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We cannot rule out the possibility that a superintelligence will do some very bad things, says AGI expert Ben Goertzel. But we can’t stop the research now – even if we wanted to.

Plato wasn’t worried that democracy tended to lead to Donald Trump-style tyranny (despite what Andrew Sullivan claims). Here’s what he was really concerned about.   

Astrophysicists have been looking for worlds like Proxima b since the 19th century. At last, they’re found! This article is contributed by Sabine Hossenfelder. Sabine is a theoretical physicist specialized in […]

Billionaire Peter Thiel is the secret money behind Hulk Hogan’s Gawker lawsuit and why it matters.

An awful op-ed about how science is no different than other disciplines misses some fundamental facts. “Philosophy of science is about as useful to scientists as ornithology is to birds.” […]

Most teaching textbooks aren’t evidence-based according to a new report, so where should teachers go to keep their skills up to date?

Nick Lane believes he can explain the “black hole” at the heart of biology. And in the process predict traits that even alien life will have. Here are some amazing facts from biology.

The reward of the doldrums is an uptick, however temporary, in your ability to make rational decisions.  

Despite all those weeks sunning themselves and enjoying breaks from work, the French are among the most productive workers in the world. Americans could be, too. 

How successful are these drugs in inducing a good night’s sleep – and what are the drawbacks, over time, to using them as sleep aids?

Which makes you wonder what other “candidate worlds” aren’t worlds after all. “These types of systems could be ubiquitous in the universe. This is a really exciting time for planet hunters.” […]

An Applicant’s Guide To NASA Astronaut Selection This guest post was written by Brian Shiro: NOAA geophysicist, NASA researcher, and co-founder of Astronauts for Hire. “I wasn’t destined to be […]

NASA just posted all 8,400 photos from all 12 Apollo missions to Flickr. Here are the best in full, original resolution. “Suddenly, from behind the rim of the Moon, in […]

Stars are born, live and die, but their light tells a remarkable story that changes over time. “Aristotle taught that stars are made of a different matter than the four […]

There is no sense whatsoever that we are on the same page here, working toward some roughly agreed upon vision of a better future.

The possibilities were almost limitless, so why does everything line up? “Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless […]

A team of archaeologists and biologists in Puerto Rico have solved a mystery about the genetic origins of ancient Caribbean civilizations by analyzing fossilized dung.

Two recent examples from The New York Times, one from a columnist and one in an editorial, illustrate the danger of news media coverage of risk that is alarmist, incomplete, and inaccurate.

It has become commonplace to see a “worm” based on the reactions of a tiny sample of audience members running across our screens during televised presidential debates. Psychologists tested whether the worm can influence our voting intentions and the results are worrying in the extreme.

The Universe we see isn’t exactly the Universe that is. How do we translate? “On a cosmic scale, our life is insignificant, yet this brief period when we appear in […]

Why “letting there be light” in the Universe isn’t enough. “Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.” –Marcus Aurelius I want you […]

The revelation that Santa Claus is more an idea than a man can be a major turning point in a child’s life. Is he a “training-wheels Jesus” or a way to introduce children to cynical disillusionment?

A new Spanish law encouraging foreign investment allows entrepreneurs to obtain an extended-stay visa.

Radiation gets stretched to longer and longer wavelengths as space itself expands, but what happens to matter? “The trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.” –Molière It’s […]

Anxiety is not productive. The communications industry suffers from an existential crisis wrought by technological change. Standards have been upended, and the digital world — a universe of bits and […]

Wearable technology is the future, but questions still persist as to where on the body the most popular devices will be worn. According to some prognosticators, temporary tech tattoos will reign supreme.

Forget nine lives; if one interpretation of quantum mechanics is right, the cat might have an infinite number of them. Observers are the necessary, but unliked, bouncers in the elegant […]

Half of computer programmers surveyed by the Financial Times expect machines to outsmart humans by 2040, and a stunning 90 percent expect this “superinteliigence” to emerge by 2075.

We know to be wary of demagoguery, but “plutogoguery” also has perils. Especially if it promotes elite psychological patterns that history warns against: 1. Demagogues are leaders (agogos = “lead”) […]

Factory farming, eating meat, Internet porn, overprescribing antibiotics, obesity, the maintenance of nuclear weapon stockpiles: these are just some of the reasons that future generations may criticize the morals of our present society.