You observe a phenomenon, and come up with an explanation for it. That’s true for scientists, but also for literally […]
150 | Simon DeDeo on How Explanations Work and Why They Sometimes Fail Read More
Democracy posits the radical idea that political power and legitimacy should ultimately be found in all of the people, rather
148 | Henry Farrell on Democracy as a Problem-Solving Mechanism Read More
Mom, apple pie, and rationality — all things that are unquestionably good, right? But rationality, as much as we might
143 | Julia Galef on Openness, Bias, and Rationality Read More
“Time” and “the brain” are two of those things that are somewhat mysterious, but it would be hard for us
140 | Dean Buonomano on Time, Reality, and the Brain Read More
A common argument against free will is that human behavior is not freely chosen, but rather determined by a number
134 | Robert Sapolsky on Why We Behave the Way We Do Read More
We all know stereotypes about people from different countries; but we also recognize that there really are broad cultural differences
128 | Joe Henrich on the Weirdness of the West Read More
Emotions are at the same time utterly central to who we are — where would we be without them? —
123 | Lisa Feldman Barrett on Emotions, Actions, and the Brain Read More
Imagine you were locked in a sealed room, with no way to access the outside world but a few screens
122 | David Eagleman on Tapping Into the Livewired Brain Read More
We gather empirical evidence about the nature of the world through our senses, and use that evidence to construct an
105 | Ann-Sophie Barwich on the Science and Philosophy of Smell Read More
Creativity is one of those things that we all admire but struggle to define or make concrete. Music provides a
104 | David Rosen and Scott Miles on the Neuroscience of Music and Creativity Read More