The Last Jedi’s Twisted Theory of the Self
In Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Rey and Kylo Ren share a telepathic bond forged by the Force, brilliantly illustrating Douglas Hofstadter's "Strange Loop" theory of the self.
What Do We Lose When We Lose a Species?
Debates about the moral value of biodiversity are longstanding in the world of environmental ethics, and the issue is far from settled.
What Counts as Natural Athleticism?
Regulations banning performance-enhancing drugs raise as many questions as they answer.
Radical Questions: Am I My Memories?
"White Bear," an episode of the television show Black Mirror, documents the cruel and unusual punishment inflicted on the protagonist, an amnesiac.
Don’t Buy Into the Authenticity Scam
We choose products and services partially based on how they make us feel, on meanings we derive from our choices.
Wittgenstein on Whether Speech Is Violence
When is speech violence? Sometimes. It depends. That’s a complicated question.
The Statistics of Coin Tosses for Theater Geeks
At the beginning of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, a coin toss lands as heads 92 times in a row, the odds of which are a mere 1 in 5 octillion.
“Let the Traumatic Image Haunt Us”
When tragedies strike, it is through photographs, rather than think pieces and reportage that the reader can see the sheer scale of the problem.
Donald Trump: The Id of Republican Politics
If Reagan is the Republican super-ego, the father figure that this latest generation looks up to, then Donald Trump is the id of Republican politics.