Society

Essays and videos on social issues, history, political life and the future

Animals and humans Anthropology Archaeology Automation and robotics Cities Demography and migration Economic history Economics Education Environmental history Fairness and equality Future of technology Gender Global history History History of technology Human rights and justice Information and communication Making Nations and empires Politics and government Poverty and development Progress and modernity Public health Race and ethnicity Religion The ancient world The environment The future War and peace Work

Latest Popular

Photo of a person painting waveforms on clear film with a brush and ink beside audio equipment.

videoMusic

A dispatch from the dawn of the electronic music age

14 minutes

A passenger pigeon egg against a gradient background with a handwritten label in French detailing its origin.

essayBiology

Reversing extinction

Technologies of preserving and reviving organisms are already redefining the meaning of life, death, and extinction itself

Sadiah Qureshi

Sepia-toned photo of silhouetted figures dancing with sticks in a smoky environment, creating a dramatic atmosphere.

essayAnthropology

Does culture make emotion?

Franz Boas helps us solve the puzzle of where our emotional lives originate: in our selves or in the cultures around us

Noga Arikha

Painting of a bridge’s skeletal structure on a billboard with a colourful sky and greenery in the background.

videoHome

An artist’s wistful survey of his demolished childhood home

8 minutes

Painting of a landscape with a helicopter, purple mountains, people near a stream and vehicles by trees under a blue sky.

videoNature and landscape

The joys that follow rain – an animated Aboriginal artwork

2 minutes

An older woman sitting on steps, speaking to journalists holding microphones and cameras outside a house.

essayBiography and memoir

On her own terms

Doris Lessing’s Golden Notebook remains shocking, necessary and imperfect – a dazzling experiment in living as a woman

Catherine Taylor

A destroyed house with an American flag amid debris and destruction under a clear blue sky.

essayEconomics

The insurance catastrophe

Whole regions of the world are now uninsurable, bringing radical uncertainty to the economy. How do we fix the problem?

Gavin Evans

Painting of a distressed man with wide eyes holding a dying man with a bloody head. They lie on a red pattered carpet near a toppled throne, dark, rich tones in the background.

videoGlobal history

Why this once-banned Russian painting remains controversial

25 minutes

A person in a red jacket walking by a seated woman in traditional attire on a stone path with mountains in the background.

essayNations and empires

Who is Walter Mignolo?

A prominent architect of decolonial theory, his diagnosis of European colonial ills is both penetrating and flawed

Federico Perelmuter

Two people relaxing on sun loungers under a blue umbrella on a grass lawn with garden gnomes nearby.

videoAgeing and death

When half of a couple that plans to live forever dies

12 minutes

Painting of a historical figure in a red and gold outfit with a patterned hat set against a muted background.

essayPolitics and government

The presence of power

The Indian thinker Rammohun Roy believed that good governance must be close: distance made the British Empire cruel

Shomik Dasgupta

A couple hugging by a lake under a cloudy sky with a person standing by a lamppost nearby.

essayMeaning and the good life

The six-second hug

From art to religion to sex, instrumentalisation has drained away intrinsic value. But life is about more than material benefits

Julian Baggini

Digital recreation of a Roman interior with columns, a mosaic floor and red walls decorated with frescoes and a central pool.

videoThe ancient world

A tour of Pompeii as it was just before its destruction

14 minutes

Abstract digital art with vertical lines and dark shapes, text overlay saying “why did you write it” in the centre.

videoInformation and communication

AI isn’t merely bad at writing. It does not and cannot write

40 minutes

Photo of a child in a colourful winter jacket and knitted hat, in a snowy forest, with a thoughtful expression.

videoNature and landscape

A father and son’s search for the line where the snow starts

12 minutes

Black and white photo of a street scene with a heated discussion involving a traffic officer and men near cars.

essayPolitical philosophy

Guarding the guardians

Good institutions are social technologies that scale trust from personal relations to entire nations. How do they work?

Julien Lie-Panis

Two figures in flowing robes standing amidst partially submerged bodies in a dark, eerie landscape.

essayStories and literature

Subverting hell

In their visions of the underworld Dante and Milton were truly subversive, incorporating predecessors into their own repudiation

Charlie Ericson

Felt art of a man in a red turban with sheep on a hillside under a stylised sun.

videoAnimals and humans

A musical ode to Indian wool and life on the Deccan Plateau

8 minutes

Painting of a vibrant futuristic city with lush greenery, people and colourful signs, featuring advanced architecture and technology.

essayArchitecture

Compost modernity!

The vision of solarpunk: joining nature with technology in vibrantly inclusive ways to create a world that truly blooms

Yogi Hale Hendlin

Video of orcas swimming underwater displaying distinctive black-and-white patterns in a serene blue ocean environment.

essayBiology

Orcas and ourselves

Sea pandas or sadistic killers? These enigmatic creatures invite contradictory labels that say far more about us than them

Jason Colby

Photo of a truck on a narrow bridge with people balancing and pushing it under a clear sky.

essayHuman evolution

How selfish are we?

An age-old debate about human nature is being energised with new findings on the tightrope of cooperation and competition

Jonathan R Goodman

Rock painting of animals in red pigment on a rough stone surface, depicting various quadrupeds across the rocky wall.

videoArchaeology

What the ‘Louvre of the desert’ reveals about the human story

15 minutes

Two children on a bike passing a group of people standing outside a large metal gate with buildings in the background.

essayWork

Victims and villains

In Southeast Asia’s scam compounds, workers are being enslaved but the boundary between victim and perpetrator is blurred

Ivan Franceschini & Ling Li

Illustration of a person framing their face with their fingers wearing an orange shirt against a grey background.

videoConsciousness and altered states

The elaborate places one’s mind wanders in solitary confinement

15 minutes