Jay Caspian Kang
Jay Caspian Kang is a staff writer for The New Yorker, an Emmy-nominated documentary film director, and the author of “The Loneliest Americans.” Prior to coming to The New Yorker, he was an opinion writer for the New York Times. His work has appeared in The New York Review of Books, “This American Life,” and the Times Magazine. His new film, “American Son,” will premiére in 2023, as part of ESPN’s “30 for 30” series. He lives in Northern California with his family.
What Was Nate Silver’s Data Revolution?
Silver, a former professional poker player, was in the business of measuring probabilities. Many readers mistook him for an oracle.
Tucker Carlson Is Sort of Back
The former Fox host is embracing his new outsider status with “Tucker on Twitter.”
Notes on Losing
Nearly every time I play tennis, I melt down spectacularly. Why do I keep coming back for more?
Battle Rap’s Unwoke Representation Politics
Even if the point of battle rap is trading increasingly offensive insults, the whole thing functions on a certain system of trust.
What Bluesky Tells Us About the Future of Social Media
The new platform aims to be a decentralized alternative to Twitter. The vibe there is mostly like that of a Portland coffee shop.
Tony Hsieh and the Emptiness of the Tech-Mogul Myth
A new biography of the Zappos executive depicts him as a narcissist and an addict who tossed around half-baked ideas and rarely saw them through.
Jordan Neely’s Death and a Critical Moment in the Homelessness Crisis
After the homeless young man was killed on the subway, there has been a rare flash of national attention on the issue. Can the outrage be harnessed for actual change?
It Doesn’t Matter Who Replaces Tucker Carlson
Perhaps more than those of any other network on television, the stars of Fox News are more or less interchangeable.
Has Black Lives Matter Changed the World?
A new book makes the case for a more pragmatic anti-policing movement—one that seeks to build working-class solidarity across racial lines.
Bob Lee’s Murder and San Francisco’s So-Called Crime Epidemic
The killing of a tech executive reveals the cycle of outrage that puts enormous pressure on progressive district attorneys.
The Case for Banning Children from Social Media
Most people seem to agree that something should be done to protect kids from what sure looks like an addictive product. But almost no one knows what that something is.
What’s the Point of Reading Writing by Humans?
Maybe one day journalism could be replaced with an immense surveillance state with a GPT-4 plug-in. Why would we want that?
The Particular Misery of College-Admissions TikTok
A common theory of teen unhappiness says that kids these days are under an inordinate amount of pressure to compete. The evidence is all over social media.
The Racial Politics of the N.B.A. Have Always Been Ugly
A new book argues that the real history of the league is one of strife between Black labor and white ownership.
Why Progressives Shouldn’t Give Up on Meritocracy
It seems like meritocracy could go the way of free speech, as a bedrock principle that the left allows the right to claim as its own.
J. D. Vance, Ron DeSantis, and the G.O.P’s Diverging Paths
The upcoming Presidential primary will likely pit rural white nationalism against “anti-woke” culture warfare.
The Big Potential of Karen Bass’s Homelessness Agenda
If all Bass does as mayor of Los Angeles is smooth out the absurdly parochial and bureaucratic nature of city politics, she will have achieved a major victory.
Could an A.I. Chatbot Rewrite My Novel?
As a young fiction writer, I dreamed of a technology that would tell me how to get my characters from point A to point B. Could ChatGPT be it?
What Elon Musk Doesn’t Know About Free Speech
The First Amendment does not protect one’s right to have a social-media account, but today’s dissent has mostly moved online, and, as a result, is privately owned.
How Symbols of Protest Get Flattened
It’s not hard to picture how China’s blank-paper demonstrations will one day be clouded by selective memory, and the tendency to make memes out of the past.
What Was Nate Silver’s Data Revolution?
Silver, a former professional poker player, was in the business of measuring probabilities. Many readers mistook him for an oracle.
Tucker Carlson Is Sort of Back
The former Fox host is embracing his new outsider status with “Tucker on Twitter.”
Notes on Losing
Nearly every time I play tennis, I melt down spectacularly. Why do I keep coming back for more?
Battle Rap’s Unwoke Representation Politics
Even if the point of battle rap is trading increasingly offensive insults, the whole thing functions on a certain system of trust.
What Bluesky Tells Us About the Future of Social Media
The new platform aims to be a decentralized alternative to Twitter. The vibe there is mostly like that of a Portland coffee shop.
Tony Hsieh and the Emptiness of the Tech-Mogul Myth
A new biography of the Zappos executive depicts him as a narcissist and an addict who tossed around half-baked ideas and rarely saw them through.
Jordan Neely’s Death and a Critical Moment in the Homelessness Crisis
After the homeless young man was killed on the subway, there has been a rare flash of national attention on the issue. Can the outrage be harnessed for actual change?
It Doesn’t Matter Who Replaces Tucker Carlson
Perhaps more than those of any other network on television, the stars of Fox News are more or less interchangeable.
Has Black Lives Matter Changed the World?
A new book makes the case for a more pragmatic anti-policing movement—one that seeks to build working-class solidarity across racial lines.
Bob Lee’s Murder and San Francisco’s So-Called Crime Epidemic
The killing of a tech executive reveals the cycle of outrage that puts enormous pressure on progressive district attorneys.
The Case for Banning Children from Social Media
Most people seem to agree that something should be done to protect kids from what sure looks like an addictive product. But almost no one knows what that something is.
What’s the Point of Reading Writing by Humans?
Maybe one day journalism could be replaced with an immense surveillance state with a GPT-4 plug-in. Why would we want that?
The Particular Misery of College-Admissions TikTok
A common theory of teen unhappiness says that kids these days are under an inordinate amount of pressure to compete. The evidence is all over social media.
The Racial Politics of the N.B.A. Have Always Been Ugly
A new book argues that the real history of the league is one of strife between Black labor and white ownership.
Why Progressives Shouldn’t Give Up on Meritocracy
It seems like meritocracy could go the way of free speech, as a bedrock principle that the left allows the right to claim as its own.
J. D. Vance, Ron DeSantis, and the G.O.P’s Diverging Paths
The upcoming Presidential primary will likely pit rural white nationalism against “anti-woke” culture warfare.
The Big Potential of Karen Bass’s Homelessness Agenda
If all Bass does as mayor of Los Angeles is smooth out the absurdly parochial and bureaucratic nature of city politics, she will have achieved a major victory.
Could an A.I. Chatbot Rewrite My Novel?
As a young fiction writer, I dreamed of a technology that would tell me how to get my characters from point A to point B. Could ChatGPT be it?
What Elon Musk Doesn’t Know About Free Speech
The First Amendment does not protect one’s right to have a social-media account, but today’s dissent has mostly moved online, and, as a result, is privately owned.
How Symbols of Protest Get Flattened
It’s not hard to picture how China’s blank-paper demonstrations will one day be clouded by selective memory, and the tendency to make memes out of the past.