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The Gaia theorist sees at least one reason why superintelligent machines might want to keep humans around
How growing awareness of other minds, both natural and artificial, is prompting a reassessment of our place in the world
Andrew Hill picks his books of the year so far
A spin-off from a Harvard course repackages Chinese philosophy for the modern mind
How does it feel to live like an animal? There’s no substitute for experience
Predictions about what to expect decades from now will tend to fail. But that is no reason to stop making them
How should we deal with the fact of our own mortality? Though many in the secular west prefer simply to avert their eyes, this may mean stumbling through life half-blind
Biologists and philosophers offer different answers on how to help altruism flourish. By Stephen Cave
What are the dangers when computers begin to improve themselves? Will they have our best interests at heart?
Present-day may be too commercial but that doesn’t mean we have to give up on our midwinter festivities
Scientists say we are entering the age of humans. But are we thriving or inadvertently destroying ourselves?
An atheist’s quest for spiritual enlightenment draws on Buddhist ideas to suggest ways of ‘cutting through the illusion of the self’
Is our pursuit of happiness obscuring the more important goal of alleviating suffering?
Are we really as unique as we like to think? Stephen Cave considers the evidence
Zoos offer sanctuary to threatened species and inspiration to their human visitors – but at what cost?
A scientific view of the creative process shows that inspiration isn’t all that counts
An epic inquiry into the human desire to defy death – and how to overcome it
Religion may have lost much of its power to explain our modern world but we still crave its emotional satisfactions
Economists have more to learn from the natural sciences if they are to claim a realistic model of human behaviour
We see ourselves as standing above the rest of creation, but could animals be shaping us just as we are shaping them?
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