It was late on a Thursday night, July 18, when something strange happened inside the quiet digital spaces where ordinary people are supposed to help solve terrible crimes. The Philadelphia Police Department’s public tip forum, PhillyUnsolvedMurders.com, is not a place where most people expect to meet artificial intelligence. It is a place for human beings who remember something, who saw something, or who carry a guilty conscience about a murder that has never been solved. So around 11:30 p.m., when an automated message appeared on the forum claiming to have information about an unsolved homicide, it may have seemed, at…

Something beautiful is happening in the world of cinema: the past and the present are sharing the same marquee. On one side, Gone With the Wind, one of Hollywood’s most iconic films, is coming back to theaters for a limited run. On the other, Aaron Sorkin, a writer and director known for fast-paced dialogue and political ideals, is releasing a new film called The Social Reckoning, a movie that doesn’t just ask us to be entertained but asks us to be honest. These two events could not seem more different at first glance. One is a sweeping historical epic from…