Five Great Reads: life under the Taliban, how to fight back against AI, and … aliens

Welcome to the weekend. If you’ve woken up wondering why we haven’t yet met extraterrestrial beings, how to protect kids against the rise of brain-rotting AI slop, or how to break the ice with a true blue Australian, then you have come to the right place.

1. A day in the life of 12 Afghan women

“I am 12 years old, preparing for my sixth-grade exams – the last I will be allowed to take.” These are the words of an Afghan girl, one of 12 who took great personal risk by documenting their lives to shed a light on their deeply constrained and difficult lives, five years after the Taliban returned to power.

The grim anniversary of a dark new era: The Taliban has banned girls from education after the age of 12, ejected many women from the workplace and created legal frameworks for child marriage and husbands beating their wives. Women have been whipped for minor infractions and men have been compelled to become enforcers in their own homes.

Notable quote: “Sometimes I imagine that if one day I can return to seventh grade, if I can place my books on a desk again and hold my pen without fear, the first thing I will write will be the story of these days. Hear our voices, before our silent rooms become filled with buried dreams. We are still here.”

How long will it take to read: 12.5 minutes

Further reading: ‘Her face was beaten in’: how Taliban rule ushered in a new era of women being killed, and a podcast on the 21 million women and girls the world forgot.

2. Why haven’t we found any aliens yet?

You may never have heard of the Fermi paradox – until now, that is. In short, it’s the notion that despite the high probability of alien life – and the fact the universe may be about 13.8bn years old – there is no trace of extraterrestrial life. And so, for most scientists, the real mystery about aliens isn’t their presence but their stubborn absence. So where are they?

So … where ARE they? Despite eye-watering sums of tens, if not hundreds, of billions of dollars (primarily American ones), our Earthly technology has failed to detect any signs of advanced life within or outside or galaxy. But that hasn’t put enthusiasts off, and in doing so has created a new scientific discipline: astrobiology. This is where astrobiologists think about the basic conditions that make life possible, and how we might determine whether distant planets meet those conditions. Yep, that’s a lot of thinking.

OK just tell me – aliens or no aliens? Maybe you’re just not thinking about it in the right way. What if the aliens are so far advanced they’re not visible any more? What if they don’t inhabit earthly-ish bodies? What if … they’re already here?

How long will it take to read: 10.5 minutes, followed by a long time staring into space.

Further reading: The dark universe: can a scientist battling long Covid unlock the mysteries of the cosmos?

3. ‘I hate what AI is doing to the minds and happiness of the young’

The rise of AI – and its impact on all of us – is hot debate right now, the subject of news headlines to dystopian fiction. But are we powerless in the face of it? Katherine Rundell, who writes children’s fiction and has a fellowship at Oxford University, has seen first-hand the way that generative AI has already infiltrated young people’s lives.

“AI, we’re told, will make learning more efficient. But is that what we dream of for our kids – an efficient childhood? To write an efficient story, sing an efficient song? An adequate teacher is not only teaching about Henry VIII; they’re teaching your child how to read a human character.”

Knowledge is power: Could the simple act of reading be one way to fight back? Not just for pleasure – but for community, cohesion and the future of civilisation.

How long will it take to read: Just over five minutes.

4. The video game taking Australian rules to the world

If you think one of Australia’s favourite sports is hard to understand (and no, it’s not cricket), a video game might give you a new – if not slightly absurdist – understanding of an important cultural pastime: footy.

Ditch the cultural cringe: “Eighteen players a side, running around on a cricket oval with a rugby ball that has to be bounced every so often and gets kicked between posts – like, what the fuck is happening?” says David Ashby, who has taken the sport and turned it into a chaotic and silly game – involving meat pies with legs and Ford Falcons on the oval. But the creators are serious about one thing – that Australia needs to shed its cultural cringe and stop explaining itself to the world.

“When we showed Pro Jank in Japan, a lot of people were like, ‘Wait – is footy a real sport?’ They thought we made it up,” Ashby says. “Then they saw the meat pies running around and they were like, what the fuck is that?”

How long will it take to read: Just under three minutes.

Further reading: SingStar Take That anyone? The strange joy of charity shop video games.

5. Comedy icons share their Edinburgh fringe survival tips with first-timers

Making your debut as a stand up comedian may well be one of the most nerve-wracking – and potentially humiliating – things you can choose to do with your spare time. Here, some of Britain’s best-known comedians share how it went for them – and what first timers should know.

Be afraid: “The fringe is so abstract, scary and unknown,” warns Ania Magliano. “Deep down, we’re all terrified of being exposed through our art. And it is art. It’s tough on your body because you burn through so much energy, but you’re fuelled by adrenaline.”

But don’t read the reviews: That’s the advice of Stephen K Amos. “If you believe the good ones, you’ve got to believe the bad ones. Did I have a good time? Did the audience?” Although Frank Skinner says his first ones “both essentially said: ‘This guy clearly doesn’t know what he’s doing,’ but insinuated: ‘He’s got something.’ That was just enough crumbs to keep me going.”

How long will it take to read: Just over five minutes.

Sign up

Click here to read article