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Philosophy
Is there an ultimate answer to the age-old question?
While many imagine terrifying futures run by AI, Rohit Krishnan is quietly identifying real problems and solutions.
In 1974, Hawking showed that black holes aren't stable, but emit radiation and decay. Nearly 50 years later, it isn't just for black holes.
If we manage to avoid a large catastrophe, we are living at the early beginnings of human history.
Fear of technology is not new. But we misunderstand its origin. In reality, we don't fear technology but each other.
Diogenes engaged in shocking behavior to demonstrate the contradictions, small-mindedness, and sheer absurdity of prevailing social conventions.
And why you, a non-expert, should absolutely not consider "explaining what you know" to an actual expert in the field.
Evolutionary pressures drove the formation of tribes who encoded their values in myths and symbols. Was this cooperation cursed?
If we took the values and principles of cooperation to the next level, we could effectively tackle many crises.
From forgotten Hollywood movies to Frank Herbert’s "Dune," science fiction illustrates some of our deepest fears about technology.
Would you confess your crimes to a skeleton with "an unnatural ghastly glow"? One inventor thought you would.
It’s the paradoxical observation that the more we try to process, the less we actually can.
A philosophy of birth can offset the prevailing narrative around extinction and mortality.
"Groupthink" gets a bad rap. In reality, we need groups to focus our thinking and to build on the ideas of others.
John Templeton Foundation
It's been 100 years since we discovered that the Universe was expanding. But if it's expanding, then what is it expanding into?
Mansa Musa, perhaps history's richest man, claims he ascended the throne of Mali after his predecessor sailed west and never came back. Could he have made it to the New World?
If our Universe were born a little differently, there wouldn't have been any planets, stars, galaxies, or chemically interesting reactions.
Perhaps the whole Universe is the result of a vacuum fluctuation, originating from what we could call quantum nothingness.
Germans are masters of building cars, cooking brats — and sitting while peeing.
Science fiction movies capture a classic human flaw: getting the future mostly wrong.
5mins
Not all conflict is bad. Expert Priya Parker explains how “heat” can be harnessed for good.
Does humanity have a moral imperative to seed life on lifeless worlds? And should we avoid colonizing a planet if life already exists there?
Within a month of that initial conversation, Peter Singer became a vegetarian.
Einstein's most famous equation is E = mc², which describes the rest mass energy inherent to particles. But motion matters for energy, too.
The Shirky Principle states that "institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution."
Soviet censorship was thorough yet fallible.
5mins
Geniuses and prodigies are captivating. But generalists rule the world.
John Templeton Foundation
If something exists, it is by definition natural.
But make sure you bring the fossegrim the proper offering—or else.