metaphysics

A Glitch in the Matrix Gives Us a Glimpse at Simulation Theory History in This Devilish Clip

The latest weird documentary from Room 237 director Rodney Ascher, A Glitch in the Matrix, premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and is now in theaters and on-demand. It offers a deep dive into simulation theory, asking how we got to the point of believing that the world could very well be an artificial…

Movies Cheryl Eddy Feb 12

Poll: Two in Five Americans Still Believe God Created Humans 10,000 Years Ago

A new Gallup poll shows that 40 percent of American adults comply to a strict view of creationism, in which God brought humans into existence within the last 10,000 years. More encouragingly, a record number of Americans now say God had absolutely nothing to do with it. Evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin published On the Origin…

Tech News George Dvorsky Jul 26

How Will Future Civilizations Survive the Accelerating Expansion of the Universe?

If you think we have problems now, just wait a few billion years, when the accelerating expansion of the Universe triggers an energy crisis of cosmological proportions. Sounds grim, but as a new paper points out, an advanced civilization faced with doom won’t have to go gently into that good night—there may very well be…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky Jul 6

Hibernating Aliens Could Explain the Great Silence

We have yet to find any traces of extraterrestrial intelligence, a vexing problem known as the Fermi Paradox. A new solution to the “where are all the aliens?” conundrum suggests that advanced aliens do exist—but they’re in a self-imposed state of hibernation, waiting for a future era of the cosmos in which they can flourish…

Tech News George Dvorsky May 31

Wild New Theory Suggests Radio Bursts Beyond Our Galaxy Are Powering Alien Starships

Since their discovery ten years ago, fast radio bursts have confounded astronomers. These intergalactic pulses of radio energy have defied explanation, but a new theory suggests a technological origin, whereby aliens use these beams to propel their ships through space. Extremely speculative stuff, to be sure, but it’s an idea worth pursuing given just how…

Physics & Chemistry George Dvorsky Mar 9

Will Our Descendants Survive the Destruction of the Universe?

Billions of years from now, the universe as we know it will cease to exist. The good news is, that gives us a lot of time to prepare, and maybe even figure out a way to cheat cosmic death. Here are some possible ways our descendants might survive a cosmological apocalypse. The Universe, like the…

io9 George Dvorsky Nov 23

Why is the Scale of the Universe so Freakishly Large?

“Space is big,” said Douglas Adams. “You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-boggingly big it is.” But why must this be so? And why does our Universe exhibit such tremendous scale, from the very tiny to the extremely large? Here are some possible answers. From Micro to Macro It’s hard to wrap our heads…

io9 George Dvorsky Jul 20

Will Scientists Ever Finally Discover A Theory Of Everything?

Katie Silver has penned an article for BBC Earth in which she explores the idea of finding a single theory that describes the entire Universe. But as her article aptly points out, it’s a challenge that appears to be getting increasingly difficult. It’s kind of a paradox, really: The more we learn about the Universe,…

io9 George Dvorsky Apr 9

The 9 Weirdest Implications Of The Many Worlds Interpretation

According to the Many Worlds Interpretation of quantum physics, we live in an infinite web of alternate timelines. It’s a serious claim that carries some rather serious scientific, philosophical, and existential baggage. And here are the nine weirdest possible implications. Illustration by Tara Jacoby. A few years ago we did an explainer on the Many…

io9 George Dvorsky Mar 23

Harsh Environments Foster Beliefs In Powerful And Judgmental Gods

An analysis of 583 cultures shows that challenging environmental conditions, such as floods and famines, lead cultures to adopt beliefs in moralizing, high gods. The research may help explain how and why certain religions emerged, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Prior to this study, anthropologists were inclined to explain the onset of religion as the…

io9 George Dvorsky Nov 11

Our Sense Of Free Will Diminishes When We Need To Pee Or Desire Sex

Embodied cognition theory states that our thoughts and emotions are profoundly affected by our physical bodies. A new study takes this idea further, claiming that our bodily states — particularly when they’re urgent — can even influence our metaphysical beliefs. Unlike Cartesian mind-body dualism, embodied cognition puts forth the notion that the mind is not…

io9 George Dvorsky Sep 5

How Do You Know You’re Real?

In this video from TED-Ed, James Zucker teams up with Stretch Films’ John R. Dilworth to dish out a cogent, three-minute introduction to René Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy. If you’ve ever wondered how to get from “How do I know I’m real?” to “I think, therefore I am,” this one’s for you. Complement with…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Aug 17

There Is Some Hope That We Aren’t Living Inside a Computer Simulation

Philosopher Nick Bostrom’s famous Simulation Argument suggests it’s highly probable that we live inside a supercomputer. But one philosopher takes this hypothesis to task, arguing in a new paper that there are other post-human scenarios that need to be taken into account. Before we get started, it’s important to note that this discussion is limited…

io9 George Dvorsky Jul 15

Why Agnosticism Probably Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means

Agnostics are often characterized as ambivalent or wishy-washy fence sitters who refuse to make up their minds. But there’s much more to agnosticism than these tired misconceptions, including a stricter adherence to scientific principles than those typically invoked by atheists. Top image: “The Eye of God” Helix Nebula (NGC 7293). Credit: Hubble/NASA/Rogelio Bernal Andreo. The…

io9 George Dvorsky May 29

What Should We Do with the Online Undead?

The Internet has given us a kind of digital afterlife, where our online activities can be preserved and memorialized like fossils in a rock. We talked to an expert about how your friends, family, and complete strangers will use the Internet to remember you long after you’re gone. One person who’s given this subject considerable…

io9 George Dvorsky May 21

8 Great Philosophical Questions That We’ll Never Solve

Philosophy goes where hard science can’t, or won’t. Philosophers have a license to speculate about everything from metaphysics to morality, and this means they can shed light on some of the basic questions of existence. The bad news? These are questions that may always lay just beyond the limits of our comprehension. Here are eight…

io9 George Dvorsky May 2

What’s The Purpose Of The Universe? Here’s One Possible Answer

It’s tempting to think of the universe as a meaningless repository for celestial objects like planets and stars. But an intriguing theory suggests there’s much more to the cosmos than meets the eye — and that black holes play an integral role in what our universe is actually trying to achieve. It’s called the theory…

io9 George Dvorsky Apr 18

Space is big. Thoroughly big. Unmistakably, definitely, certainly big.

To a first-order approximation, the universe is empty. Josh Worth gets it. He built a map titled, If the Moon Was Only 1 Pixel, where, unlike most maps of the solar system, planet-sizes and the distances between planets are kept to the same scale. Why? As he points out somewhere between Jupiter and Saturn, “Most…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Mar 6

The 7 Most Intriguing Philosophical Arguments for the Existence of God

Nietzsche is famous for saying that God is dead, but news of The Almighty’s demise may have been greatly exaggerated. Here are some of the most fascinating and provocative philosophical arguments for the existence of God. To be clear, these are philosophical arguments. They’re neither rooted in religious scripture nor any kind of scientific observation…

io9 George Dvorsky Jan 23

Why You Should Upload Yourself to a Supercomputer

We’re still decades — if not centuries — away from being able to transfer a mind to a supercomputer. It’s a fantastic future prospect that makes some people incredibly squeamish. But there are considerable benefits to living a digital life. Here’s why you should seriously consider uploading. As I’ve pointed out before, uploading is not…

io9 George Dvorsky Jan 9

metaphysics

A Glitch in the Matrix Gives Us a Glimpse at Simulation Theory History in This Devilish Clip

Poll: Two in Five Americans Still Believe God Created Humans 10,000 Years Ago

How Will Future Civilizations Survive the Accelerating Expansion of the Universe?

Hibernating Aliens Could Explain the Great Silence

Wild New Theory Suggests Radio Bursts Beyond Our Galaxy Are Powering Alien Starships

Will Our Descendants Survive the Destruction of the Universe?

Why is the Scale of the Universe so Freakishly Large?

Will Scientists Ever Finally Discover A Theory Of Everything?

The 9 Weirdest Implications Of The Many Worlds Interpretation

Harsh Environments Foster Beliefs In Powerful And Judgmental Gods

Our Sense Of Free Will Diminishes When We Need To Pee Or Desire Sex

How Do You Know You’re Real?

There Is Some Hope That We Aren’t Living Inside a Computer Simulation

Why Agnosticism Probably Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means

What Should We Do with the Online Undead?

8 Great Philosophical Questions That We’ll Never Solve

What’s The Purpose Of The Universe? Here’s One Possible Answer

Space is big. Thoroughly big. Unmistakably, definitely, certainly big.

The 7 Most Intriguing Philosophical Arguments for the Existence of God

Why You Should Upload Yourself to a Supercomputer

Anthropic’s New Model Is So Scarily Powerful It Won’t Be Released, Anthropic Says

Musk Asks Court to Give Potential Winnings in OpenAI Suit to OpenAI’s Nonprofit

Pro-Iran Hackers Target Critical U.S. Energy and Water Infrastructure

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The World’s First Eye-Tracking Smart Glasses Are Intriguing and Unpolished

Noah Hawley Is Remaking ‘Terrified,’ Which Shouldn’t Happen

Unprecedented Observation Reveals 2 Supermassive Black Holes Locked in a Tight Death Spiral

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