Miscellaneous

Truth, alone, is not sufficient

What we need, in addition to those truths, is more narrative — more people telling the good stories, and telling them well…

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Genetically modified: yoghurt and the beginning of CRISPR

Human genetic modification has the very real potential to revolutionize our lives, and it all started with bacteria.

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Human Behaviour

Stigmergy and The Soul of the Ant

When I was a kid, one of the books I read that stimulated my sense of awe and wonder in nature was “Die Siel van die Mier”, which in…

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Human Behaviour

Detecting minds where there are none

You’re sitting in your bedroom and hear three sharp raps at your window. Rat tat tat. Ten seconds later, you hear it again. Rat tat tat…

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Human Behaviour

Essentialism: Basing decisions on beliefs

“The pleasure we get from all sorts of everyday objects is related to our beliefs about their histories.” — that’s a line from Paul Bloom’s…

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Human Behaviour

What’s commonplace is unthinkingly right

Some parts of daily life seem so natural, benign, and commonplace that we don’t consider them to be as awful as they really are. Perhaps we…

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Travel

Travels: France — Èze does it

A letter to my friends, sent from Èze, near Nice, France.

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