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Lizzie Kirkwood

Edited by Lizzie Kirkwood

Medieval painting of a group of people, including a man in blue above and a jester pointing. Ornate patterns and floral designs surround them.

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History of ideas

Can God lie?

Until the Scientific Revolution, God’s power included a licence to deceive. How did science make an honest man of Him?

Dallas G Denery II

Photo of a damaged ID card with a partially visible portrait of a person and handwritten details in French, showing significant wear.

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Cosmopolitanism

The essence of evil

You don’t have to be a monster or a madman to dehumanise others. You just have to be an ordinary human being

David Livingstone Smith

A photo of two boxers in a match, both wearing gloves and shorts, captured in an intense moment under a ceiling light.

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Cognition and intelligence

No pain, no game

Pain and suffering are not just incidental elements of the sporting life: they are at the centre of every game

Michael Thomsen

A man holds a photo of a busy market scene with people in colourful clothes. The main image is partly out of focus. Photo.

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Stories and literature

Tell me a story

Even in our digital age, live storytelling has a spellbinding effect more potent than any DVD box set

Richard Hamilton

A photo of a person in a Facebook T-shirt holding an open computer server in a data centre with rows of server racks on both sides.

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Death

The digital soul

My Facebook page may be part of my identity, but can it give me a virtual afterlife?

Patrick Stokes

Historic photo of five people focused around a levitating table, with curtains behind, patterned carpet below.

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Death

Life after death

The idea of life after death lives on in near-death experiences and messages from beyond the grave. What’s the evidence?

Jesse Bering

Photo of a woman in a black dress posing pensively in front of a large black-and-white image of a woman lying in bed.

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Cognition and intelligence

Are you looking at me?

What goes on in our minds when we see someone naked? The more we see of a person’s body the stupider they seem

Matthew Hutson

Photo of a person in a starry hoodie and sunglasses using a phone with earbuds in a busy, softly blurred background.

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Computing and artificial intelligence

The attention economy

It costs nothing to click, respond and retweet. But what price do we pay in our relationships and our peace of mind?

Tom Chatfield

Photo of street graffiti art showing “ONE NATION UNDER CCTV” painted on a wall with figures on a ladder and a green fence in the foreground.

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Political philosophy

Life in the fishbowl

In the future, most people will live in a total surveillance state – and some of us might even like it

Stuart Armstrong

Painting of a person with bold makeup in a grey outfit on a yellow background, featuring expressive lines and minimalistic details.

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Ethics

Perversions

Atheists and homosexuals were called perverts once. Why do we still see perversion where no harm is done?

Jesse Bering

Photo of a person holding a glittery pink phone, taking a picture, with a blurred background of seated people.

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Cognition and intelligence

Too much information

Our instincts for privacy evolved in tribal societies where walls didn’t exist. No wonder we are hopeless oversharers

Ian Leslie

Photo of a person in a white hat leaning on a brick wall, gazing at the ocean under a dramatic, cloudy sky with rays of sunlight.

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Stories and literature

Inner peace

We yearn for silence, yet the less sound there is, the more our thoughts deafen us. How can we still the noise within?

Tim Parks