Philosophy

Philosophy

Examine life’s biggest questions, from ethics to existence, with curiosity and critical thinking.

ESO milky way
Questions about our origins, biologically, chemically, and cosmically, are the most profound ones we can ask. Here are today's best answers.
Two hands, one light and one dark, each holding a contrastingly colored molecular structure against a gradient background.
The fear of unleashing forces beyond control has haunted science for centuries.
Two large Martian rocks with circular drill holes and light-colored dust are shown on a sandy, rocky surface. Part of a rover’s equipment, searching for traces of organics or signs of Mars life, is visible at the bottom of the image.
The red planet, Mars, may once have been teeming with life, just as Earth is today. Finding "organics" on Mars, however, doesn't mean life.
A drawing of a group of people soaring in a plane, embodying cosmism.
In revolutionary Russia, a group of forward-thinking philosophers offered an alternative to both futurism and communism.
Split image: Left side shows a painting of hands peeling apples with a knife; right side features a modern mechanical apple peeler, echoing Jeff DeGraff’s spirit of innovation bridging tradition and progress.
Real understanding, argues Jeff DeGraff, doesn’t come from outputs — it comes from practice.
Angus Fletcher, wearing a plaid shirt, smiles at the camera as he stands in front of a blue, patterned background.
A dialogue with Angus Fletcher — author of the bestseller "Primal Intelligence" — exploring the unique engines of human progress.
A collage features people using phones, a vintage courtroom scene, and a close-up of mechanical watch parts under tweezers, exploring ancestral bonds, with the title "THE NIGHTCRAWLER" at the top.
Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
Compton gamma-ray observatory deployment
Across all wavelengths of light, the Sun is brighter than the Moon. Until we went to the highest energies and saw a gamma-ray surprise.
An artist's rendering of the nasa jupiter spacecraft.
The Juno spacecraft, orbiting and imaging Jupiter since 2016, is still succeeding. Without a further extension, the mission now faces death.
A world map comparing landmass outlines of the Equal Earth projection in pink and Mercator projection in green, with grid lines overlaid.
The African Union argues that the Mercator projection distorts the continent, both in size and global attention.
An open book, symbolizing dangerous books, burns with flames rising from its pages against a black background, its fiery reflection shimmering on a glossy surface.
In "That Book Is Dangerous," author Adam Szetela examines the rise of the “Sensitivity Era” in publishing and how outrage campaigns try to control what books authors can write and readers can read.
Book cover of "The Intelligence Explosion: When AI Beats Humans at Everything" by James Barrat, featuring a robot hand holding a globe, with the text "an excerpt from" reflecting the rise of AI.
The predictions of evolutionary theorists and current advances in “multimodal AI” offer strong clues to the future of employment.
As we look to larger cosmic scales, we get a broader view of the expansive cosmic forest, eventually revealing the grandest views of all.
An abstract animation of white, textured patterns symmetrically forming on a blue and black background evokes the mysterious dance of dark energy, subtly hinting at its weakening presence as if guided by the precision of DESI.
The Universe isn't just expanding; the expansion is accelerating. If different methods yield incompatible results, is dark energy evolving?
Collage featuring "THE NIGHTCRAWLER" text, a black-and-white photo of a person, tree roots reminiscent of smart forests, and code fragments, all overlaid on a gray grid background.
Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.