Wired EIC Lichfield is departing

Wired editor in chief Gideon Lichfield sent out the following on Wednesday:

Dear WIRED Ones,

As those of you who were in the all-hands today have already heard, I’m sad to tell you that I have decided to move on from my role as EIC of Wired. I want to begin focusing more of my energies on a question that many of you know is important to me, and that I think is becoming increasingly urgent: how societies can govern themselves peaceably and for the common good in an area of accelerating technological change, rising geopolitical uncertainty, and intensifying climate crisis. I am still figuring out what it will mean in practice for me to work on this, but I know at least some of it probably involves committing acts of journalism with my own two hands, a thing I’ve increasingly missed doing.

I’m not going anywhere immediately. The search for my replacement will start today, and I’ll stay in the editor’s chair until mid-September, unless a new editor is ready to start sooner. I will stay involved in the anniversary event in November and keeping making Have a Nice Future with Lauren at least until then. Beyond that, I may continue contributing in some way, but that will depend on a few things, not least of them the new editor :)

My slightly over two years here have felt like a decade in some ways and the blink of an eye in others. It’s been an utter privilege to be responsible for this storied title and the group of extraordinary, talented, and supremely human humans who make it what it is every day. I’m grateful to each one of you for the trust and goodwill you’ve shown me, and I hope that least some of the time I’ve deserved them.

For now, see you on the Slacks and in the Zooms,

With warmest wishes

Gideon