Philosophy

Philosophy

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

White text on a black background reads "The Impact of Nothing.
3mins
From nothing to everything: How zero changed our understanding of the universe, forever.
5mins
Who decides what’s “normal” and why? As social norms increasingly dissolve, here’s how to find true guidance.
A fern frond unfurling in a spiral shape against a plain green background.
1mins
What would the world be like if we focused on “the inherent beauty of math,” rather than its technical aspects? A statistician reflects:
Collage with baseball trading cards and photos of people, overlaid with a line graph and titled "The Nightcrawler." The piece seems to be in founder mode, capturing the essence of pioneering moments. Background features a grid pattern.
Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
A graph depicting projectile motion with displacement on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal axis. The projectile's trajectory forms a perfect parabola, with initial velocity u and angle θ clearly indicated.
Taught in every introductory physics class for centuries, the parabola is only an imperfect approximation for the true path of a projectile.
A grayscale marble statue of a woman's head and shoulders is depicted against a black background, overlaid with colorful glitch-like text fragments.
8mins
How can ancient philosophical wisdom guide us in ensuring that artificial intelligence enhances human flourishing rather than diminishing it?
Cosmos Institute
Two men in profile face each other. One points a finger at the other, who remains still, poised to embrace counterarguments. The image features a blue color overlay.
There's value to be found in the arguments that make you uncomfortable — especially in a culture that has trained us to avoid them.
A historical timeline featuring notable figures from 1400 to present, including scientists, writers, politicians, and artists. The timeline is categorized by different historical eras.
"The Big Map of Who Lived When" plots the lifespans of historical figures — from Eminem all the way back to Genghis Khan.
An elderly man with white hair and a beard, hands clasped in prayer, with the equation “1 + 1” glowing above his hands.
2mins
Statistician Talithia Williams on how math is the clearest path to understanding our existence.
A person lies in bed reading a book, wearing a white blouse, in a painting with soft, muted colors.
With the right prompts, large language models can produce quality writing — and make us question the limits of human creativity.
Portrait of an older man with a beard wearing a hat, depicted in purple tones, with scientific and alchemical symbols in the background, capturing the essence of a truth machine.
Why human attempts to mechanize logic keep breaking down.
A montage of famous philosophers’ portraits next to a large question mark on the right, intersected by a horizontal arrow.
Philosophy cures no disease and invents nothing new. What's even the point?
Stylized illustration of Frankenstein's monster with outstretched arms against a red and orange background.
3mins
How do scientists measure and define life in the natural world? Dr. Lee Cronin gives us a definition, in 4 minutes:
zero gravity flight stephen hawking
The mass that gravitates and the mass that resists motion are, somehow, the same mass. But even Einstein didn't know why this is so.
A storefront with signs for psychic telepathy readings and a phone number. Two white plastic chairs are placed in front. The storefront is pink with a black awning and a large hand sign advertising $10 readings.
Thinking of a number between one and ten? Here's how predictable human responses create the illusion of telepathy.
Collage featuring a microchip, an illustration of an armored figure, and text: "The NIGHTCRAWLER." Background includes blue grids and binary code, invoking the power of a digital god.
Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
Close-up view of a translucent, flatfish-like biohybrid organism with a thin body and short, spiky fins suspended in clear liquid against a plain background.
As creatures and machines meld together in increasingly advanced forms, ethicists are starting to take note.
A silhouette of a person using a metal detector merges seamlessly with a large, centered image of JFK's face against a gradient blue background, symbolizing leadership and discovery.
Most leaders get the psychology of human motivation all wrong — here’s how a presidential encounter with a leaf-sweeper puts it right.
Abstract image featuring a blue-toned sphere with grid patterns above an orange-toned depiction of a cyclist amidst technical drawings, evoking the principle of golden marginal gains.
For extraordinary long-term success in business we can look to insights from British Olympic cycling, Roger Federer and neuroeconomics.