Society

essayNeuroscience
The empty brain
Your brain does not process information, retrieve knowledge or store memories. In short: your brain is not a computer
Robert Epstein

essayLanguage and linguistics
English is not normal
No, English isn’t uniquely vibrant or mighty or adaptable. But it really is weirder than pretty much every other language
John McWhorter

essayWork
Fuck work
Economists believe in full employment. Americans think that work builds character. But what if jobs aren’t working anymore?
James Livingston

essayGender and identity
Gender is not a spectrum
The idea that ‘gender is a spectrum’ is supposed to set us free. But it is both illogical and politically troubling
Rebecca Reilly-Cooper

essayCosmology
Exodus
Elon Musk argues that we must put a million people on Mars if we are to ensure that humanity has a future
Ross Andersen

videoBeauty and aesthetics
This is the final resting place of your cast-off clothing
14 minutes

essayFairness and equality
Poor teeth
If you have a mouthful of teeth shaped by a childhood in poverty, don’t go knocking on the door of American privilege
Sarah Smarsh

essayKnowledge
Escape the echo chamber
First you don’t hear other views. Then you can’t trust them. Your personal information network entraps you just like a cult
C Thi Nguyen

essayFuture of technology
The golden quarter
Some of our greatest cultural and technological achievements took place between 1945 and 1971. Why has progress stalled?
Michael Hanlon

ideaWar and peace
What did Hannah Arendt really mean by the banality of evil?
Thomas White

essayMaking
Chabuduo! Close enough …
Your balcony fell off? Chabuduo. Vaccines are overheated? Chabuduo. How China became the land of disastrous corner-cutting
James Palmer

essayEconomics
Are coders worth it?
In today’s world, web developers have it all: money, perks, freedom, respect. But is there value in what we do?
James Somers

essayInformation and communication
The new mind control
The internet has spawned subtle forms of influence that can flip elections and manipulate everything we say, think and do
Robert Epstein

essayMeaning and the good life
The meanings of life
Happiness is not the same as a sense of meaning. How do we go about finding a meaningful life, not just a happy one?
Roy F Baumeister

essaySex and sexuality
Pornucopia
Critics say that porn degrades women, dulls sexual pleasure, and ruins authentic relationships – are they right?
Maria Konnikova

ideaHuman rights and justice
Why the trial by ordeal was actually an effective test of guilt
Peter T Leeson

essayHistory
The salacious Middle Ages
Medieval people feared death by celibacy as much as venereal disease, and practiced complex sexual health regimens
Katherine Harvey

videoEcology and environmental sciences
Yo-Yo Ma performs a work for cello in the woods, accompanied by a birdsong chorus
4 minutes

essayHistory
Muslims of early America
Muslims came to America more than a century before Protestants, and in great numbers. How was their history forgotten?
Sam Haselby

essayEconomics
The new astrology
By fetishising mathematical models, economists turned economics into a highly paid pseudoscience
Alan Jay Levinovitz

essayHistory of ideas
Western philosophy is racist
Academic philosophy in ‘the West’ ignores and disdains the thought traditions of China, India and Africa. This must change
Bryan W Van Norden

ideaSocial psychology
A belief in meritocracy is not only false: it’s bad for you
Clifton Mark

essayLanguage and linguistics
Typos, tricks and misprints
Why is English spelling so weird and unpredictable? Don’t blame the mix of languages; look to quirks of timing and technology
Arika Okrent

essayEducation
An inconvenient child
My six-year-old son was suspended as a danger to others. His crime? A disability you could find in any classroom
Michael Graziano