reality
New hypothesis argues the universe simulates itself into existence
A physics paper proposes neither you nor the world around you are real.
Are We Born Optimistic? Or Is It a Coping Skill We Learn as Adults?
80% of adults are overly optimistic about life—where does that cognitive bias come from?
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6 min
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Fantasy-Industrial Complex: How America Got Lost Inside a Dream
Why does America confuse fantasy for reality, in pop culture and in politics? Kurt Andersen can pinpoint the moment it happened.
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5 min
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Reclaim Reality, Relationships, and Your Attention Span from Your Devices
Your future happiness and success will depend on the double-edged sword of embracing new technology to stay connected, and being smart enough to unplug at the right time.
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9 min
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Where Does Reality End and Imagination Begin? In the Future, We Might Not Know
Reality is whatever your body believes. Virtual reality knows how to hack that.
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5 min
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Are We Living inside a Massive Computer Program?
Is our existence base reality—or are we pawns in a matrix? Cognitive scientist Joscha Bach explains how we might be able to tell.
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6 min
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Do Our Senses Reveal the World—Or Do They Obscure It?
Our brains didn't evolve to see the world accurately, we only perceive what is useful and apply meaning to it. Neuroscientist Beau Lotto shows us how the sausage of reality is made.
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6 min
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Why Searching for a Theory of Everything Is Better Than Finding It
Will we ever have a Theory of Everything? Theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss isn't sure that's the right question to be asking.
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4 min
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Would You Enter the Perfect Matrix? Why One Philosopher Says You Wouldn’t.
Everybody wants to be happy, right? Who wouldn't try to get as many pleasurable experiences as they could? Well, if this philosopher is right. You wouldn't.
Are Science’s Preferred Languages Limiting How Smart Folk Think?
Few see how strongly science's preferred languages shape and limit the thinking of many experts.
How To Be An Art Connoisseur? Look First, Think Later
American painter David Salle explains that to observe and appreciate art better, we need to refresh a basic skill we've all left in the dust: how to see.
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10 min
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Is Your Life Really Yours? How ‘The Attention Merchants’ Got Inside Our Heads
“My Experience is What I Agree to Pay Attention to,” said psychologist William James. And therein lies the problem and danger of advertising: we don’t always agree or choose to pay attention, but it shapes our life experience irrevocably.
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9 min
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The tyranny of positivity: A Harvard psychologist details our unhealthy obsession with happiness
Think happy, be happy? Maybe not. Harvard psychologist Susan David examines the backlash effect of forced positivity in our lives.
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6 min
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