Will Gordon

For most of human history, the power to decide where a civilization went next belonged to governments, monarchs, or despots—now it’s in the hands of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, @tyrangiel.bsky.social writes:

"The man who once rewired how the planet buys and sells everything has been chasing an even grander project—creating the infrastructure for an off-world economy upon which human civilization might someday depend." www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

"Much of the world has always believed America’s defense of democracy to be hypocritical, and that American-led economic integration was self-serving. But now even the people who sincerely believed in the postwar American project are discovering that it no longer exists."

"These people do not talk about spreading democracy. They don’t care about America’s reputation. They are deploying the tools of American diplomacy & government to promote their own business interests or their own ideological goals" www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

"One of my advisers joked that seeing me with a tenure-track job in hand was like 'watching the last dinosaur being born.' It was at once a compliment and a grim acknowledgment of reality. I had won the lottery in an apocalypse." www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

Understanding the case for openmindedness about AI and art took me from Berlin to Venice, from a nightclub to a hypnosis booth to an "upside-down parliament." Here's my profile of Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst, the art world's most compelling anti-doomers— www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

"The artwork, he said, would suggest how AI might change public life and ask the question 'How could you imagine living with the presence of these things?'" www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

From our July issue: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

"The cause of freedom has advanced only because of those who have been willing to stand up against government overreach." www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

New(k) from me: An obituary for the great Sonny Rollins www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

"Peacetime is a thing of the past; for the foreseeable future, the commissioner will be at war—with fans, with media critics, with players and coaches, with the game itself. I came to Nashville wanting to know: Does Adam Silver have the stomach for this fight?" www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

David Sacks helped bridge the MAGA-tech divide—but his efforts are exposing Donald Trump to accusations that the president is selling out his populist base on behalf of the country’s richest men, George Packer reports:

"Sacks has always taken a dim view of politics. At 25, appearing on a C‑SPAN talk show while still in law school, he expressed a preference for 'the ethos of Wall Street' over 'the ethos of Washington.'" www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

"AI's inventors spend hundreds of billions of dollars to develop the technology even as they issue dire warnings of its dangers: 'It might kill us, but we have to make it as powerful as possible as fast as possible.'" www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

"To contend successfully with the traditionalists’ effects on our politics and culture, we also need to recognize that elements of their worldview are correct. But which parts are correct, and which are completely off the rails?" www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

"We moderns may think we own the future, but the traditionalists like their chances. If this is a global culture war, it’s the whole world against us." www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

"Some people in the Epstein files are monstrously gross. Some are moderately gross. Some are situationally, aspirationally, or cosmetically gross." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

For the Atlantic's April issue, I go deep in the race to power the AI boom: Elon Musk's gas turbines, the data center capital of the world, the underbelly of a nuclear reactor. Before bots can remake civilization, AI firms must reshape our planet in their technology's image. Call it terraforming.

"If AI doesn’t turn out to be as transformative a technology as experts predict, swaths of data centers could be left unused or unfinished—ruins from a future that never came to pass." www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

"Shortly after Martin became chair, he announced that the DNC would be producing its own report on the lessons of 2024. He purposely called it an 'after-action review' and not an autopsy, to emphasize that the party is 'not dead.' That was reassuring." www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

For @theatlantic.com I wrote about Joe Sacco's search for the essential truth, from Bosnia to Gaza to Uttar Pradesh: www.theatlantic.com/books/2025/1...

"Today Sacco’s drawings are still loose, dynamic, even a bit cartoonish—but he always senses when caricature should end and the facts should take over." www.theatlantic.com/books/2025/1...

A new generation is marveling over Barry Bonds’s accomplishments—but his entrance into the Hall of Fame feels further away than ever, Jeremy Collins reports:

"What I kept hearing was that to understand Barry, you had to understand Bobby. You had to understand what it was like to live in the house of Bobby Bonds, the man who never became the next Willie Mays." www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025...

Josh Shapiro believes he is uniquely suited to win over Trump voters—but he’ll need to overcome distrust among some in his own party first, Tim Alberta reports:

"Shapiro seems to believe that he is uniquely equipped to run for president and repair the Democratic Party’s deficit of trust and authenticity. Any such campaign, however, would expose deficits of his own." www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

Josh Shapiro believes he is uniquely suited to win over Trump voters—but he’ll need to overcome distrust among some in his own party first, Tim Alberta reports:

"Was real life ever like that? It was in the movies." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

"Over the next 30 years or so, the changes to American life might be short of apocalyptic. But miles of heartbreak lie between here and the apocalypse, and the future toward which we are heading will mean heartbreak for millions." www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

" @dgraham.bsky.social ... warns that Trump is already laying the groundwork to subvert the next vote. We talk about this week’s election as a test run for 2026, gerrymandering, and future possible scenarios of election meddling." www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/202...

Rahm Emanuel is almost certainly running for president in 2028, and I spent the past few months with him. My profile on the impish, maddening, relentless Kiehl's lotion devotee, hoping to equal parts charm and bulldoze his way to the Oval Office: www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

Rahm Emanuel has been a key player in nearly every major victory, defeat, negotiation, controversy, and innovation of the modern Democratic Party. In 2028, is he what Democrats need—or exactly whom they want to leave behind? @ashleyrparker.bsky.social reports:

"He wound down his breakfast talking points in typical Rahm fashion: pretending not to care while caring a great deal. 'I am a political animal, full stop. But I’m equally a policy animal,' he told me. “I don’t give a fuck what else you say.'" www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

"Platner’s candidacy looks like a test—of how 'big tent' the Democrats want to be, and how willing its voters are to accept baggage, from social media and beyond, that less polished candidates can carry." www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025...

"Schools ... evolved in a democracy over centuries, towards the consensus that they should be free, open to everyone, and secular. But as we’re learning lately about those institutions, they can be gone faster than you can fall asleep in civics class." www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/arc...

"Walters and a larger conservative movement seem to be trying to redefine public schools as only for an approved type: 'If you’re going to come into our state,” he said, 'don’t come in with these blue-state values.'" www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/arc...

Israel and the United States delivered a blow to Iran. But it could come back stronger, Graeme Wood reports.

"Now that talk of what happens after war is back, I rise to make the case for déjà vu. The region risks reverting to its default setting, which is peace that has characteristics of war." www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

"The complicated and enriching work of raising individual babies was also important, pushing humans to discover new internal capacities and modes of connection." www.theatlantic.com/books/archiv...

This is beyond great. A wonderful story by @nancywalecki.bsky.social, full of love (and rock stars!) www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

And here’s a non-exhaustive list of the amazing people who made this piece possible

When the greatest rock musicians of the 1970s needed an instrument—or a friend—Fred Walecki was there. @nancywalecki.bsky.social writes about her father’s work:

When Joni Mitchell, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, Emmylou Harris, and other 1970s music legends needed an instrument—or a friend—my dad, Fred Walecki, was there. My love song to him in @theatlantic.com September issue: bit.ly/45eZIfa

"My father has been there since the 1960s—doing his work so that some of America’s greatest artists can do theirs." www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

"We learn how trauma from Katrina still lives on in the hearts and minds of its survivors, and how, for the generation born after the flood, a disaster they never witnessed still governs their lives." www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/arc...

Democratic voters have said they want a fighter, and now they might have one in Jasmine Crockett, @elainegodfrey.bsky.social writes. She spoke with Crockett about testing out the coarse style of politics that the GOP has embraced.

"Crockett is testing out the coarser, insult-comedy-style attacks that the GOP has embraced under Trump, the general idea being that when the Republicans go low, the Democrats should meet them there." www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

"More than I wanted to spend hundreds of dollars at Williams-Sonoma, I wanted to know my enemy." www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

Tomorrow is the anniversary of Obergefell v. Hodges. The intervening decade has been a trip—especially for Generation Z. I wrote about the vibes this pride: www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...