April 16, 2012

What is Democracy?

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

For this week’s post I would like to ask a single question: What is democracy?

Please share your answers in the comments. I will feature what I think are the most interesting responses in next week’s post.

I look forward to your thoughts!

—

Image of The Parthenon courtesy of Shutterstock

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Person examining a petri dish with tweezers, holding small colored objects, against a dark background.

Health

Are microplastics really destroying our health?

They’re in our brains, hearts, and blood — but what are they doing to us?

A statue of a thoughtful, seated philosopher on the right seems to be contemplating a calling, while a standing figure holding a lyre on the left adds harmony against the textured background.

Thinking

Everyday Philosophy: Can you have a “calling” without a caller?

If you’re an atheist with a vocation, who laid that path for you?

Close-up image of a human iris featuring vibrant blue and yellow hues with a dark pupil in the center.

The mystery at the heart of consciousness

“Is it possible that consciousness is a much more basic phenomenon in nature and is essentially pervading everything?”

▸

10 min

—

with

Annaka Harris

Starts With A Bang

Ask Ethan: Does the CMB really “prove” the Big Bang?

Since the mid-1960s, the CMB has been identified with the Big Bang’s leftover glow. Could any alternative explanations still work?

A wasp illustration in blue on grid paper is overlaid on a close-up image of effervescent bubbles in a golden alcoholic liquid.

Health

The first known animal that’s “immune” to alcohol intoxication

Could studying the Oriental hornet lead to a treatment for people with alcohol use disorder?

Up Next

Should Europe Put Its Royalty Out to Pasture?

An ill-timed African vacation (to shoot at elephants) has landed Spain’s royal family in hot water with the public. At what point do cultural traditions themselves become anachronistic?