“To err is human, but to really screw things up requires a computer.” Anon. We are caught between heaven and hell. The skies are full of portents of doom. Oh wait, no, those are explosive ...

Omar Sabbagh contemplates the use of humor, in fiction, and in life. My work as a novelist and short story writer inevitably involves plenty of moments in which I stare into space. In such moments, I ...

Alfie Bown investigates different categories of laughter. Comedy has become a pressure point for contemporary culture. It flares up in debates about censorship, cancellation, progressivism, and even ...

Slavoj Žižek uncovers political paradoxes of lying. The so-called Liar Paradox – statements like ‘everything I say is false’ – has been endlessly debated by philosophers from Ancient Greece and India ...

Perhaps unshockingly for someone who is an actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer, Stephen Fry has a deep interest in words and how we use them. After hearing him lecture on that ...

The central problem is that the use of AI in the academy poses a threat to independent thinking. It undermines the tension thinking needs for a critical engagement with science and represents the ...

Vincent J. Carchidi agrees with Descartes and friends that our ability to use language creatively distinguishes our minds from computers. The study of artificial intelligence was originally conceived ...

Mahmoud Khatami asks, can machines make good moral decisions? Imagine a self-driving car speeding down a narrow road when suddenly a child runs into its path. The car must decide: swerve and risk the ...

Jimmy Alfonso Licon asks, when should we prioritise android rights? We should begin examining the question of whether there should be affirmative action for androids by first answering a couple of ...

Amir Haj-Bolouri enquires into possible meaning through technology. Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) is considered the perfect technology for extending the experiences we have in the physical world.

Thomas E. Wartenberg focuses on a path to happiness. Hirayama (Kôji Yakusho), the Japanese toilet cleaner protagonist of Wim Wenders’ 2023 Academy Award Winning Film Perfect Days, is the anti-Sisyphus ...