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Ideas

Stories and literature

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Illustrated manuscript page with a circular cosmological diagram, human figure with intricate details, and several narrative scenes.

History of ideas

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Ancient Indian texts reveal the liberating power of metaphysics

Indian metaphysics presented a philosophical route to a higher level of existence beyond limits of space and time

by Jessica Frazier

Black and white photo of a person in a dark tunnel with light in the background, wearing a coat, looking at the camera.

Stories and literature

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The plague novel you need to read is by Bachmann, not Camus

In Ingeborg Bachmann’s Malina, the plague isn’t a biological virus, it doesn’t cause lockdowns, but it is killing us

by Lyndsey Stonebridge

Person reading a book inside a bookshop with tall bookshelves filled with various titles, seen through a large window framed by green painted wood.

Stories and literature

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Reading books is not just a pleasure: it helps our minds to heal

Through my own struggles and in teaching bibliotherapy to students, I know that books can help to heal minds and hearts

by Peter Leyland

People sitting and walking through a city square on a sunny day, with a red brick building and large advertising posters covering other buildings.

Stories and literature

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Your life is not a story: why narrative thinking holds you back

Our stories help us make sense of a chaotic world, but they can be harmful and restrictive. There’s a liberating alternative

by Karen Simecek

A man with a confused expression and a large “Q” sign around his neck, surrounded by people in Trump-themed clothing.

Thinking and intelligence

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How conspiracy theories bypass people’s rationality

Prior research has focused on the negative reasons people are drawn to conspiracies, but there’s another side to the story

by Jan-Willem van Prooijen

Painting of a person in a hat smoking a cigarette, with a confident expression and a slightly tilted head.

Stories and literature

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Selfish, grumpy and unkind? That’s my kind of woman

Misanthropic female novelists and their characters make me hopeful for a future in which we shrug off feminine perfection

by Ellena Savage

Photo of ancient ruins on a rocky hill with a cloudy sky and distant mountains in the background.

Spirituality and religion

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This is not the end. Apocalyptic comfort from ancient Iran

Faced with the collapse of their empire, Zoroastrians sought comfort in the apocalyptic – and their literature flourished

by Domenico Agostini & Samuel Thrope

An angelic figure with wings and a sceptre, surrounded by a dramatic dark sky and people near an arched structure with smoke in the background.

Spirituality and religion

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The Devil you don’t know: the Satan of the 19th century

Satan wasn’t always a wicked, horned figure. The Romantics imagined the Devil as a resourceful and well-spoken gentleman

by Erik Butler

A girl is shown reading from a device in her hand, her face illuminated by the screen’s light

Technology and media

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What does switching from paper to screens mean for how we read?

It’s well established that we absorb less well when reading on screen. But why? And can we do something to improve it?

by Lili Yu, Sixin Liao, Jan-Louis Kruger & Erik D Reichle

Medieval illuminated manuscript painting of a monk touching a woman beside an outhouse and a tree, with decorative text above.

Stories and literature

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Get medieval on your haters: lessons from Beowulf and Chaucer

When your reputation is at stake, get medieval on your haters: lessons from Beowulf, Margery Kempe and Geoffrey Chaucer

by Irina Dumitrescu

Close-up of a person with glasses looking at a computer screen displaying lines of code, with code text reflected on the glasses.

Consciousness

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The myth of machine consciousness makes Narcissus of us all

The idea that AI can be conscious is a mistake. It’s just a very shiny mirror of humanity, reflecting what we want to see

by David Bentley Hart

A person walks past a billboard under a bridge, featuring an image of eyes superimposed on a sky with clouds, next to a café entrance.

Work and vocation

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Kafka warned us: surveillance turns the watched into watchers

Surveillance changes us in powerful ways, as Franz Kafka warned. Neither the watched nor their watcher escapes unscathed

by George Alliger