Our donation drive is coming to an end, and here are some thoughts of your fellow readers who've generously made a donation. These readers help keep Aeon free to everyone, and protect something increasingly rare: time to think. There’s still time to make a donation at aeon.co/donate

We all know what psychopathy is – or do we? As Rasmus Rosenberg Larsen writes, there is an ‘overwhelming lack of experimental evidence supporting its existence’. But despite being ‘dead’, the idea stubbornly sticks around, continuing to infect new minds – like a zombie

What does a fair government look like? For the 19th century Indian thinker Rammohun Roy, it had to be close to the people it governed – ethically, socially and geographically. In this layered profile of Roy, the historian Shomik Gupta draws out why his ideas are especially pertinent now

‘Love Immortal’ follows Alan Sinclair, a British man who drew media attention in the 1980s when he and his late wife Sylvia established a cryonics organisation. The film brings a deep humanity to enduring questions about the desirability of eternal life @theguardian.com

Melbourne! Join us at the Sophia Club on 12 March for an evening of live philosophy as we take a radical look at our ethical relations to nature with water law expert @ezzyod.bsky.social, environmental researcher Melissa Kennedy and artist Tina Stefanou. Get tickets:

This short documentary captures practice sessions at a camp for elite high-divers in Florida, resulting in a sublime exploration of shapes, space, anticipation and athleticism

In this brilliantly to-the-point Essay, the philosopher Julian Baggini laments the now-ubiquitous need to tie every human activity to some extrinsic, utilitarian value – from forest bathing to oxytocin-boosting hugs – in what he calls the ‘instrumentalisation of everything’

What makes a great essay? In this video, Sam Dresser, Deputy Editor of Aeon, breaks it down into four key ingredients, demonstrating the roles of both writer and editor in crafting the perfect essay. Check out Aeon’s full archive of expert-written essays at aeon.co

As species increasingly move into unfamiliar regions, its time to confront our bias against invasive species, which is not always backed by science. This Essay by Carlos Santana explores the 'double standard' at the heart of ecology

You have absolutely free access to everything we publish or ever have published – a commitment that we can make only because of the small percentage of our readers who donate to us. Will you be one of the few who supports our commitment to free-for-all expert knowledge? Donate now aeon.co/donate

How do we know what’s morally right? Many philosophers argue that we are products of our environments. But how do people know to take morally right actions against the rules of their communities? Those ‘going-against-the-grainers’ can give us rich new insights into morality

This sprawling video essay by @joshwithparenthes.es dives into the meaning of LLMs – what they can do and, more to the point, what they can’t

Do you feel like your screen time is impacting your attention span? The panic around screens and their impact on literacy is everywhere. But the university librarian Carlo Iacono argues the problem isn’t the screen but the environment – which can be designed better

For the painter Esteban Cabeza de Baca, painting is a way to reconnect with erased roots and to reclaim histories ‘before we lose them to time’. This short film by @art21org.bsky.social follows Cabeza de Baca from the galleries of the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the open desert of New Mexico

Chinese New Year (also known as Lunar New Year) accounts for an estimated 3 billion trips, making it the world’s largest annual human migration. This video from the Aeon archive uses scenes of this extraordinary human flow to convey the sheer magnitude of the celebrations

‘Nothing is certain.’ These words guide Carlos Alberto Sánchez’s father. Growing up, this confused Sánchez – now, as a professor of philosophy, he sees that they are a distillation of Mexistentialism, a philosophy ideal for moments of crisis @carlosasanchez.bsky.social

In this Essay, geologist Graham Shields elucidates how Snowball Earth began, and how it heralded a biological revolution that redrew the tree of life

Aeon’s mission is to gift knowledge to the world, and we pursued and expanded this mission in 2025. We wouldn’t be able to make this impact without the support of our donors. Will you join our annual donation drive and support us? buff.ly/A5u7mfm

New @aeon.co essay just out! On how institutions let us scale trust and cooperation - and when things start to unravel. Big thanks to editor Sam Dresser. For the more technical version, see thread & paper below👇

Although our linear view of time doesn’t comport with our understanding of the Universe, we shouldn’t abandon the concept of time altogether. Instead, as Carlo Rovelli argues in this video, we can think about it through the lens of entropy and, by extension, heat @quantamagazine.bsky.social

Institutions are the social technologies that power our world, allowing us to rely on complete strangers every day of our lives. But how do we ensure that this trust isn’t misplaced? In this Essay, the game theorist Julien Lie-Panis explores what makes institutions function @jliep.bsky.social

This short follows action-figure maker David McGurk as he creates a figure of the his late brother, Stephen, allowing their shared creative bond to endure

‘Subversive’ has become one of the most common terms of critical endorsement. But what really is literary subversion? From Dante and Milton to Shane McCrae, this essay traces how new visions of Hell respond to earlier ones, not by destroying them, but by absorbing and reshaping them

On the #InternationalDayOfWomenAndGirlsInScience, we’re invited to look beyond individual achievements and towards the systems influencing who participates in scientific knowledge. Despite reforms, scientific sexism remains stubbornly persistent, quietly shaping careers, credibility and recognition

In this short, the animator Suresh Eriyat gives voice to the wool of the Deccani sheep, long central to the livelihoods of communities across the Deccan Plateau in India. Playful yet deeply reflective, the film weaves song and texture to reveal the fragile beauty of a way of life under strain

What examples of technology working with nature have you encountered? What does a truly sustainable future look like to you? #solarpunk #sustainability #futureofcities #GreenTechnology #biomimicry #ClimateAction #biosemiotics

Does imagining the future fill you with dread? Enter Solarpunk. In this comprehensive introduction, the environmental philosopher Yogi Hale Hendlin details the concepts, ethos and visions underpinning this daring, startling vision of a more ecologically grounded future @feralyogi.bsky.social

Aeon publishes hard-won knowledge from real people who have grappled deeply with their subjects. And everything is free to access – a commitment that we can make only because of the small percentage of our readers who donate. Will you join those generous supporters? Donate here: aeon.co/donate

‘A historical view of our relationship with orcas reveals that they have often served as a Rorschach test for humanity’s conflicted attitudes toward the sea.’ This Essay by environmental historian Jason Colby explores how our understanding of orcas has shifted over the last century

Aeon audio asks the big, existentially significant questions and finds the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on philosophy, science, psychology, society and culture. Listen on Apple Podcasts: buff.ly/VcJM8zn And Spotify: buff.ly/Ml8z9dr

We’re hiring! The Sophia Club (part of Aeon Media) is looking for a proactive, creative, and meticulous Event Manager and Producer to join our Melbourne-based team (3 days/week). If you have experience producing high-quality performance and literary events, we’d love to hear from you buff.ly/bZYgj4Z

In an essay for @aeon.co, I argue that humans evolved not to cooperate or to compete, but with the capacity for both – and with the flexibility to cheat when we’re likely to get away with it. Cooperation is therefore something we need to promote, not to presume. 🧪 aeon.co/essays/we-co...

Set against the backdrop of Poland’s economic recession in the 1980s, this animation captures a group of friends intent on taking a joyously aimless road trip to the country’s Baltic coast in a small, overcrowded car

Pushing back against both the rose-tinted view of pre-agricultural society as a harmonious, cooperative paradise and the cut-throat notion of humans as purely self-motivated individuals, the social scientist Jonathan R Goodman offers an even-handed vision of humanity in this thought-provoking Essay

Botswana’s Tsodilo Hills – sometimes called the ‘Louvre of the desert’ – contain one of the highest concentrations of rock art in the world. This short documentary examines the significance of the hills, as well as ongoing efforts to preserve them for future generations

In Japanese philosophy, unlike the atomised Western self, we are ‘ningen’ (人間), each enmeshed with other humans and nature @takeshimorisato.bsky.social

The German philosopher Martin Heidegger believed that true knowledge requires stepping into the realm of the unknown. This excerpt from ‘Being in the World’ interrogates Heidegger’s ideas via conversations with philosophers that explore how highly skilled individuals venture beyond the comfortable

Neuroscientists have long relied on the metaphor of ‘brain rewiring’ to communicate their complex findings. In this Essay, the retired neurologist Peter Lukacs argues that while some metaphors can be helpful, it’s time we recognise the true complexity – and incompleteness – of brain change

Inside the murky underworld of scam compounds, the line between victim and perpetrator is being continually redrawn

It seems these days that it’s difficult to find time to think. This is what Aeon offers to its readers: time to consider, ponder and marvel at what it means to be human. Today, we launch our annual donation drive, inviting you to support us in this mission. Donate now at aeon.co/donate

This short captures stunt performers in the state of West Bengal as they circle the 18-metre-high walls of the Well of Death, exploring how thrills, freedom, camaraderie and unconventional life paths have drawn them to this work

Drawing from myriad historical and contemporary examples of social movements driven by anger, this Essay from the Aeon archive argues that it is often unfairly maligned. A clear-eyed exploration of anger that still resonates

This evocative film profiles three former prisoners turned activists who endured long-term solitary confinement, which is still practiced in the US despite movements opposing it

Is inherited wealth bad? Despite fears of a new aristocracy, inheritance flows today are lower than a century ago, and inherited wealth now accounts for a much smaller share of total wealth. In today’s Essay, the eminent Swedish economist, Daniel Waldenström, examines the data

Goldsmiths Prize 2015 shortlistee, @richbeard.bsky.social, on 'the miracle of human artistic selection' and much more in @aeon.co aeon.co/essays/sure-...

Talk of wellness is usually reserved for our bodies and minds, but what about the larger structures that we navigate every day? For #FinancialWellnessMonth, we are featuring McLauglin and Erars excellent 2018 Essay on how to construct a household model that works for your unique configuration

It’s not particularly difficult to imagine the Universe without light – after all, many nonhuman animals live in lightless environments. However, as this video by @rigb.org explores, such a reality would be impossible

@aeon.co asked me to write about the incursion of AI into the creative arts, and why my memoir project The Universal Turing Machine stands up for all that is good and right. I'll do what I can, I said. aeon.co/essays/sure-...

Through the story of Crispina Peres, a powerful businesswoman prosecuted by the Portuguese Inquisition, this Essay paints a fascinating picture of the remarkably pluralistic environment she lived in – a bustling 17th-century West African port town

In recent years, evidence has been accumulating for a third class of particles called ‘anyons’ which rewrite the rules for how particles move, interact, and combine. However, they’re theoretically possible only in 2D, so what kind of reality do they actually possess? if any at all?