For many people, Donald Trump’s surprise election victory was a jolt to very idea that humans are rational creatures. It tore away the comfort of believing that science has rendered our world predictable. The upset led two New York Times reporters to question whether data science could be trusted in medicine and business. A Guardian columnist declared that big …

  China’s government isn’t shy about looking for ways to highlight democracy’s failings, and the U.S. presidential election provided plenty of raw material. Hillary Clinton’s e-mails, Donald Trump’s locker-room talk, the debates: Every low point was touted and cataloged on state media. On Election Day, the Communist Party’s official newspaper offered a closing argument: Trump versus Clinton was symptomatic of …

  It is nothing short of a miracle that the members of Venezuela’s government and the opposition carried out a dialogue. Such a meeting would have been unimaginable two months back. The Vatican — which brokered the talks — needs to be lauded for making the impossible happen in a very conducive environment. Despite criticism from some quarters, the meeting …