These days, barely a week seems to pass without a new warning that artificial intelligence is breaking off its leash. Whether masterfully manipulating and deceiving its human supervisors, crawling out of its sandbox to reach systems it was never meant to access, or amassing a small army of rebellious agents to launch a sophisticated cyber-attack, …
Continue reading The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and our Coming Cosmic Reckoning
This visionary scientist revolutionized our understanding of evolution, laying the foundation for theories that ultimately explain cooperation, conflict, and deception across the natural world. His work has shaped entire fields, earning him the highest accolades in biology. His insights have transformed not only biology, but also medicine, psychology, and even political theory. No, I’m not …
Continue reading Wild Genius: The Maverick Mind of Robert Trivers
Since the turn of the millennium, a seismic shift has taken place in the corporate world. As I type these words, the five most valuable companies in the world— Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Alphabet (Google) and Amazon— are all tech companies. Following breakthroughs made in the realm of artificial intelligence, corporations building digital minds have also …
Continue reading The Geek Way: How Silicon Valley is Reshaping The Corporate World
In 2015, the revelation that Volkswagen had been gaming emissions tests shook the corporate world. The deception involved 11 million diesel cars being fitted with a ‘defeat device’, which masked the emissions released by these vehicles when they detected they were undergoing testing, but otherwise polluted at levels flagrantly beyond legal limits. Since being busted, …
Rocked by a steady stream of failed replications and allegations of outrageous fraud, behavioural science stands at a crossroads. Ironically, the field of psychology finds itself slumped in a period of piercing introspection, being forced to answer tough questions. Diagnoses abound, with blame being placed on perverse incentives in academia, statistical methods in dire need …
Whether it’s the tragic death of Willy Loman in A Death of A Salesman, or Lester Burnham’s midlife crisis in American Beauty, a persistent theme in popular culture is a gnawing sense of alienation people feel running the modern day rat race. If you’ve ever felt this way, you’re not alone. Given that we spend …
Continue reading The Social Brain, by Tracey Camilleri, Samantha Rockey & Robin Dunbar
Whether weddings, national parades or religious festivals, rituals present a puzzle. We stress their importance, reflecting on these services as some of life’s most cherished moments. And yet, when prompted, most of us can’t explain why we perform them. What explains their persistence, and this apparent contradiction? In his new book Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts …
In 2017, Collins Dictionary crowned ‘fake news’ its word of the year. Collins’ entry can be credited to two unforgettable events that defined 2016: the decision taken by the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, and the election of Donald J. Trump as President of the United States. Dismayed and disoriented by the outcome …
Do you ever get a niggling feeling that other people are doing better than you? Don't worry, we all do. In his new book The Status Game: On Social Position and How We Use It, Will Storr reveals the hidden force that triggers much of our anxiety: social status. From our hunter-gatherer ancestors who roamed …
As workers across the corporate world have begun scuttering back into their offices, many of us are sneaking away with our comrades for a drink. Given the substantial hazards alcohol presents, what should our stance on drinking with our colleagues be? In his new book Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to …
