Robert Wright's Nonzero

The Hameroff-Penrose theory of quantum consciousness ... Why we'll never construct a true artificial intelligence ... The implications of quantum consciousness for free will ... Do microtubules in the brain explain consciousness? ... How quantum physics could help us understand anesthesia ... Why Stuart doesn't dismiss paranormal research ... Could quantum entanglement explain paranormal phenomena? ...

Defining transhumanism ... Why David is pessimistic about the Singularity ... Becoming happier by shifting our "hedonic set points" ... Could we phase out suffering by tackling its genetic roots? ... Can chemicals deliver enduring happiness? ... Why David has never tasted meat ... Is transhumanism a secular religion? ...

Omar critiques Wajahat Ali's controversial article on West Bank settlers ... How the Israel/Palestine conflict is covered in the media ... The Israel Anti-Boycott Act ... Bob offers a defense of Ali's article ... Has the Mideast conversation shifted in America? ... Omar sees the Boycott Israel movement growing in power ... Israeli fears of Palestinian violence and their political consequences ...

Jim's new book of essays, When Einstein Walked with Gödel ... The Platonists who believe mathematics is transcendent ... Against viewing math as transcendent ... The implications of Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem ... What's so special about light? Einstein can explain ... Tachyons, the hypothetical particles that travel faster than light ... How Jim became a "rigorous dilettante" (with cameos by B.F. Skinner and Bette Midler) ...

Adam's new book, Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth ... Adam: Climate change is a civilizational inevitability ... How many planets are in our galaxy? Guess again. It’s more than that. ... How pessimists about the existence of extraterrestrial life became optimists ... Why haven't we heard from any aliens? ... Does fighting climate change require spiritual change? ... Why the Gaia hypothesis isn't new-age hooey ... The theoretical archaeology of exo-civilizations ...

How Wajahat got disinvited from a major Muslim conference ... The Israel-Palestine conflict: Jews vs. Muslims or Jews vs. Arabs? ... Why publishing in The Atlantic fueled the controversy ... Wajahat’s essay takes criticism from left and right ... Worst-case scenarios ... Can the international community change the equation? ... The case against Wajahat, and his response ...

Why a particle isn't what you think it is ... Reasons to doubt the many worlds interpretation ... The theory Einstein developed that he didn't believe ... Would going back in time violate the laws of physics? ... Black holes and the natural selection of universes ... What are the strings in string theory made of? ... Audience Q and A ...

Yemen-born Shireen on the civil war in her homeland ... Why is the US helping Saudi Arabia bomb Yemen? ... Shireen: The Saudis work with Al Qaeda in Yemen ... A brief history of the conflict in Yemen ... How the war turned Shireen into an activist ... What's the Saudi endgame? What's the Houthi endgame? ... Is the US in effect helping Al Qaeda and ISIS in Yemen? ...

“The harshness of Russian law is softened by its optionality” ... Nikita’s briefly successful escape from a paddy wagon at a political rally ... It’s not always Putin who kills Russian journalists (Meet Chechnya’s leader) ... A look inside Russia’s supposedly fearsome troll factory ... Support for Putin and Russia's intimate relationship with suffering ... “Monstration”: a mock rally investigating the absurd ...

What is the Logos? ... The practicality of metaphysics ... Philo of Alexandria's vision of global harmony ... Plotinus and the connection between human and divine ... The Logos and Christianity ... The Logos as an algorithm ... Why do the laws of physics infallibly work? ... Carl Jung and the Logos (and Jordan Peterson's Jungianism) ...