Welcome to The Hypothesis

A newsletter about science, history, and speculation

You may not know it, but …

Genetic analysis reveals that house cats were never domesticated like dogs and horses. Humans invented the idea of robot uprisings to reassure ourselves that we are a worthy adversary for our machines, rather than merely their boring aunties. Fired pottery changed the world more than the internet will. In the future, computers and the natural environment will merge. Homo sapiens is merely a glorified combination of Homo erectus and a lot of symbolic-nomadic labor. Your gender has become a weaponized meme.

I have some strange ideas, but by George, I just might be on to something. It helps that every missive from The Hypothesis is grounded in science and data.

Call it a mix of science news and rampant speculation. Or maybe thought experiments informed by history. Either way, you’ll learn something true and have a chance to think about where it might lead.

I’m Annalee Newitz. I write science fiction and nonfiction. I’m the award-winning author of Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age, Autonomous, and several other books. I’m also a contributor to the New York Times and New Scientist, and a lapsed academic from UC Berkeley. Every two weeks, I co-host the Hugo Award-winning podcast Our Opinions Are Correct.