aeon.co

SOMEONE HAS TO BE WRONG

There Is No Middle Ground For Deep Disagreements About Facts

8 diggs aeon.co Human Nature Studies Culture Long Reads 5d

This is "deep disagreement," and it's the form that most societal disagreements take. Understanding these disagreements will not inspire optimism about our ability to find consensus.

MORE THAN JUST NUMBERS

The Secret Intellectual History Of Mathematics

12 diggs aeon.co Math Science 1w

Mathematical ideas are some of the most transformative and beautiful in history. So why do they get so little attention?

ECHOES FAR AND WIDE

The Voice Of Hobsbawm

1 digg aeon.co Human Nature Politics World Long Reads 1w

How the Marxist ideas of a British historian ended up on the bookshelves of Indian civil servants and Brazilian housewives

WE DO IT TO OURSELVES

What Frankenstein's Monster Can Tell Us About The Dangers Of AI

1 digg aeon.co Long Reads Human Nature User Recommendations 2w

Mary Shelley foresaw that artificial intelligence would be made monstrous, not by human hubris but by human cruelty.

THINKING ABOUT IT

The Greatest Use Of Life

13 diggs aeon.co Science Human Nature Long Reads 2w

The pragmatist philosopher William James had a crisp and consistent response when asked if life was worth living: maybe.

(HOPEFULLY) RIGHT ON THE MONEY

What Really Helps The Poor?

5 diggs aeon.co Economics Science Policy 4w

It's difficult to test whether poverty relief actually works. Do randomized controlled trials provide a scientific measure?

HOW CAN PEOPLE HATE SO MUCH?

Dignity Is Delicate

5 diggs aeon.co Human Nature Science Long Reads 4w

Human dignity is a concept with remarkably shallow historical roots. Is that why it is so presently endangered?

WATCHING 'THE BACHELOR' IS MORALLY RIGHT

Is There Any Real Distinction Between 'High' And 'Low' Pleasures?

8 diggs aeon.co Philosophy Human Nature 5w

Does it matter whether our pleasures are spiritual or carnal, intellectual or stupid? Or are all pleasures pretty much the same?

OH IT'S EMPTY ALRIGHT

The Big Empty

14 diggs aeon.co Culture Human Nature Long Reads 5w

How an impossibly flat expanse of absofreakinglutely nothing inspires creativity and transformation at Burning Man.

COPY THAT

Sim Ethics

1 digg aeon.co Philosophy Internet 6 Sep

Say you could make a thousand digital replicas of yourself — should you? What happens when you want to get rid of them?

'A TREATISE ON PASSION'

The Buddhist Monk Who Became An Apostle For Sexual Freedom

4 diggs aeon.co Histories 3 Sep

Buddhist monks follow a lot of rules – 253 in one tradition, 200 in another. The first of the rules to be established was not against murder; it was against sex.

LIVE WHILE THE LIVING'S GOOD

The Big Problem With Immortality

23 diggs aeon.co Long Reads Human Nature 3 Sep

The fantasy of living forever is just a fig leaf for the fear of death — and comes at great personal cost.

BUILDING TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN

What Would It Take To Build A Tower As High As Outer Space?

19 diggs aeon.co Architecture Science 24 Aug

In recent years, engineers have been able to build on grander scales thanks to the strength and reliability of substances such as novel steel alloys. But as we enter the realm of megastructures, maintaining safety and structural integrity has become a fiendish challenge.

'CAUSE SCIENTISTS ARE THE ONES ASKING

Why It's Only Science That Can Answer All The Big Questions

27 diggs aeon.co Science Curious Human Nature Long Reads 21 Aug

The lubricant of the scientific method is optimism, optimism that given patience and effort, often collaborative effort, comprehension will come.

YOU ARE WHEN YOU ARE

When Will I Be Me? Why A Sense Of Authenticity Takes Its Time

9 diggs aeon.co Human Nature Curious Science Long Reads 20 Aug

Only we ourselves are privy to when we are behaving authentically or not.

MOVING GOALPOSTS

If We Made Life In A Lab, Would We Understand It Differently?

17 diggs aeon.co Science 18 Aug

What is life? For much of the 20th century, this question did not particularly concern biologists.

YOU DON'T MAKE YOUR OWN

The Unreality Of Luck

7 diggs aeon.co Human Nature Beliefs Culture Long Reads 14 Aug

Optimists believe in good luck, pessimists in bad. But if it’s all a matter of perspective, does luck even exist?

A QUESTION OF BELIEF

Is Religion A Universal In Human Culture Or An Academic Invention?

14 diggs aeon.co Beliefs Philosophy Education 14 Aug

What could compel the late Jonathan Zittell Smith, arguably the most influential scholar of religion of the past half-century, to declare that "religion is solely the creation of the scholar's study," and that it has "no independent existence apart from the academy"?

CRY BECAUSE IT'S OVER

Don't Worry About Feeling Sad

14 diggs aeon.co Human Nature Culture Long Reads 13 Aug

Pain and joy are two sides of the same coin — both are necessary for a fully lived life.

GREATER THAN THE SUM OF OUR PARTS?

Out Of Nowhere

6 diggs aeon.co Philosophy Science 10 Aug

Does everything in the world boil down to basic units — or can emergence explain how distinctive new things arise?