Unflattening, a doctoral dissertation in comic book form ... Why academics tend to distrust images ... Visual literacy as a way to understand the world better ... Imagination and mysticism in Edwin Abbott's Flatland ... How images can help authors overcome intellectual alienation ... Why everybody should learn to draw ...

Bob’s NY Times article on evolution and purpose ... Was evolution likely to produce the Internet? ... The counter-entropic role of life ... Is moral progress built into history? ... Social and political dimensions of moral progress ... The psychology of terrorism ... What can we do to fight tribalist impulses? ...

Should we really worry about robots taking our jobs? ... Fighting racism with algorithms ... Are AI advances mostly hype? ... Using AI to make technology more secure ... The robot economy is coming ... Do robots have moral value? ...

Does Russian thought have anything to contribute to the world? ... Nikolay Fedorov, an eccentric thinker who influenced Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky ... Fedorov’s plan: Immortality for everyone ... "Kinship" as a fundamental property of all matter ... A mass movement for the spiritual unity of humankind ... Vladimir Solovyov’s The Meaning of Love: Sexuality as a path to a Christian utopia ... Christ as the ultimate role model ...

Erik’s new book Suggestible You ... When snake oil actually works ... How your beliefs can change your body ... Why do people respond differently to the same placebo? ... How the discovery of “placebo genes” could transform medicine ... The fuzzy line between placebos and real medicine ... Erik’s visit to a Mexican witch doctor ...

Emily’s forthcoming book, The Power of Meaning ... Can an atheist be spiritual? ... What makes for a meaningful life? ... The dark side of finding meaning ... Are we in the midst of a “meaning crisis?” ...

Are the benefits of mindfulness exaggerated? ... Meditation and our “neuroplastic” brains ... How meditation alters the fear response ... Why studying mindfulness is hard ... Mindfulness is about more than being in the moment ... Advice for the anti-Trump crowd from meditation teachers ...

The controversy over the neurochemical basis for trust ... What causes "altruistic punishment?" ... How haste makes good people bad ... The nuts and bolts of forgiveness ... The psychology of political conflict ... What makes us care about strangers? ...

Sufis, “the ones who are not” ... How Sufism relates to establishment Islam ... Why is ISIS destroying Sufi shrines? ... How Sufism came to America ... Does Islam lend itself to universalism? ... Is Sufism always Islamic? ...

Terence McKenna on DMT ... Shane’s psychedelic comedy show A Good Trip ... The brain’s uncanny capacity for simulating reality ... Gaining awareness of one’s biases ... Recreational versus therapeutic drug use ... Mistakes of the sixties and today’s legalization movement ... Mushrooms as meditative aids ...