The best longform journalism we consumed this week
Welcome to The Long Story, the weekly newsletter where we curate the best longform journalism on the internet. If you want this newsletter landing in your inbox every Friday, click on this handy little button:
Let’s jump into it…
The Race to Lead the Quantum Future
The AI race has generated immense amounts of hype over the last several years, but it's actually quantum computing that will forever alter the course of humanity. What's more, the country that solves it first will almost instantly become the leading world superpower due to its ability to break encryption. In fact, nearly every country is hoarding encrypted messages sent by its competitors in anticipation for when quantum tech will be able to unlock them. [Foreign Affairs]
Salmonscape
The Chinook salmon is one of the most adaptive creatures on earth, traveling great distances to spawn and replenish the local ecology. California conservationists have gone to enormous lengths to build out special waterways so these fish can get to their hatcheries, but the species is still in grave danger due to climate change and other environmental degradation. [Places Journal]
My Flashback on The New Yorker's Birthday
William Shawn is often thought of as a legendary editor — and he was — but under his leadership The New Yorker's writing became a stodgy, boring trudge that was more admired than actually read. In the 1990s, owner Si Newhouse pressured Tina Brown into taking over the magazine, and while some of the veteran staff revolted, she played a major role in revitalizing the magazine and setting it on a path to the relevance and profitability it enjoys today. That's not to say David Remnick isn't a great steward of the brand, but Tina Brown walked so he could run. [Fresh Hell]
What’s the real size of China’s economy?
How big is the Chinese economy? Its statistics bureau has been lowballing its GDP for decades, painting a distorted picture of the economic reality within the country. Why does it do this? So China can maintain its status as a "developing economy" and undercut other countries in the developed world. [Asia Times]
Tesla Feels the Wrath of Anti-Elon Musk Backlash
Elon Musk's politics have been trending rightward for years, but for many would-be Tesla owners, his Nazi salute was the final straw. 2024 was one of the first years the company experienced a decline in sales, and many analysts believe 2025 will be far worse. Elon's embrace of Donald Trump might go down as one of the dumbest moves in business history. [Bloomberg]
The high price of going cheap
US retailers are shutting down at a record rate, mostly due to their inability to compete with Chinese competitors like Shein and Temu. Americans' quest to find ever-cheaper deals is undermining their own domestic economy, and the resulting proliferation of abandoned storefronts is quickly becoming a blight in our towns and cities. [Business Insider]
The True Costs of Being on YouTube
A prominent cookbook author launched on YouTube in an effort to promote an upcoming book launch. Over the next few years, she grew the channel to over 200,000 subscribers, which is no easy feat. But while the channel looks like a huge success to outside viewers, it was hemorrhaging money, generating far less than what it cost to produce it. [Food Processing]
The Profile Hemingway Could Never Live Down
Ernest Hemingway and the New Yorker writer Lillian Ross were good friends when he agreed to let her profile him in 1950. The profile made him look like a complete idiot and severely damaged his public reputation, yet he maintained his friendship with her afterward and insisted that she didn’t do anything wrong. [New Yorker]
I tried to prove I'm not AI
Content creators are constantly being accused of using AI to create their images and videos, even in cases where no AI was used. Some are now calling for the creation of some kind of authentication service that accesses a camera's metadata and confirms the photo's origin. In fact, there are already apps that do this, but they're mainly marketed to the insurance industry. [Howtown]
Tesla Is More Vulnerable Than You Think
Elon Musk seems unstoppable because of his unimaginable wealth, but a lot of that wealth is tied to Tesla's stock price, and he's also borrowed heavily against that stock, which means there will be a margin call if it suddenly drops below a certain level. What's even worse for him is that Tesla is trading at much higher prices than other companies with the same revenue, which means it can tumble extremely quickly if the market decides that the company's growth phase is over. If liberals can tank Tesla, then they defang Musk. [How Things Work]
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Unemployment by degrees
One of my long-held hot takes is that masters degrees are mostly a scam, one that allows universities to milk more money out of recent graduates. In most industries, according to my theory, you'll learn more on the job than you would in a classroom. Well, as it turns out, new data shows that having an advanced degree listed on your resume doesn't make employers more likely to hire you. [Business Insider]
The Comedian Looking for Something All of America Can Laugh At
I still get angry when I think about the time a Roy Wood Jr. live comedy set was ruined by the drunk couple sitting next to me. The guy is among the funniest comedians working today. His comedy is unapologetically progressive, and yet he manages to tell it in a way that doesn't turn off conservative audiences. [NYT]
AI Ate the Web. Now It’s Coming Back for Seconds.
Nearly every major AI company is launching "deep research" tools that cite their sources and purport to go much more in-depth than previous generations of chatbots. The problem is that when reporters check those citations, they come across plenty of articles that were very obviously generated by AI. The snake is eating its own tail, and the problem is only going to get worse. [New York]
Non-Police Crisis Response Programs Have Been Working. Here’s How.
Historically, police have been the first responders when people experience mental health episodes, and a disproportionate number of these interactions end in fatal police shootings. In the wake of the George Floyd murder, cities began hiring teams of social workers who respond to certain kinds of police phone calls, and one study found that low-level crimes fell by 34% as a result. [The Appeal]
They Worked to Prevent Death. The Trump Administration Fired Them.
Elon fired federal workers whose job it was to ensure donated organs got to their intended destinations before they lost their viability. Imagine being a patient on the donor list and finding out you didn't get the kidney you needed because an unelected South African billionaire fired the people who were supposed to get it to you. [Propublica]
She Has No Coach, No Training Plan, and Seemingly No Limits
Every time I read a profile of an elite ulta marathoner, my main takeaway is that these people aren't necessarily great athletes; rather, they're incredibly adept at enduring pain. Athleticism is required, sure, but there's a reason that many of the world record holders are well past their physical prime. [Runners World]
What a $2 Million Per Dose Gene Therapy Reveals About Drug Pricing
Pharmaceutical companies claim they need to charge exorbitant prices for drugs because of how much it costs to bring them to market. But a substantial portion of those costs are borne by taxpayer-funded grants and philanthropic donations. Given how much these drug companies are subsidized by the public, should they get free rein to charge whatever they want? [Propublica]
Baltimore Is Fighting the Right-Wing Takeover of Its Iconic Newspaper
The Baltimore Sun used to be one of America's great newspapers, but, like a lot of city dailies, its business cratered over the past 20 years, which forced round after round of layoffs. Then in 2024 it was bought by a pro-Trump billionaire who immediately began to use the outlet to support his local pet issues. This triggered a city-wide revolt, with Baltimore citizens not only voting down his initiatives and candidates, but also shifting their financial support to a nonprofit rival called the Baltimore Banner. [Rolling Stone]
High-School Band Contests Turn Marching into a Sport—And an Art
If you were in a high school band 30 years ago, you probably wouldn't recognize the marching bands of today. They're much more ambitious and experimental, with some even branching out into the avant garde. They still play during the halftimes at football games, sure, but their real audience comprises the thousands of other bands that compete in state and national competitions every Fall. [New Yorker]
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