Trump says the Iran war is over. So why won’t he end it?
Trump sure sounds like he’s ready to wrap up the Iran war soon, which would follow his prior patterns both in Iran and Venezuela of quick military strikes followed by a quick exit. But he might find it’s harder to do so this time, Vox’s Josh Keating writes. One big reason: Iran, which has rebuffed his early peace proposals, might not want to stop fighting. By blocking the Strait of Hormuz and sending oil prices shooting up, they might think they can convince both Trump and future presidents that the political hit at home isn’t worth ever trying something like this again. Similarly, Trump could face pressure from his allies in Israel and the Gulf States to escalate strikes in order to prevent Iran from coming out of the war even more emboldened, despite their heavy losses.
The internet fractured reality. AI might put it back together.
We’re a good 20 years into the social media era, and it's best known these days for turning our discourse into an all-against-all war of rival hives hopped up on conspiracy theories. But it’s possible the artificial intelligence era will be different, Vox’s Eric Levitz writes: Chatbots are built to retrieve accurate information, financially incentivized to get it right, and tend to prioritize the expert consensus — even Elon Musk’s AI assistant Grok keeps annoying him by shooting down right-wing talking points. Personally, I’m worried about outsourcing our worldviews to an omniscient corporate deity, and Levitz notes there’s plenty of potential for manipulation there as well. But it’s worth considering that the challenges of LLMs won’t look like the challenges of TikTok.
The plague of parental sleep deprivation
Senior correspondent Anna North — like so many of us around the office — is struggling to get a child to go to bed and stay asleep on a consistent routine. So she turned to both historians and modern experts for some perspective and advice. It turns out there are some practical solutions, like gradually training your kid to fall asleep when their body is ready and being more independent about doing it without their parents.
How gas prices might drive more people to switch to an EV
The American EV industry has been struggling in recent years, thanks to hesitant consumers and Trump, who cut off tax rebates on new car sales and has generally disparaged the technology. But sales are booming overseas, and with gas potentially crossing $4 a gallon amid the Iran war, Tik Root writes that there are signs interest is picking up in the US this month. Personally, I’ve been eyeing those futuristic-looking Hyundai Ioniqs as my likely next ride, but if you’re worried about going full electric, there are plenty of plug-in hybrid options out there as well.
4 ways people try to make their lives meaningful — and the one that works best for you
Vox’s Sigal Samuel loves exploring the big questions in life, and it’s hard to think of a bigger one than how to justify your own existence. Here she interviews philosopher Rebecca Newberger Goldstein about her new book The Mattering Instinct, which looks at four ways people have often organized their life’s purpose: Through faith, through family and relationships, through personal achievement, and through competition with others. And if you want an artistic complement, one of my favorite existential sci-fi films, Blade Runner 2049, is about a mix of humans and humanoids committing themselves to one or more of these paths to meaning.
