Tag Archives: big-interview

Trae Stephens’ origin story begins like the first volume of a spy thriller series. Galvanized by 9/11, he vowed as a high schooler to find a career that would let him defend his country. He applied to colleges with programs that could prep him for that heroic role. None were …

The thing about family, Josh Johnson wants me to know, as he scoots closer and angles his phone in my direction, is that they suck at boundaries. It’s morning in New York City, a pinch shy of noon, and we are on the subject of family because Johnson’s phone won’t …

Mark Cuban was confident he wouldn’t be recognized in Boston Common. This was early June, and it happened to be the day of the Boston Dyke March, billed as an “anti-capitalist intersectional gender liberation” event. Earlier that day, outside of his hotel, people had bum-rushed the billionaire, angling for an …

Here’s a flash of Antony J. Blinken’s turn as US secretary of state: In his first year, he navigated America’s messy exit from Afghanistan. In his second, he tried to rally the world to Ukraine’s side following Russia’s invasion in February 2022. His third and, now fourth, have been defined …

ten years ago, WIRED published a news story about how two little-known, slightly ramshackle encryption apps called RedPhone and TextSecure were merging to form something called Signal. Since that July in 2014, Signal has transformed from a cypherpunk curiosity—created by an anarchist coder, run by a scrappy team working in …

WIRED: Hey. Katie: Hey … ? WIRED: It’s us. The collective consciousness of the WIRED editorial staff, here to help you talk about The Big Interview series. Katie: Is this AI? WIRED: Katie, what’s a Big Interview? Katie: Is it weird that I’m being interviewed by my own publication? WIRED: …

When Jon M. Chu enters the restaurant, I barely notice him. He looks like a regular customer here for an early lunch. He doesn’t project the air of a Hollywood big shot, though by any measure he is one. Chu directed the 2018 hit Crazy Rich Asians, and he’s currently …

Ray Kurzweil rejects death. The 76-year-old scientist and engineer has spent much of his time on earth arguing that humans can not only take advantage of yet-to-be-invented medical advances to live longer, but also ultimately merge with machines, become hyperintelligent, and stick around indefinitely. Nonetheless, death cast a shadow over …

Ten years ago, Eliot Higgins could eat room service meals at a hotel without fear of being poisoned. He hadn’t yet been declared a foreign agent by Russia; in fact, he wasn’t even a blip on the radar of security agencies in that country or anywhere else. He was just …

Philip Kim knows what you’re thinking: Breakdancing? At the Olympics? That’s not even a sport. He agrees with you, mostly. He just prefers you call it by its proper name: “Breakdancing” is something only outsiders say. Those who know call it breaking. But Kim, who is better known as Phil …