I won’t sugarcoat it: The outcome of last week’s US presidential election wasn’t the one WIRED wanted. As I wrote last week, several of the core values that underpin our publication and inform our journalism—unwavering respect for democratic institutions, a commitment to human rights and bodily autonomy, recognition that climate change is a dire emergency—are at odds with those of Donald Trump and the incoming GOP administration.
Our values aren’t changing, and our commitment to rigorous, independent reporting and investigative journalism across WIRED coverage areas remains steadfast, particularly as the US navigates this new and uncertain political chapter. But as I reminded our team last week, there’s one more value that we hold dear here at WIRED, and it’s one I want to share with all of you today: Hope.
At WIRED we believe that technological progress and scientific discovery will, sometimes slowly and sometimes quickly—often turbulently, too often inequitably—improve human lives and introduce possibilities that were once unfathomable. We believe in the potency and creativity of the human mind, and we love nothing more than to introduce all of you to the ingenious ideas and inventions that emerge from brilliant people across so many fields of inquiry. We believe that the internet can still, amid the AI slop and trolls of it all, be a place to find community, to connect across physical borders, to be informed, and to be entertained. We believe in being weird. We believe in fun. At WIRED we will always choose to believe that the world’s best days—maybe the galaxy’s best days, when we all live on Mars—are still to come. So yes. Yes, dammit. We believe in hope.
And of course, we believe that journalism in all its incarnations, from a print magazine to a WIRED.com story to a TikTok video, is a vital part of creating that better future we all hope for and believe in.
In that spirit, I want to reinforce what you can expect from the journalists at WIRED in the weeks, months, and years to come. We’ll be tracking and covering the incoming Trump administration and its policies, with an eye towards revealing new information that helps you understand what’s happening and why it matters across a range of salient subjects: from surveillance and privacy, to AI regulation and Big Tech, to climate change and reproductive rights. This can be heavy stuff, but we believe it matters: Accountability helps the world move in the direction of progress, as does access to accurate information.
But that’s not all we’ll be doing. When you read or watch WIRED, yes, we want you to be informed. We also want you to have fun, and of course, we want you to feel hopeful. Our culture coverage will keep introducing you to wild online communities, emerging trends, and remarkable creators and creatives. Our gear coverage will continue showcasing the newest, smartest, sometimes strangest products to add to your wish lists, and remains committed to best-in-class expert reviews and buying guidance. Our science desk is always here to blow your mind, whether it’s the latest discoveries in physics or the cutting-edge tech powering new findings in archeology. And our features team will continue to deliver richly reported, in-depth narrative storytelling that you can lose yourselves in. (Stay tuned for an invigorating series of stories that’ll take you inside the beating heart of Silicon Valley, and on a little driverless car chase).
Please keep reading, watching, and listening. In addition to our magazine, website, and YouTube channel, WIRED journalists are doing some incredible, inventive coverage on TikTok and Instagram that I’d encourage you to follow. And if you haven’t checked out our new flagship podcast, Uncanny Valley, now might be the perfect time to break from politics and instead hear Mike, Lauren, and Zoë talk about the tech industry’s return-to-office mandates.
If you can, please support the incredible breadth of work that WIRED’s journalists do, by subscribing to join our community. And until next time: Keep hoping, and know that we will too.