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[Essay] Going Soft

Future-proofing the American worker

by Lily Scherlis,

Current Issue April 2025

[Fiction] The Keys to Veracruz

From the unfinished novel The Woman from Nowhere

by Charles Portis,

[Miscellany] The Last Detail

On patrol with the Guardian Angels

by Kent Russell,

[Harper’s Index]

Chance that a large asteroid will strike Earth on December 22, 2032 : 1 in 32

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage decrease last year in global champagne sales : 9

[Harper’s Index]

Chance that an average American attended a party on any given weekend in 2004 : 1 in 16

[Harper’s Index]

Factor by which the number of unoccupied bedrooms in the United States has increased since 1970 : 8

[Harper’s Index]

Year in which U.S. deaths are projected to begin exceeding births : 2033

[Harper’s Index]

Average number of years by which people diagnosed with ADHD have shorter life expectancies : 7.7

[Harper’s Index]

Chance that an American man convicted of a crime was older than 50 in 1990 : 1 in 25

[Harper’s Index]

In 2023 : 1 in 7

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated percentage of violent crimes in New York City that are committed on the streets : 43

[Harper’s Index]

In the subway : 3

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated number of crimes committed in the New York City subway for every million hours people spend there : 1

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of Republicans who say that corporate DEI programs have had no effect on their careers : 53

[Harper’s Index]

Who say that these programs have benefited their careers : 26

[Harper’s Index]

Hindered their careers : 21

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage by which Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say they expect to drink alcohol almost every day in 2025 : 30

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated amount of microplastics, in grams, in the average American’s brain in 2016 : 4.7

[Harper’s Index]

In 2024 : 6.8

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of Americans who cannot distinguish between right and left : 15

[Harper’s Index]

Who say they rely on a “hand-related strategy” to do so : 45

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. engineers with Ph.D.s who were born abroad : 56

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of job-seeking Harvard Business School students who were unemployed three months after graduation in 2022 : 1/10

[Harper’s Index]

In 2024 : 1/4

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage increase since 2022 in job turnover among U.S. CEOs : 80

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of funds deposited into online gambling apps that come from the top 3 percent of bettors : 69

[Harper’s Index]

Chance that an online gambler has ever withdrawn any winnings : 1 in 10

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage increase over the past year in new American learners of Mandarin on Duolingo : 216

[Harper’s Index]

Minimum number of monthly users of character.ai, a website that offers AI-generated conversation partners : 20,000,000

[Harper’s Index]

Number of minutes per day that the average user spends on character.ai : 90

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage chance that an American is able to identify whether a poem was written by Shakespeare or by ChatGPT : 42

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of Americans who, in a blind comparison of poems by Shakespeare and by ChatGPT, find the latter more beautiful : 61

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of Gen Z Americans whose favorite movie is Avengers: Endgame : 1/4

[Harper’s Index]

Average length, in minutes, that Americans think a movie should be : 92

[Harper’s Index]

Average length, in minutes, of a movie nominated for Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards : 150

[Harper’s Index]

Number of minutes that the average American says they would spend watching movies or TV on a perfect day : 186

[Harper’s Index]

That they would spend with friends : 84

[Harper’s Index]

Number of perfect days the average American says they had last year : 12

Weekly Review

Harper’s Podcast

Rachel Cusk and Ben Lerner: Live in Conversation

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Harper’s Art Desk

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RIP Youth, a painting by Ed Templeton, whose work was on view last weekend with Tim Van Laere Gallery at Art Basel Hong Kong. Courtesy the artist and Tim Van Laere Gallery

AI City, a painting by Inka Essenhigh, whose work is on view through April 17 at Victoria Miro, London © Inka Essenhigh. Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro

A photograph by Anne Rearick from her book Gure Bazterrack, which was published in October by Deadbeat Club. Courtesy the artist and Deadbeat Club

The Material World, a painting by Emma Webster, whose work is on view through April 12 at Petzel, New York City. Courtesy the artist and Petzel, New York City

“One Hollow to Another, 2022”, a photograph by Hannah Altman, whose book We Will Return To You, will be published this month by Saint Lucy Books © Hannah Altman/Saint Lucy Books

Chance that a large asteroid will strike Earth on December 22, 2032 : 1 in 32

Percentage decrease last year in global champagne sales : 9

Chance that an average American attended a party on any given weekend in 2004 : 1 in 16

In 2024 : 1 in 25

Average number of people in a U.S. household in 1970 : 3.1

In 2023 : 2.5

Factor by which the number of unoccupied bedrooms in the United States has increased since 1970 : 8

Year in which U.S. deaths are projected to begin exceeding births : 2033

Average number of years by which people diagnosed with ADHD have shorter life expectancies : 7.7

Chance that an American man convicted of a crime was older than 50 in 1990 : 1 in 25

In 2023 : 1 in 7

Estimated percentage of violent crimes in New York City that are committed on the streets : 43

In the subway : 3

Estimated number of crimes committed in the New York City subway for every million hours people spend there : 1

Percentage of Republicans who say that corporate DEI programs have had no effect on their careers : 53

Who say that these programs have benefited their careers : 26

Hindered their careers : 21

Percentage by which Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say they expect to drink alcohol almost every day in 2025 : 30

Estimated amount of microplastics, in grams, in the average American’s brain in 2016 : 4.7

In 2024 : 6.8

Percentage of Americans who cannot distinguish between right and left : 15

Who say they rely on a “hand-related strategy” to do so : 45

Percentage of U.S. engineers with Ph.D.s who were born abroad : 56

Portion of job-seeking Harvard Business School students who were unemployed three months after graduation in 2022 : 1/10

In 2024 : 1/4

Percentage increase since 2022 in job turnover among U.S. CEOs : 80

Percentage of funds deposited into online gambling apps that come from the top 3 percent of bettors : 69

Chance that an online gambler has ever withdrawn any winnings : 1 in 10

Percentage increase over the past year in new American learners of Mandarin on Duolingo : 216

Minimum number of monthly users of character.ai, a website that offers AI-generated conversation partners : 20,000,000

Number of minutes per day that the average user spends on character.ai : 90

Percentage chance that an American is able to identify whether a poem was written by Shakespeare or by ChatGPT : 42

Percentage of Americans who, in a blind comparison of poems by Shakespeare and by ChatGPT, find the latter more beautiful : 61

Portion of Gen Z Americans whose favorite movie is Avengers: Endgame : 1/4

Average length, in minutes, that Americans think a movie should be : 92

Average length, in minutes, of a movie nominated for Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards : 150

Number of minutes that the average American says they would spend watching movies or TV on a perfect day : 186

That they would spend with friends : 84

Number of perfect days the average American says they had last year : 12

March 25, 2025

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Past Issues

Harper’s Finest

From the Archive

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Microplastics were found in sixty-two of sixty-two human placentas from a biobank in Texas.

Toxicity has remained a consistent feature of online interactions since 1989.

Humans are losing their ability to digest cellulose.

A metal scar on the surface of the white dwarf WD 0816-310 indicated that it has cannibalized other bodies in its orbit.

An orca acting alone killed a great white shark and ate its liver.

Genomic analysis indicated that psychedelic mushrooms emerged around the time of the Mesozoic–Cenozoic mass extinction.

The playing speed of a metal guitarist directly correlates with his intrasexual competitiveness but not his mating success.

Depression in humans is correlated with higher body temperature, and cold-water swimming mitigates menopause symptoms.

Researchers warned that, as temperatures rise, humans should prepare for more diarrhea.

Off the Five Finger Islands, a team of cetologists aboard the Glacier Seal conducted an extended conversation with a female humpback named Twain.

Astrophysicists argued that the development of advanced alien technology requires an atmosphere composed of at least 18 percent oxygen.

Onshore wind turbines severely deter German bats from foraging.

An AI that was fed the employment and health data of six million Danes turned out to be more accurate than existing sociological methods at predicting if a given person was about to die.

A mother is 4.6 percent more likely to give birth in the same month she was born, and adjacent siblings are 12.1 percent more likely to be born in the same month as one another.

Electric eel discharge transforms the DNA of zebrafish larvae.

True crabs independently evolved to live out of the ocean up to seventeen times.

The average American girl born in 2019 will take prescription drugs for more than half her life.

Scientists were not certain whether the globally synchronized waves observed in the brains of wakeful rats on ketamine or LSD were a cause or a symptom of hallucinations.

Geoscientists were confident that, given access to the oldest barnacles on the flaperon of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, they could help pinpoint its crash site.

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