Thursday, February 19, 2026
Tag:

Weekender

The problem with obedience

One of history's most unsettling experiments shows us that ethics tend to fall by the wayside when people are "following orders". Is this inherent flaw in humanity an area where AI might have the moral upper hand? Dominique Olivier explores this concept by taking us through Stanley Milgram's famous experiment from the 1960s. As always, the history books teach us a valuable lesson.

The South Sea bubble: a financial crash to remember

If you’ve been watching the current frenzy around artificial intelligence - the breathless predictions, the overnight billionaires, the declarations that civilisation is either saved or doomed - you may feel a faint sense of déjà vu as you read Dominique Olivier's tale of The South Sea Company bubble. It even caught out Sir Isaac Newton! 

How a boardwalk sideshow changed modern medicine

Coney Island had its peep shows, its freak shows, its barkers and rides. And tucked between them was an exhibit of premature infants in glass boxes, tended by trained nurses. This wasn’t entertainment - it was the beginning of modern neonatal care, smuggled in as a carnival act.
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