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The virtual reality (VR) industry is currently in its infancy, but in just a few decades it’s possible that virtual environments will be nearly indistinguishable from reality. Along with transforming everyday life, a VR revolution could fundamentally change how we understand and define what is real. In this instalment of Aeon’s In Sight series, the renowned Australian philosopher and cognitive scientist David Chalmers considers how VR is reframing and shedding new light on some of philosophy’s most enduring questions about cognition, epistemology and the nature of reality.
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Social psychology
What happened when a crypto scam swept over a sleepy town in the Caucasus
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History of technology
Curious singles and tech sceptics – what ‘computer dating’ looked like in 1966
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Technology and the self
The commodified childhood – scenes from two sisters’ lives in the creator economy
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Metaphysics
What do past, present and future mean to a philosopher of time?
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Bioethics
What a 1970 experiment reveals about the possibility and perils of ‘head transplants’
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Technology and the self
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Technology and the self
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Information and communication
Coverage of the ‘balloon boy’ hoax forms a withering indictment of for-profit news
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Food and drink
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