Category Archives: philosophy

7 Must-Read Books on Time

What the second law of thermodynamics has to do with Saint Augustine, landscape art, and graphic novels.
Time is the most fundamental common denominator between our existence and that of everything else, it’s the yardstick by which we measure nearly … Continue reading

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6.893 Philosophy and Theoretical Computer Science

This new offering will examine the relevance of modern theoretical computer science to traditional questions in philosophy, and conversely, what philosophy can contribute to theoretical computer science. Continue reading

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How an agnostic, libertarian hypochondriac invented "survival of the fittest" [Secret History]

The most famous philosopher of the Victorian age, Herbert Spencer, coined the term “survival of the fittest”, tried to apply the concepts of evolution to human society, and was described by Charles Darwin himself as “twenty times my superior.” He was … Continue reading

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PICKED: The Belief Instinct, The Science of Spirituality

We’re deeply fascinated by how the human mind makes sense of the world, and religion is one of the primary sensemaking mechanisms humanity has created to explain reality. On the heels of our recent explorations of the relationship between science and… Continue reading

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Seeing the truth of the world via science fiction [Philosophy]

Science fiction takes us out of our own time and place, and confronts us with alien objects as well as incomprehensible future artifacts. By doing this, argues Daniel Rourke, SF brings us closer to seeing things as they really are.
Mid-way through H.G…. Continue reading

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Robert J. Sawyer’s talk at Google’s Waterloo office

Robert J. Sawyer, a Canadian science fiction author, gave a fascinating talk at Google’s Waterloo office. He discusses how the world wide web might gain consciousness, the subject of his latest trilogy. The talk touches on several topics related to … Continue reading

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Book: I Am a Strange Loop

I Am a Strange Loop Douglas Hofstadter This latest book from cognitive scientist Douglas Hofstadter, while not quite as much fun as his mind-bending classic, Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, in some ways goes further and is more … Continue reading

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