To teach a computer how to see, it helps to first understand how humans see (or don’t see) the world around them - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
When loved ones are traumatically lost, bereaved families become accidental activists by turning grief into grievance - by Chris Bobel Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Why is there something instead of nothing? For Henri Bergson, this misguided question leads traditional metaphysics astray - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Training is a cheap solution to a hard problem. It is the systems that allow for biased behaviour that need to change - by Jeffrey To Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Ethical values can be both objective and knowable – torture really is wrong – yet not need any foundation outside themselves - by Andrew Sepielli Read at Aeon | Continue reading
A palliative care specialist makes a gentle yet powerful case for discussing and understanding how death usually unfolds - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
It’s not in the interests of the ordinary person but it’s not a conspiracy either. A cashless society is a system run amok - by Brett Scott Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Climb aboard the SSPO Esperanta to imagine the future of space travel on a luxury sightseeing tour of the solar system - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Being a twin (as our author knows) cracks open our ideas of the perfectly bounded self and might liberate us all - by Helena de Bres Read at Aeon | Continue reading
What can a quantum information theorist say about the certainty of arithmetic and the universality of mathematical truth? - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Consciousness science should move past a focus on complex mammalian brains to study the behaviour of ‘simpler’ animals - by Kristin Andrews Read at Aeon | Continue reading
In the 1960s, psychedelic research was driven underground. Now it’s re-emerging – with lessons for the study of psychosis - by Phoebe Friesen Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Through deft editing skills, a filmmaker untangles the web of carelessness and incompetence that led to a disastrous explosion - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Neither atheism nor theism adequately explains reality. That is why we must consider the middle ground between the two - by Philip Goff Read at Aeon | Continue reading
This wondrous animation pairs beautiful watercolours with a fantastical folktale told in an endangered French Creole - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Some have thought that logic will one day be completed and all its problems solved. Now we know it is an endless task - by Timothy Williamson Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Each meal is a symphony: a vintage documentary on the philosophy behind a Québec gastronomical society’s biannual dinner - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
The colourful Swiss sport of stone putting illuminates Aristotle’s insights into the shortcomings of conservative thought - by Daniel Kranzelbinder Read at Aeon | Continue reading
In Nanjing, Hong Kong and other Chinese cities, rapid urbanisation is multiplying a fear of death and belief in ghosts - by Andrew Kipnis Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Faced with the limitations of the human body and mind, Nikita programs an AI avatar to learn to do a backflip in his place - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
You might have the unconditional love of family and friends and yet feel deep loneliness. Can philosophy explain why? - by Kaitlyn Creasy Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Buried in the soil lies a hidden network that transformed the planet and plays a vital role in ecosystems today - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
For First Nations people, health is not a matter of mechanical fitness of the body, but of language, identity and belonging - by Erica X Eisen Read at Aeon | Continue reading
To perform a necessary yet overlooked job, a forensic cleaner draws on a personal ethic of deep care and respect for the dead - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Postcolonial intellectuals and Iran’s rulers agree that secularism is just Western imperialism in disguise. They are wrong - by Patrick Hassan & Hossein Dabbagh Read at Aeon | Continue reading
My dad grew up in Robert Moses’ New York City. His story is a testament to how urban planning shapes countless lives - by Katie Mulkowsky Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Population counts are key to conservation work, but tallying wolves is no easy feat, posing risks for wolf and biologist alike - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
The discipline today finds itself precariously balanced between incomprehensible specialisation and cheap self-help - by Siobhan Lyons Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Conjuring memories, mimicking babies, evoking threats – to understand why music moves us, look at what it means to be human - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
It’s often said that a successful picture ‘captures the essence’ of a subject. But a great photograph does so much more - by Daniel Star Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Henry VIII’s mighty codpiece proclaimed his sexual, political and spiritual power, at a time when all three were in question - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Modern life subjects us to all-consuming demands. That’s why we should reflect on what it means to step away from it all - by David J Siegel Read at Aeon | Continue reading
In an era of 20th-century suburban sprawl, the great designer Russell Page infused soulful philosophy into his gardens - by Caleb Smith Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Science technology and art merge in a dazzling tour of the microscopic galaxies ‘hidden in the heart of each of us’ - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Maybe not, but if that’s the threshold you use for creativity in your life, you are coming at the problem all wrong - by James C Kaufman Read at Aeon | Continue reading
How the artful production of live sports manipulates the emotions of spectators to create a near-religious experience - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Earthbound exploration was plagued with colonialism, exploitation and extraction. Can we hope to make space any different? - by Philip Ball Read at Aeon | Continue reading
The entertaining Assyriologist Irving Finkel detangles the web of absentee gods and meddlesome spirits in ancient Mesopotamia - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Have you been here before? The eerie sensation is the shadow of your mind searching inward for clues to its own survival - by Anne Cleary Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Bernard Williams argued that one’s ethics is shaped by culture and history. But that doesn’t mean that everyone is right - by Daniel Callcut Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Keju, China’s incredibly difficult civil service test, strengthened the state at the cost of freedom and creativity - by Yasheng Huang Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Nearing death, a father tells his daughter the truth about his time in Auschwitz. His story becomes a room she cannot leave - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
From fleeing arrows to freeing prisoners, this animation chronicles the silly, important and occasionally perilous work of jesters - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
It’s possible that frozen worlds with subterranean oceans are incubators of organic life. But then how did life get here? - by Balazs Bradak Read at Aeon | Continue reading
How to to find poetry in small moments and the unlikeliest of places – eg, a small-town grocery story in Pahokee, Florida - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
The Sunni movement of Salafism was born at the beginning of the 20th century, with the goal of modelling life on the 7th - by Aaron Rock-Singer Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Training individuals to support one another through difficult times is a profound step forward in our mental health crisis - by Arjun Kapoor & Jasmine Kalha Read at Aeon | Continue reading
‘Are you using religious freedom to protect only fundamentalist Christians?’ The Jewish leaders fighting the US abortion ban - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading