America, it is often said, has never been more divided. Gone are the days when politicians routinely brokered deals across the aisle, and Republican and Democratic voters could disagree on policy yet still get along over the dinner table. Instead, polarization has transformed the … | Continue reading
When my son turned 12, he asked for his first smartphone. My wife and I did what many parents do in such a situation: We reflexively said no. Let’s round back in a year or two. Maybe three. However, kiddo was persistent in that way only a middle schooler could be, so we spent the … | Continue reading
In my mid-70s, I met a woman 20 years younger who expressed an intellectual interest in me. She is my daughter’s age. My age dictates a waning interest in sex, but I enjoy being around this young woman; we dinner date and take weekend trips together. She stimulates me intellectua … | Continue reading
One of the reasons that many people argue that there is no such thing as “true altruism,” that people are never purely motivated to help other people for their own sake, is because, paradoxically, altruism is a source of enormous joy for those who help others. Those who have made … | Continue reading
Here in our Universe as we know it, once an outcome has occurred, there’s no going back. Once you open a bag of potato chips, you can never return that bag to its unopened state; the air molecules from inside and outside have already mixed with one another, even if you reseal it. … | Continue reading
Earlier this month, a government lab in the United States released three highly anticipated encryption algorithms that were built to withstand cyberattacks from quantum computers. The encryption standards, two of which were developed by IBM, can be used to “secure a wide range of … | Continue reading
Dark matter is thought to be the most prevalent form of matter in the Universe, comprising about five times as much mass as the ordinary matter found in stars and galaxies. There’s only one problem: Despite half a century of effort, scientists have found only indirect evidence of … | Continue reading
This week, Arne Alsin — the CIO of Nightview Capital and my colleague for almost a decade now — shared 10 insightful life and business lessons that he’s picked up in his 40+ year career as an investor. I’ve seen many of these lessons firsthand. Arne — who began his career as a fo … | Continue reading
Here in our Universe, there’s a formula for understanding how any physical phenomenon works. If we can come to know the fundamental rules governing any physical system, and if those rules remain constant over time, then we can input the parameters that we have at any moment and e … | Continue reading
Developing trusted relationships with all your organization’s stakeholders also means sharing your knowledge with them in a thoughtful, collegial, and compassionate way. I wanted Green Mountain Coffee to play a role in establishing the specialty coffee industry among the broader … | Continue reading
Over the past few decades, some scientists have claimed that science does not need philosophy. Usually, the next statement out of their mouths is one rich with philosophical assumptions they’re not even aware of. It’s kind of sad. Fortunately, there are lots of great examples of … | Continue reading
We often think the solution to misinformation is fact checking. But just checking facts is not enough. Even if a fact is 100 percent accurate, it could still be misleading – it could be a large-scale correlation when there’s no causation. The solution to misinformation is not obt … | Continue reading
Let’s play a game. Here’s the setup: You’re an investor, and, to keep the math simple, you have $10 to invest. Thing is, you’re not looking into stocks, commodities, or a new business opportunity. You’re investing in a stranger. The game: You’re going to give this stranger some, … | Continue reading
One of the biggest puzzles we face about the Universe is that we have no explanation for a great many of the properties that the fundamental objects within it possess. There are four fundamental forces, each with their own strength of interaction, and there’s no explanation for w … | Continue reading
The outer solar system is awash with liquid water. A briny ocean is concealed beneath the icy crust of Jupiter’s fourth largest moon, Europa — with more water than all of Earth’s oceans combined. A subsurface sea on Saturn’s moon Enceladus spews plumes of water vapor into space. … | Continue reading
At one Bower Forum in New York City, a CEO of a global manufacturer bemoaned the fact that everything seemed to be spinning out of control. Cyberattacks were running rampant, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine were disrupting supply chains, and inflation was hurting the bottom l … | Continue reading
In thinking about the economy, two heads are almost always better than one. Great ideas tend to emerge from teamwork. Even so, the partnership between the psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky was exceptional. First, it endured, lasting for more than 25 years and only en … | Continue reading
What if suspending your disbelief could help make the world a better place, beginning with the way you see yourself? As it turns out, you may be able to trick your mind into discovering your hidden potential. Mentalism is a performance art that uses psychological techniques to ev … | Continue reading
On a quiet corner of Tokyo’s Ginza district, hidden behind an unassuming door, a soft-spoken bespectacled man came to work — seven days a week — and focused on a singular task: crafting the perfect piece of sushi. Perhaps you have heard of Jiro Ono. He’s the 98-year-old retired c … | Continue reading
One of the most surprising discoveries in all of astronomical history occurred nearly a full century ago: when we discovered that the distant galaxies in our Universe aren’t stationary, but are mutually receding from one another. This realization first came about in 1927, and has … | Continue reading
Unlearning could be the highest form of learning in a post-AI world. It’s the ultimate insurance policy against Zombie Leadership (dead leadership that fails to adapt to changing circumstances) and “enshittification” — a term coined by academic Cary Doctorow to describe the slow … | Continue reading
Benedict was the son of a wealthy, noble family in 6th-century Italy. He was a pious and diligent boy, and when he was old enough, he moved to Rome to study classics but quickly grew bored with the pratting about that defined student life. Worried over his learning and his soul, … | Continue reading
Whether it’s something as trivial as pineapple on pizza or as complex as religion, human beings have always been passionately divided by polarizing viewpoints. David Eagleman, a neuroscientist at Stanford University and the international bestselling author of Incognito: The Secre … | Continue reading
Nobody knows for sure who will ultimately fulfill the vast commercial promise of genetic medicine, but a lot of very smart people have high hopes for Scribe Therapeutics. CEO Benjamin Oakes was a researcher in Jennifer Doudna’s CRISPR laboratory long before her 2020 Nobel Prize w … | Continue reading
When you think of an active galaxy, what picture comes to mind? Do you think about a monstrous supermassive black hole feasting on tremendous stores of gas and other forms of matter? Do you picture an enormous disk of accreted matter, being accelerated, heated, and eventually sho … | Continue reading
In 1964, a steamship passed underneath the Golden Gate Bridge and entered the San Francisco harbor. Aboard was Lawrence Chu, a young man from Sichuan who, like so many Chinese immigrants, came to the United States in search of an American Dream. Three years later, his future wife … | Continue reading
I have an insoluble dilemma: I’m interested in everything. After a while, I get bored with everything, and I like change and movement. But it seems that other people are satisfied with a single career, a single role. Why can’t I do that? – Violette, Belgium I think a lot of peopl … | Continue reading
If you’ve taken a math class, it’s likely you’ve asked yourself “What am I really going to use this for?” Mathematician Talithia Williams has the answer. The key to understanding math outside of the classroom, Dr. Williams explains, is appreciating how beautiful it really is. Muc … | Continue reading
Why do cultures develop social norms? They provide a general guidebook of how to behave in society, sometimes in an effort to help members of that culture live an easier life. But how do we evaluate if social norms are still valuable in this day and age? Investigation is the key … | Continue reading
Peter is a fresh-faced new recruit who can’t wait to start his new job. He walks into the office, clutching his lunchbox to his chest like a soldier on parade, and smiles as he sits in his cubicle. Peter is great at his job, and his bosses quickly notice. So, after two years, he’ … | Continue reading
Whenever we’re outside on a clear, starry night, our eyes are inexorably, almost irresistibly, drawn skyward, as if we can’t help ourselves from pondering and contemplating the great expanse of space that lies above us, separated only by our thin atmosphere. Yet within that atmos … | Continue reading
In August, scientists announced they had discovered a whole lot of water on Mars. Using the same seismographic techniques used to probe Earth’s interior, researchers found evidence of enough sub-surface water to cover the Red Planet in a one-mile-deep ocean. But before anyone sta … | Continue reading
A few days ago, the investor Paul Graham published an essay with a provocative central insight: when it comes to growing a business, the conventional wisdom is almost always wrong. Instead of shifting to “manager mode” as a company expands — i.e. delegating tasks to subordinates … | Continue reading
As a new school year kicks off across most of the world, a new crop of high school and college students will take physics for the first time, starting off with mechanics and motion. And, as has been the case for hundreds of years, going back to the time of Newton, students will c … | Continue reading
Artificial intelligence is transforming our world, prompting us to revisit fundamental philosophical questions about human existence and purpose. In this interview, Brendan McCord, founder of the Cosmos Institute, examines how philosophical insights from thinkers like Aristotle, … | Continue reading
“Water, water, every where / Nor any drop to drink,” laments the Ancient Mariner. That’s because the ocean surrounding his ship is too salty. Our bodies can’t process the salt in seawater, and drinking it would actually dehydrate you further. You could drink the whole ocean and s … | Continue reading
There are two things that never seems to fall out of fashion when it comes to theoretical physics: people proposing wild new ideas that attempt to make sense of the Universe, and people declaring that some of the best and most well-established theories must be wrong. Physics is g … | Continue reading
If you ever want to have your day ruined, talk to an economist. One of the things economists are fond of pointing out is that there is no such thing as a free lunch. What they mean by this is that there is a cost to everything. If you say you’re excited to go get a free lunch, an … | Continue reading
Here in our Universe, there are some cosmic puzzles that loom very large, casting a grand veil of uncertainty over our attempts to understand all of reality. Some of the biggest ones include: Why does the Universe obey the rules that it does, as opposed to any other rules? Why do … | Continue reading
“Life can only be understood backwards, but must be lived forwards,” Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard noted in his diary in 1843. But it’s not just your own life that’s best understood in the rearview mirror: If you look back on the world’s most famous figures, you may find s … | Continue reading
What does math have to do with theology? According to Dr. Talithia Williams, a math professor and science communicator, quite a lot. In just under three minutes, Williams explains how mathematics connects the natural world with deeper ideas of order and purpose. Math, she says, h … | Continue reading
Stress at work is something we’ve all experienced, but when it becomes a constant, unrelenting presence, it can push our nervous systems into what’s known as “survival mode.” This state is characterized by heightened anxiety, decreased focus, and a perpetual feeling of being over … | Continue reading
In the summer of 1861, weeks after Confederate troops fired the first shots of the Civil War, educator and abolitionist Frederick Gunn assembled his own troops—about 30 boys and a dozen girls who were students at his Washington, Connecticut, boarding school. Gunn, an early propon … | Continue reading
It’s 2024 and fantasy author George R.R. Martin has officially spent 12 years working on The Winds of Winter, the long-awaited sixth installment in the series that inspired the HBO hit Game of Thrones. With no release date in sight, one tech-savvy fan decided to write the story h … | Continue reading
An accountant who fills out spreadsheets at the beach, a dog groomer who always has time for one more client, a basketball player who shoots free throws to the point of exhaustion. Every profession has its share of hard chargers and overachievers. But for some workers — perhaps m … | Continue reading
This article is an installment of Future Explored, Freethink’s weekly guide to world-changing technology. You can get stories like this one straight to your inbox every Saturday morning by subscribing here. It’s 2028, and a “crazy” bet some Harvard dropouts made just a few years … | Continue reading
In the 13th century, the young married patrician Ramon Llull was living a licentious life in Majorca, lusting after women and squandering his time writing “worthless songs and poems.” His loose behavior, however, gave way to a series of divine revelations. His visions urged him t … | Continue reading
Why has no major philosopher appeared recently? Philosophy in its various forms seems to be no longer of interest except to its students. What are the reasons for this? – Wassan, Iraq Oh my, there’s quite a barrel-full of assumptions in this question, Wassan — not least the fact … | Continue reading