact-tracing app in your future?

Karl D. Stephan

April 29, 2020

Welcome to the all-digital economy

Karl D. Stephan

April 14, 2020

Who invented those life-saving N95 masks?

Karl D. Stephan

April 09, 2020

Coronavirus reading: the mystery of the murder mystery's appeal

Karl D. Stephan

March 24, 2020

Hiding in plain sight: foiling face-recognition technology

Karl D. Stephan

March 20, 2020

Dry ice and indoor pools don't mix

Karl D. Stephan

March 07, 2020

Divided loyalties: the 737 Max warning light glitch

Karl D. Stephan

February 26, 2020

A real live caucus-race in Iowa

Karl D. Stephan

February 18, 2020

If you’re on the internet, your privacy is at risk. And whose isn’t?

Karl D. Stephan

February 13, 2020

Can we make artificial consciousness?

Karl D. Stephan

December 05, 2019

Is vitamin E acetate killing vapers?

Karl D. Stephan

November 19, 2019

PG&E pulls the fire plug in California

Karl D. Stephan

October 15, 2019

Is it time to give up?

Karl D. Stephan

October 09, 2019

Can we teach machines to be moral?

Karl D. Stephan

September 24, 2019

Vaping turns deadly

Karl D. Stephan

September 17, 2019

Should social media be regulated?

Karl D. Stephan

August 27, 2019

Should engineers think like computers?

Karl D. Stephan

July 29, 2019

The moon? Mars? or stay home?

Karl D. Stephan

July 22, 2019

Is Facebook's Libra cash in your future?

Karl D. Stephan

June 20, 2019

Death with style and elegance: Philip Nitschke's death pod

Karl D. Stephan

June 11, 2019

Faked test result cost $700 million, says NASA

Karl D. Stephan

May 28, 2019

Facebook, privacy, and regulation

Karl D. Stephan

May 08, 2019

The stork goes digital

Karl D. Stephan

April 23, 2019

Are the 737 Max 8 crashes single-point failures?

Karl D. Stephan

March 21, 2019

Ignoring the experts: autism and vaccinations

Karl D. Stephan

March 15, 2019

Bipartisanship isn't dead, at least about PFAS

Karl D. Stephan

March 06, 2019

Microsoft puts NewsGuard on duty

Karl D. Stephan

February 21, 2019

The Brumadinho Dam disaster

Karl D. Stephan

February 07, 2019

The transhumanist bill of goods

Karl D. Stephan

January 22, 2019

The US climate change report: danger or opportunity?

Karl D. Stephan

November 30, 2018

Aquinas looks at bitcoin

Karl D. Stephan

November 16, 2018

The Google walkout: not a strike, but...

Karl D. Stephan

November 08, 2018

Microcosm of technological culture: a foundry closes in California

Karl D. Stephan

October 23, 2018

Seeing may not be believing: AI deepfakes and trust in media

Karl D. Stephan

October 15, 2018

Do we need an internet Bill of Rights?

Karl D. Stephan

October 03, 2018

YouTube, COPPA, and twelve-year-old lawyers

Karl D. Stephan

September 27, 2018

The Pacific Trash Collector: noble or quixotic?

Karl D. Stephan

September 12, 2018

The Genoa bridge collapse: style over substance?

Karl D. Stephan

August 29, 2018

In professionals we trust—or do we?

Karl D. Stephan

August 21, 2018

Exporting enslavement: China’s illiberal artificial intelligence

Karl D. Stephan

August 15, 2018

Printing guns, again

Karl D. Stephan

August 06, 2018

Is Dr. Google ready to see us now?

Karl D. Stephan

July 23, 2018

What's wrong with police drones?

Karl D. Stephan

June 15, 2018

Should Google censor political ads?

Karl D. Stephan

June 08, 2018

Living, and dying, by algorithms

Karl D. Stephan

May 28, 2018

Google's Duplex: fraud or helpful assistant?

Karl D. Stephan

May 23, 2018

Should Apple be so hard on secret-leakers?

Karl D. Stephan

April 17, 2018

The Legend of King Minsky: an AI parable

Karl D. Stephan

April 09, 2018

Why the US Communications Decency Act has been changed

Karl D. Stephan

March 23, 2018

Searching souls with brain imaging

Karl D. Stephan

March 12, 2018

Facebook's Frankenstein effect

Karl D. Stephan

February 05, 2018

The heroes in the war on computer viruses

Karl D. Stephan

January 22, 2018

From cops on the beat to spycams and algorithms

Karl D. Stephan

December 04, 2017

Do you have a right to repair?

Karl D. Stephan

November 21, 2017

Big Pharma versus Mother Teresa

Karl D. Stephan

October 26, 2017

The story of ?????

Karl D. Stephan

October 19, 2017

Are internet-connected toys safe for your kids?

Karl D. Stephan

October 04, 2017

Looking under the rock: Equifax's credit breach

Karl D. Stephan

September 21, 2017

Mr Damore, welcome to the Prophet Club

Karl D. Stephan

September 12, 2017

When cars have no drivers, the drivers may have no jobs

Karl D. Stephan

September 01, 2017

The ethical spin on spinners

Karl D. Stephan

August 21, 2017

Should bad engineers go to jail?

Karl D. Stephan

August 01, 2017

Pokemon's epic fail in Chicago

Karl D. Stephan

July 25, 2017

The legacy of a World War II nuclear site

Karl D. Stephan

July 07, 2017

The Grenfell Tower tragedy: a disaster waiting to happen

Karl D. Stephan

June 20, 2017

The false promise of digital storage for posterity

Karl D. Stephan

May 10, 2017

Earth deserves better than TV coverage of climate change

Karl D. Stephan

May 01, 2017

A Modest Proposal to save California $200 million

Karl D. Stephan

April 18, 2017

Is it ethical to grow human organs in animals?

Karl D. Stephan

February 14, 2017

Will intrepid Mars colonists end up with early Alzheimer's?

Karl D. Stephan

February 09, 2017

The clouded crystal ball

Karl D. Stephan

January 11, 2017

Life in the new bubble democracy

Karl D. Stephan

November 16, 2016

Can science and technology studies prevent the next engineering disaster?

Karl D. Stephan

November 09, 2016

The overwhelming power of small things

Karl D. Stephan

November 07, 2016

As medicine improves, how long can we expect to live?

Karl D. Stephan

October 13, 2016

Alternatives to Facebook: the Mondragon solution

Karl D. Stephan

September 15, 2016

Is bioscience spinning its wheels?

Karl D. Stephan

September 06, 2016

Remembering a true Texas engineer

Karl D. Stephan

August 16, 2016

Should we worry about foreign hackers tilting election results?

Karl D. Stephan

August 10, 2016

Do-it-yourself brain zapping

Karl D. Stephan

July 28, 2016

Self-Driving Car Fatality No. 1: Joshua Brown Makes History

Karl D. Stephan

July 11, 2016

Would you torture a baby? Why not?

Karl D. Stephan

June 28, 2016

The rights and wrongs of the Human Genome Project—Write

Karl D. Stephan

June 07, 2016

EgyptAir Flight 804: clues to a tragedy

Karl D. Stephan

May 25, 2016

Texas, of all places, shows how to lower carbon emissions

Karl D. Stephan

May 11, 2016

Some dumb ideas about smart guns

Karl D. Stephan

May 05, 2016

Will robots ever have moral authority?

Karl D. Stephan

April 29, 2016

Learning from the Kolkata overpass collapse

Karl D. Stephan

April 12, 2016

Drone Delivers to Doorstep: What Next?

Karl D. Stephan

March 31, 2016

Go figure

Karl D. Stephan

March 23, 2016

Happy Friendship Day—Not

Karl D. Stephan

March 14, 2016

Tragedy in Taiwan: Collapse of the Golden Dragon Building

Karl D. Stephan

February 16, 2016

Earthquake prediction goes commercial — sort of

Karl D. Stephan

January 22, 2016

Sandwich panels and the Dubai hotel fire

Karl D. Stephan

January 07, 2016

Child's Play: Hacking the Internet of Things

Karl D. Stephan

December 11, 2015

Modern technology: triumph or tragedy?

Karl D. Stephan

December 07, 2015

Rolling back mass surveillance

Karl D. Stephan

November 24, 2015

Rolling back mass surveillance

Karl D. Stephan

November 19, 2015

Arms control for cyberwarfare weapons

Karl D. Stephan

November 03, 2015

Kids with smartphones: does the good outweigh the bad?

Karl D. Stephan

October 30, 2015

All scientists should be militant Christians

Karl D. Stephan

October 19, 2015

Tianjin tragedy: a painful lesson

Karl D. Stephan

August 18, 2015

I compute your pain

Karl D. Stephan

July 27, 2015

Inside out for real: brain mapping and privacy

Karl D. Stephan

July 14, 2015

The Pope's vision for a new ecology

Karl D. Stephan

June 30, 2015

Will more auto safety investigators save more lives?

Karl D. Stephan

June 11, 2015

The end of the Silk Road

Karl D. Stephan

June 02, 2015

Was bureaucratic wrangling behind the fatal Philadelphia derailment?

Karl D. Stephan

May 26, 2015

Driverless cars: good news for whom?

Karl D. Stephan

May 15, 2015

Ownership lifestyle vs access lifestyle

Karl D. Stephan

April 29, 2015

A bridge too close

Karl D. Stephan

April 02, 2015

The morbid cost of bureaucratic efficiency

Karl D. Stephan

March 20, 2015

The passing of Google Glass

Karl D. Stephan

January 19, 2015

GoldieBlox and the female engineer

Karl D. Stephan

December 09, 2014

Will remote car hacking stop before it starts?

Karl D. Stephan

December 05, 2014

A dumb use for a smart phone

Karl D. Stephan

November 19, 2014

Space flight will always be a risky business

Karl D. Stephan

November 10, 2014

The ultimate in reality TV

Karl D. Stephan

October 02, 2014

A close shave with plutonium foam

Karl D. Stephan

September 26, 2014

Would body cameras have prevented Ferguson riots?

Karl D. Stephan

August 26, 2014

"Survivor" on Mars: poor ratings could be deadly

Karl D. Stephan

August 22, 2014

You've got mail. Try not to read it.

Karl D. Stephan

July 29, 2014

All wired up: the contraceptive chip

Karl D. Stephan

July 15, 2014

The robot says you flunked

Karl D. Stephan

July 08, 2014

"The Switch From Hell"

Karl D. Stephan

June 10, 2014

Those dendrites made me do it: free will and morality

Karl D. Stephan

June 02, 2014

Digital clones: coming to a hologram near you

Karl D. Stephan

May 13, 2014

Internet porn and children: body and soul

Karl D. Stephan

May 02, 2014

Do you want CNN or ESPN with that burger?

Karl D. Stephan

April 15, 2014

Radio Shack: thanks for all the memories

Karl D. Stephan

March 14, 2014

You can't see the doctor: he's checking boxes right now

Karl D. Stephan

March 04, 2014

The cloudy future

Karl D. Stephan

February 04, 2014

Don't read over his shoulder. It's basic cell phone etiquette

Karl D. Stephan

December 10, 2013

The Obamacare website rollout: not what the doctor ordered

Karl D. Stephan

November 08, 2013

Emotional facades

Karl D. Stephan

October 21, 2013

In praise of honest work

Karl D. Stephan

September 25, 2013

The wisdom of "Don't Be Evil"

Karl D. Stephan

August 05, 2013

Nikola Tesla and the ethics of publicity

Karl D. Stephan

July 01, 2013

Networks of responsibility: the Philadelphia building collapse

Karl D. Stephan

June 18, 2013

Should robot soldiers kill—or be killed?

Karl D. Stephan

June 07, 2013

Let's print some guns

Karl D. Stephan

May 31, 2013

Your cheap clothing has a high price

Karl D. Stephan

May 13, 2013

Playing with fire in West, Texas

Karl D. Stephan

April 30, 2013

“Man, I gotta have my music”

Karl D. Stephan

March 12, 2013

The worth of work

Karl D. Stephan

February 26, 2013

Mines of tears

Karl D. Stephan

February 15, 2013

The internet is a paradise for cheaters

Karl D. Stephan

January 30, 2013

A more than nominal problem

Karl D. Stephan

December 13, 2012

Your face is familiar, but not enough to log you on

Karl D. Stephan

October 16, 2012

Curiosity kills the sceptics

Karl D. Stephan

August 08, 2012

The Regnerus Affair: research integrity and politics:

Karl D. Stephan

August 03, 2012