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Essays

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Longform Essays written by serious and creative thinkers on philosophy, psychology, science, society and culture

Abstract digital art of a web-like cosmic structure with purple and orange filament patterns, resembling a universe simulation.

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Cosmology

Rivers of galaxies

What is the shape of the Universe? The answer might be found in the most unassuming places here on Earth

Mark Neyrinck

A person in a hospital gown sitting on a bed in a bright patient room, large window and privacy curtain visible.

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Human rights and justice

Knowledge and justice

Any legal system that fails to compensate people for epistemic harm is unjust. Their damage must be named and remedied

Mitch Woolery

Photo of two polar bears exploring a decaying wooden building, one looks out a window, the other stands on the porch steps.

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Animals and humans

Humanlike?

Interpreting the emotional lives of animals requires a subtler and more nuanced understanding of anthropomorphism

Mike Dacey

Photo of an ocean sunset seen through a round window with a warm sepia tone across the sky and water.

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Language and linguistics

The grammar of a god-ocean

To truly explore alien languages, linguists must open themselves to the maximum conceivable degree of cosmic otherness

Eli K P William

A man in a blue shirt playing a saxophone against a dark background.

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Consciousness and altered states

Kind of confusing

Is consciousness like jazz, something hard to pin down? Or is it more like the biology of dolphins, odd but natural?

Tim Bayne

A hospital room with a patient in a gown and headscarf speaking to a doctor, while a man stands nearby taking notes.

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Illness and disease

The power of the ‘C’ word

Saying the word ‘cancer’ changes a person’s life and can lead to overtreatment and fear. Is the word too hot to use at all?

Benjamin Chin-Yee

Black and white photo of Adolf Hitler greeting two clergymen surrounded by a crowd in front of a Gothic building.

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Religion

An unholy alliance

In the 1930s, the rise of Nazism brought centuries of animosity between Europe’s Catholics and Protestants to an end. Why?

Udi Greenberg

Yellow slime mould on textured tree bark, showcasing intricate branching patterns.

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Biology

Memories without brains

Certain slime moulds can make decisions, solve mazes and remember things. What can we learn from the blob?

Matthew Sims

An elderly person lying in a hospital bed in a bright room with a walker and a window nearby.

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Death

Freedom over death

Death is a certainty. But choosing how and when we depart is a modest opportunity for freedom – and dignity

Michael Cholbi

Painting of blind men with sticks leading one another, one has fallen, landscape and church in the background.

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Thinkers and theories

The French liar

René Descartes, the founder of modern philosophy, was furiously condemned by his contemporaries. Why did they fear him?

Sandrine Parageau

A large white cathedral with golden domes near a river, surrounded by trees with autumn colours.

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Architecture

The replica and the original

Architectural copies of lost structures require reckoning with history and heritage. At what cost is the past rebuilt?

Elizabeth Kostina

Illustration of a crab using a laptop, captioned “Homo-crustaceous digitalis” on a textured background.

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The future

Homo crustaceous

‘Everything becomes crab’ is more than an absurd meme. The crab is a deep symbol of our devil’s bargain with technology

Michael Garfield