Futurists disagree over how much the future lends itself to control and foreknowledge. Many focus too much on the grandiose. Excerpt: " If futurists really want to help everyday people, perhaps their goal should be to help us deal with our anxiety about the future rather than to simply predict what will happen. From this perspective, the most valuable section in Mr. Foster’s book recounts his first trip in a self-driving taxi. Mr. Foster was initially awestruck, but he soon f

Anti-science mysticism is enabling autocracy around the globe. Related

Reviewing Project 2025’s year of successes and shortcomings Related: The Trump Administration’s Most Paralyzing Blow to Science Related: How Social Security has gotten worse under Trump

DM What are your thoughts as "indispensability" as an applied construct within science? I see a critical epistemological mechanism at play. Declaring something "indispensable" can function as a powerful closure technique, potentially stifling alternative investigative pathways. The declaration of indispensability might represent an intellectual defense mechanism that prematurely constrains scientific imagination and exploratory thinking. The mechanism suggests an intriguing p

Science and philosophy explain why color is objectively real, even when people see the same shade differently. Related UII

The necessary technical advances are likely 15 to 20 years away, but research yields quick dividends.

Properly deciphering the branching pathways of evolution could unlock the history of every component of natural biology.

It’s not just okay for some things in life to be hard—it’s essential.

Scientists are redefining autism as a complex condition with multiple forms, challenging traditional notions.

Neuroscience isn’t dissolving philosophy’s hardest problems — it’s forcing us to rethink where they live. Excerpt: " Philosophers and scientists have always kept close company. Look back far enough, and it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. Before we had instruments to measure reality, we had to reason our way into it, but that intellectual lineage is what eventually gave us the scientific method. As technology advanced and the scope for observation expanded,

In a year when the United States seemed more split than ever, Americans united in one way: We demanded results and we wanted them now.

Can the agency that invented modern drug development survive so many assaults on its reputation? A former FDA insider reads an 800-page book to find out.

By tracking brain activity as primates move freely in the wild, neuroethology could reshape what we think we know about our own minds. Excerpt: "If asked to describe what sets a cognitively complex species like humans apart from others, many would list specific behaviors, such as telling stories, creating art, planning for the future, or navigating complex social structures. Given that, you might expect that neuroscientists attempting to understand the advanced brain would s

DM Good day Claude. Today I would seek to (feebly) share my on-going Fitness=Truth™ thinking regarding Pantakinesis™ , The Universal Holophren™ and my conjecture of an apparently continuous Pantakinetic creation in the "Realm of the Present-Now™ (RPN), for your commentary (of, and beyond, our related past conversations; ...and please no sycophancy, nor anemic dichotomies!): 1) Pantakinesis, by definition, would (seem to be) without or beyond any imaginable shape or boundaries

Researchers analyzed ancient RNA from the extinct creatures; a ‘steppingstone’ in quest to bring them back?

At a meeting that’s become the center of the tech universe, nerdy researchers partied on yachts and gathered on rooftops to trade gossip and compare notes. Everyone was feeling bubbly.

We built genius machines, and gave them our blind spots.

Betting a breakthrough is imminent

The Trump administration says it will dismantle a premier climate center, while somehow keeping weather forecasting intact.

It may have became the basis for most written languages, beginning 4,000 years ago in the Sinai desert.