Darwin’s theory of evolution shaped our biological understanding, concurrently Descartes is foundational to philosophy. But are their perspectives incompatible? | https://bit.ly/48VQnLo This debate brings together Stuart Hameroff, Antonella Tramacere, and Denis Noble to answer this question.

Is overdiagnosis becoming dangerous? | https://bit.ly/3YsTF3J In our rush to seek neat definitions of disease, philosopher Ian James Kidd argues that we’ve reduced health simply down to biological functions. Click to explore his proposal for a better way to understand health. #philsci 🧪

Huge breakthroughs in scientific discovery have led to an increase in the use of simulations; but can we trust these to find truth? | https://iai.tv/live/the-simulation-matrix Join five expert speakers as they challenge how we know what’s real in an era of AI, climate, and medical simulations.

"Our growing reliance on algorithms could be “convert[ing] real lives into fictions within a fiction”, writes award-winning novelist Joanna Kavenna. | https://bit.ly/3KO4IBy In this article, Kavenna highlights the dangers of mistaking mathematics and data for truth. #philsci ⚛️

The notion we live in a matrix-like simulation is one many of us have entertained. | https://iai.tv/video/hacking-our-way-out-of-the-universe In this talk, computer scientist Roman Yampolskiy investigates the possibilities of a simulated world and how we could escape it. #philsci ⚛️

AI is becoming increasingly central to our lives, yet few understand its actual workings or its future impact. | https://bit.ly/4rY34hr Watch Philip Mirowski in our IAI Live Event on January 5th, where he’ll deconstruct science-fiction fantasies surrounding AI alongside other leading thinkers.

Could less really be more? | https://iai.tv/video/why-more-is-less In a culture centred around money, status, and opportunity, author Barry Schwartz urges us to see the dangers of limitless choices. #philsky

We’ve all heard of the big bang, but the beginning of the universe is a mystery we are still far from solving. | https://bit.ly/44WCD1z Tap the link to read physicist Niko Poplawski's radical new rethinking of cosmology and new ideas on the universe’s origins. #philsci ⚛️

Is particle physics about particles? | https://bit.ly/4rQXjBR NYU philosopher Jon Bain abandons the established fundamentals of particle physics to look at reality through a radical new lens based around mathematical structures, not objects. #philsci ⚛️

Although we think we have control over our decisions, advertising leads us to make choices that are not our own. | https://bit.ly/4aKw7yA Join Barry C Smith as he exposes the hidden tactics food and drink companies use to manipulate our senses and behaviour. #socsky

Should we give lions the right to vote? | https://iai.tv/articles/lions-can-speak-and-we-must-try-to-understand-them-auid-3161 In this interview, Eva Meijer uses the philosophy of language to make the case for including animals in political discussions. #philsky

Simulations are becoming the basis for more and more scientific research; but are we coming too close to mistaking them for truth? | https://bit.ly/4rY34hr Join our IAI live event “The Simulation Matrix” on January 5th as leading scientists examine the assumptions behind new scientific discovery.

Is the age of identity politics over? | https://bit.ly/4aMFMEX Join professors Andreas Wimmer and Richard Thompson Ford as they share their strongly divided predictions for its future in the face of Trumpism and economic anxiety. #polsky

Why do we keep choosing short-term gains that harm the long-term good? | https://iai.tv/video/competition-destroys-collective-intelligence Join researcher and poker champion Liv Boeree as she explains how competition traps us in choices that lead to disaster. #philsci

Many of us have wondered what a utopian world would look like. | https://bit.ly/4ad7tqm But despite huge technological and cultural developments, animalistic instincts written into human nature make true utopia out of reach, argues psychologist Paul Bloom. Tap the link to find out more. #philsky

Christmas often brings with it a wave of indulgence, but Massimo Pigliucci argues human relationships are more important than short-term pleasures. | https://bit.ly/3KMYXDW In this interview, he explores how Greco-Roman philosophy can teach us about the true pathway to a fulfilling life. #philsky

What does it mean to be “normal”? | https://iai.tv/video/the-normal-and-the-abnormal Join Rose Cartwright, Frank Tallis, Dinesh Bhugra, and Bhessel van der Kolk as they discuss the increasingly divisive subject of how we should approach and treat mental disorders. #philsci 🧪 #socsky

When it comes to brains, we assume that bigger is better; but could it be possible to have a consciousness without one? | https://bit.ly/4oVfcgr Join scientists Michael Gazzaniga and Bridget Queenan as they investigate the mysterious case of the missing brain. #philsci 🧪

Can psychoanalysis be separated from ethics? Freud thought they could, but in this article Professor Edward Harcourt argues otherwise. | https://bit.ly/48k4Wct Harcourt argues that ethics and psychoanalysis are both concerned with the fundamental question: “How should I live?” #philsci

🎁 This holiday season, what’s the real gift? | https://iai.tv/articles/to-gift-or-not-to-gift-a-philosophers-christmas-dilemma-auid-1003 Drawing on the insights of Sartre, Marcel Mauss and Thomas Merton, this article examines how gift-giving can sometimes mask power, obligation, and possessiveness.

There are less than two weeks to go until our next IAI Live Event, “The Simulation Matrix”, on January 5th. | https://bit.ly/4rY34hr Watch Paulette Clancy, John Ioannidis, and Steve Koomin debate the increasingly divisive issue of whether simulations are an asset or danger to scientific discovery.

We tend to think of the present moment as an infinitely small, discrete period of time, but is this incorrect? | https://bit.ly/4qjMRSX Emily Herring argues that this is a mistake; time is a flow, containing past, present and future all at once. #philsci ⚛️ 🧪

✨ Is beauty mere decoration or a clue to the universe? | https://bit.ly/4pq19jC Once tied to divine design, beauty now guides mathematicians and physicists toward deeper truths. Dominic Walliman, Denis Noble, Suchitra Sebastian, and George Ellis now debate whether beauty can shape reality itself.

Many have had the experience of an urge to do something wrong just for the hell of it. | https://iai.tv/video/the-devil-in-all-of-us-paul-bloom Join Yale psychologist Paul Bloom as he invites us to see the clever, creative and beautiful side of our impulses toward evil. #socsky

🎇 Holidays highlight both joy and hardship. | https://bit.ly/4rcDX9Y Hauskeller argues that attempts to erase suffering, whether through transhumanist “upgrades” or antinatalist despair, miss what makes life meaningful. Our limits don’t ruin life; they help define a life worth living.

Does rationality guide us to truth? | https://iai.tv/video/thinking-set-free Join Stuart Hameroff, Subrena E. Smith, and Paul Bloom to discuss if we should abandon our focus on reasoning as the best means to determine action. #philsky

How can poetry help us grapple with reality? | https://iai.tv/articles/philosophy-must-embrace-poetry-auid-2795 In an era where poetry is often dismissed as inaccessible and disconnected from everyday life, John Gibson challenges these assumptions. #philsky

“There is no existential risk of a SkyNet Terminator from the sort of AI we have today, but there’s a different sort of existential risk; losing ourselves in the AI mirror,” argues Shannon Vallor. | https://bit.ly/4rKPeyT Tap the link to watch the talk in full. #AI #techsky

❄️ Christmas heightens emotion, from hope and giving to nostalgia and wonder. But does this conflict with Stoicism, often seen as austere? | https://bit.ly/4nYkreE This article shows how Stoic ethics, grounded in human vulnerability, fosters care, community, and deep feeling.

What direction is scientific discovery heading in, and what do we need to understand about it? | https://bit.ly/4rY34hr Sign up for our next two IAI events “The Simulation Matrix” and “Science Beyond the Physical” to hear leading thinkers share their thoughts on these mind-bending subjects.

Do we need to get rid of dark energy in favour of an alternative, such as changing Einstein's theory of relativity, or modifying gravity? | https://iai.tv/video/dark-energy-and-the-universe Join Claudia de Rham, Priya Natarajan, and Chris Lintott to debate. #philsci ⚛️ 🧪

Why have we seen a right-wing blending of philosophies, from immigration concerns to Catholicism? | https://iai.tv/video/the-rise-of-the-new-right Join leading journalist David Aaronovitch as he explains the rise and future of the New Right. #polsky

As the prophets of certainty wage their wars in our fractured age, a radical new approach from philosopher Manuel Delaflor shows us how to dance with the uncertain. | https://iai.tv/articles/a-way-forward-for-a-world-where-truth-has-died-auid-3029 #philsky

🕯️ Is Christmas still a religious festival? | https://iai.tv/articles/christmas-traditions-dont-need-religion-auid-2010 Alexis Papazoglou argues that its real power today lies not in theology, but in the endurance of ritual.

“Attentive use of the imagination is, unlike fantasy, not a way to escape the world into a daydream but the route by which we become positive agents within the world,” argues Miles Leeson. | https://bit.ly/3WFplSA He explores Iris Murdoch’s view that imagination isn't a way to escape. #philsky

We need to know whether drugs and other healthcare treatments work. | https://iai.tv/articles/medical-trials-are-not-the-whole-truth-auid-2989 Tap to read as Trisha Greenhalgh argues that evidence-based medicine must incorporate real-life observations alongside trial data to give patients answers.

🎄 The holidays remind us that no one thrives alone. | https://bit.ly/4ra7pNZ Manuel Delaflor argues that cooperation, not cut-throat competition, is humanity’s real evolutionary strength. From nature to game theory, the evidence is clear: groups that work together survive and flourish.

Conscious experiences of change cannot be broken down into ever smaller units of experience. | https://bit.ly/4s5WKnV Philosopher Lyu Zhou argues that this exposes a deep rift between mind and matter. #consky #philsky

Professor John Cottingham draws on Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language to argue that any understanding and evaluation of religious discourse must be sensitive to the form of life in which it is embedded. | https://bit.ly/4iHc32e #philsky #philsci 🧪

💝 The season of giving highlights how unevenly wealth is shared. | https://iai.tv/video/the-future-of-money-with-gary-stevenson Former Citibank trader Gary Stevenson explains why riches concentrate at the top, what reforms could reverse it, and how to build a fairer economy.

Are simulations a genuine engine of innovation or a self-reinforcing bubble? | https://iai.tv/live/the-simulation-matrix Five leading thinkers join forces to answer this question in our next IAI Live event “The Simulation Matrix” on Monday 5th January. Find out more on how to join here. #philsci

Throughout history, thinkers in the West and East have claimed the mind can reach higher states of consciousness. | https://bit.ly/4pbiRa8 Join Jessica Frazier as she explores whether these experiences are scientific, spiritual, or purely esoteric. #philsky

Did a dark big bang create most of the universe? | https://bit.ly/44uoSXH Katherine Freese and Martin Winkler argue in this article that dark matter and energy have a mysterious origin of their own, outside of the big bang. #philsci ⚛️ 🧪

A radical new interpretation of quantum mechanics is offered here. | https://iai.tv/articles/everything-in-the-universe-is-a-quantum-wave-auid-3446 Professor of Quantum Information Science at the University of Oxford, Vlatko Vedral, argues that everything in the universe is a quantum wave.

☃️ We think of Epicureans as lovers of luxury—but Tim O’Keefe shows they’d celebrate Christmas very differently. | https://bit.ly/4r40SUV For Epicurus, true pleasure wasn’t found in lavish meals or extravagant gifts but in tranquillity, friendship, and gratitude.

We tend to think of tribalism as being a negative force in our world. | https://iai.tv/video/we-must-exploit-tribalism-as-a-force-for-good But here Harvey Whitehouse draws on evolutionary psychology and cultural history to argue that we must use tribalism as a force for good.

Is a single self enough to hold together our messy, often contradictory collection of experiences and drives? | https://bit.ly/42iFsc7 Sam Harris, Roger Penrose and Sophie Scott met to debate The Divided Self. Tap the link to read more. #philsci #philsky

Public debate increasingly casts technology as a threat — to jobs, to equality, even to civilisation itself. | https://bit.ly/3MG10dE Zion Lights shows that every major improvement in human wellbeing has its roots in technological advance rather than moral evolution or political reform. #socsky

🌟 To an outsider, Christmas might look like pure repetition: same rituals, same songs, same films on loop. | https://iai.tv/articles/the-unexpected-reason-holidays-matter-auid-2337 Yet Dimitris Xygalatas argues that this predictability is the heart of its appeal.

Art lovers often claim fiction morally educates us, making us more empathetic. | https://iai.tv/articles/art-doesnt-make-us-better-humans-auid-2029 Tap to read Greg Currie argue there’s no evidence fiction provides moral knowledge or makes us better people.