Ancient Algorithm

An Ancient Ice Age Froze The Entire Earth

Laura Poppick | Literary Hub | 22nd July 2025

During a Svalbard expedition in the 1940s, Cambridge geologist Brian Harland found telltale signs of an ice age so intense and all-encompassing it extended to the tropics at sea level, “the most extreme ice age known in all of Earth’s history”. When he shared his findings, he was not believed by his colleagues, who had trouble imagining an Earth that cold, or how it could have come out of this deep freeze (2,400 words)

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Scapegoating The Algorithm

Dan Williams | Asterisk | 21st July 2025

Is social media to blame for the dysfunctional information environment at present? Not solely or entirely. Polarisation, misperceptions, and conspiracism were rampant before the rise of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. The causes of these epistemic challenges may lie deeper. “Many of the problems attributed to social media can arise — and have historically arisen — in the absence of social media” (3,600 words)