The Supreme Court has helped define two kinds of patriotism: One which defends against outside intruders and one which promotes the common good. We need more of the latter.
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Is religion the only thing that can inspire feelings of a transcendent hope? Perhaps that is the wrong question. Do we even need hope to live? British philosopher Julian Baggini responds.
For Safraz Manzoor, a father of a 10 month-old daughter, most of the “advice” he received came in the form of societal expectations. Now he opens up about what fatherhood is really like.
Intervening on the great Crooked Timber vs. Bleeding Hearts Libertarians debate on freedom in the workplace, Matthew Yglesias says: My standard approach to this is that in almost all political contexts, including this one, both […]
Mind reading devices that can alert soldiers to things they’ve seen, but that their brains aren’t yet aware of, could save lives. Some scientists worry it could also extend the theater of war.
The big news this week is that the Large Hadron Collider, the massive particle accelerator at the European physics lab CERN, has apparently discovered the elusive and long-sought subatomic particle […]
In question is nothing less than the nature of literature from an evolutionary perspective.
It’s a big challenge being a spiritual teacher in a secular culture. What could be more disconcerting than being a religious authority in a world where there is no consensus […]
If you think of all of the greatest viral campaigns in the world, you’d struggle to think of many from Asia. But that doesn’t mean people aren’t trying, and you […]
Competition is driving companies to automate more and more middle-class jobs. Sectors of the economy like legal research and nursing are being “hallowed out” says an MIT economist.
This post is an introductory framework for moral infanticide. Before we can even discuss cases of ending an infant’s life for non-medical reasons, we must understand why infants’ lives can […]
By optimizing technologies currently on the market, cars will soon be unclogging traffic jams more efficiently than humans can. After the jam is cleared, control of the car is returned to the driver.
By storing quantum data, or qubits, inside a specially-made diamond, researchers have made a technological breakthrough that should allow for a host of real-world quantum applications.
Any doomsday prophet worth her salt will tell you about the coming water wars. But with the help of nanotechnology, desalination could become far less energy-intensive, i.e. cheaper.
The Higgs boson has helped scientists confirm that there exists a vast, though nearly invisible, field of energy without which all the Universe would be massless whizzing forces.
Matt Yglesias replies to an argument from Mike Konczal: Mike Konczal has a fairly compelling argument that it would make sense to dismantle the entire crazy quilt of “submerged state” […]
When NASA’s newest Mars rover, Curiosity, touches down, scientists will study its landing technology to understand how suitable it would be for sending a manned mission to Mars.
One piece of evidence among many that we live in a decadent time (decadence ain’t all bad, but…) is that patriotism has become so controversial. I’m going to avoid the […]
We who fight against bigotry and for human rights do so because we believe that a more just, more peaceful, more compassionate society benefits everyone. Prejudice is irrational by definition, […]
While today’s announcement of the Higgs’ discovery is important, we should not elevate it to deity-status, says Dr. Dave Goldberg, professor of physics at Drexel University. It’s just a particle.
The extreme weather events of this American summer–horrendous wildfires, oppressive heat waves, devastating droughts–are precisely what global warming looks like, say climate scientists.
Scientists at the CERN laboratories in Geneva, Switzerland, have announced they found strong evidence supporting the Higgs’ existence, largely completing the Standard Model.
For many Americans, burgers and fireworks may be enough of a July 4th celebration. But to appreciate the curiosities and meaning of Independence Day, you might want to sit down […]
Fireworks are really cool to watch, but to me, the best part is watching them with thousands of other people who have all come together with the same purpose…to […]
In Celtic legend, the island was almost perpetually shrouded in mist, and visible only for one day every seven years
Americans for the past decade seem more caught up than ever in the idea of what it is to be an American, especially in an election year and perhaps never […]
Due to Friday’s historic Supreme Court ruling, this installment of Purpose, Inc. will delve into an important relationship lesson that models “the perfect ask” as told through Obama, the Bushes, […]
What’s the Big Idea? Michael Ellsberg is a contributing writer for Forbes and author of The Education of Millionaires: It’s Not What You Think, and It’s Not Too Late, a bootstrapper’s guide to […]
When asked last Tuesday what he considered to be the “greatest threat” to U.S. national security, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, replied: I […]
What’s the Big Idea? The 17th-most cited economist in the world, a Nobel laureate for his work examining global wealth concentration and international trade, and the inspiration behind a viral Youtube […]