The Best of VICE
20+ most popular VICE articles, as voted by our community.
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What Happens to Your Brain When You Stop Believing in God
It's like going off a drug.
«Ironically, the brain's evolution is what enables us to believe in religion at all.»
If You’re Lonely, Balancing Your ‘Social Nutrition’ Could Help
Being more intentional with our social interactions can improve our well-being and help stave off emotional burnout.
«Additional research has found that loneliness can have the same physical impact as smoking 15 cigarettes per day, physical inactivity, and air pollution.»
AI Writing Tools Like ChatGPT Are the Future of Learning & No, It’s Not Cheating
ChatGPT is the most advanced technology of its kind and its popularity is growing fast. Especially among students.
2022, the year of rot: doomscrolling, rotting in bed memes and mental health
From doomscrolling and decaying fashion trends to “rotting in bed” memes, all this chat about “rot” reflects a very real mental health crisis.
How to Support a Loved One Going Through Depression
Being there for someone who’s not OK can be extremely taxing. Here's how not to lose yourself in the process.
VICE on Addiction
The Rise of Mobile Gambling Is Leaving People Ruined and Unable to Quit
Financial catastrophe is now only a few clicks away, a problem that is showing quiet signs of becoming a crisis. "I can't just get rid of my phone," one problem gambler says.
Researchers Find a Promising Treatment for Video Game Addiction
It's about rewiring the gamer's relationship to video games, not abstinence.
VICE on Artificial Intelligence
Scientists Increasingly Can’t Explain How AI Works
AI researchers are warning developers to focus more on how and why a system produces certain results than the fact that the system can accurately and rapidly produce them.
This Tool Lets Anyone See the Bias in AI Image Generators
The Stable Diffusion Explorer shows how words like "assertive" and "gentle" are mapped to sexist stereotypes.
VICE on Business
WeWork’s Implosion Shows How SoftBank Is Breaking the World
Venture capital subsidizes unprofitable businesses like WeWork and Uber. Society pays the price.
The Rise of the Millionaire LinkedIn Influencer
To some, LinkedIn's try-hard nature has become a perfect example of the worst of corporate culture. But the site's influencers say the joke's on everyone else, as they pull in big money with ease.…
VICE on Deepfakes
Deepfake Porn Is Evolving to Give People Total Control Over Women's Bodies
People are creating a new kind of nonconsensual pornography by combining deepfakes with 3D avatars that can be manipulated to do whatever they want.
AI-Assisted Fake Porn Is Here and We’re All Fucked
Someone used an algorithm to paste the face of 'Wonder Woman' star Gal Gadot onto a porn video, and the implications are terrifying.
VICE on Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s First Days as Twitter Owner: Conspiracies, Chaos, and Desperation
Musk's first few days at Twitter create the image of someone who owns a company he doesn't want and has no idea how to manage.
VICE on Facebook
Zoom iOS App Sends Data to Facebook Even if You Don’t Have a Facebook Account
Zoom's privacy policy isn't explicit about the data transfer to Facebook at all.
Facebook’s Monopoly Is Imploding Before Our Eyes
Competition, miscalculations, and regulatory scrutiny have all but killed the advertising giant's dreams of diversifying its business and rolling up the digital world into its platform.
VICE on LGBTQIA
Google’s Sentiment Analyzer Thinks Being Gay Is Bad
This is the latest example of how bias creeps into artificial intelligence.
The Original Blueprints for 'The Sims' Reveal Why the Game Always Included Gay Relationships
A treasure trove of design documents shows how ‘The Sims’ became one of gaming’s most beloved franchises.
VICE on Scams
I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb
How easy is it to exploit Airbnb? While searching for my grifter, I found out.
The NFT Ecosystem Is a Complete Disaster
Top marketplaces facilitate epic amounts of theft and wash trading, scams are rampant, and the cringe is unbearable. Can it last?
VICE on Society
MIT Predicted in 1972 That Society Will Collapse This Century. New Research Shows We're on Schedule
A 1972 MIT study predicted that rapid economic growth would lead to societal collapse in the mid 21st century. A new paper shows we're unfortunately right on schedule.
«The best available data suggests that what we decide over the next 10 years will determine the long-term fate of human civilization.»
What Happens When Modern Society Rebrands an Ancient Philosophy?
Everyone from Silicon Valley billionaires to self-help enthusiasts is repurposing Stoicism for our modern age, with results that are good, bad, and highly indifferent.
«Things like “wake up early,” “go for a walk,” “journal,” “eat well,” “read,” and “get active” are good pieces of advice, but surely not specifically Stoic behaviors. »
Popular
These are some all-time favorites with Refind users.
Why American Farmers Are Hacking Their Tractors With Ukrainian Firmware
A dive into the thriving black market of John Deere tractor hacking.
A Better Way to Think of Stress, According to Science
The “synergistic mindset” is about making unavoidable stressors work in your favor.
«Students who watched the training session exhibited a lower stress response based on heart rate and other physiological measures.»
One Bitcoin Transaction Now Uses as Much Energy as Your House in a Week
Bitcoin’s surge in price has sent its electricity consumption soaring.
Why Trying to Be Happy Makes You Unhappy
From birthdays to ‘hot-vax summers,’ everyone knows anticipated delights can be a letdown. That phenomenon has a name: the paradox of hedonism.
«“Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.”»
Leaked Documents Expose the Secretive Market for Your Web Browsing Data
An Avast antivirus subsidiary sells 'Every search. Every click. Every buy. On every site.' Its clients have included Home Depot, Google, Microsoft, Pepsi, and McKinsey.
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VICE on Social Media
Facebook Threatens to Pull Out of Europe If It Doesn’t Get Its Way
European regulators are cracking down on Facebook's ability to transfer data across the Atlantic. Now the tech giant is threatening to pull its services from more than 400 million European users.
Social Media Is Dead
What we call social media networks are anything but. Now that they're beginning to unravel, we should ask what it would take to create social media for people, not advertisers.