Ethics

Ethics

A figure with wings kneels and gestures toward a standing, robed figure against a red background, evoking the question: what is hell like? Both appear in a detailed, engraved style.
4mins
What’s hell really like?
John Templeton Foundation
upload brain
Uploading your mind is not a pathway to immortality. Instead, it will create a possibly hostile digital doppelgänger.
For decades people have arranged to freeze their bodies after death, dreaming of resurrection by advanced future medicine. Many met a fate far grislier than death.
free will
There are two conceptions of free will: "straight" and "mixed."
amygdala
Patients with amygdala damage rejected the widely accepted answer to the infamous "trolley problem," saying that it "hurts too much."
Ideas often taken for granted in the United States and Europe about what it means to be a person are, quite simply, not shared with other cultures.
It’s not a huge leap to imagine we could target the biological processes that mediate our behaviours.
philosophy of star wars
In the philosophy of Star Wars, the Sith are evil because they surrender to passion. But is a life of total rationality a “good” life?
laugh at a funeral
We often laugh at inappropriate things, but not when we are emotionally invested. Laughter cannot be serious. So, can we ever laugh at death?
When you're a genius, how do you make ends meet?
Devil's advocate goya
The role of the Devil’s advocate was to argue against the beatification of mystics. Contrary to popular belief, they did not wear Prada. 
A philosopher unpacks the paradox in using the word "evil."
the power of branding
6mins
Branding isn’t buzz — we’ve been doing it for thousands of years.
Mater certissima est – the mother is always certain.
In terms of sheer productivity, “-gate” has no peer. Wikipedia’s list of -gates has over 260 entries.
Two hands in handcuffs, connected by a DNA double helix chain, symbolize genome blindness against a solid blue background.
3mins
Eugenics is bad - but understanding DNA is good.
John Templeton Foundation
In "The Secret Life of Secrets", Michael Slepian explores how holding secrets affects our relationships, psychology, and well-being.
Prison is an unreliable method of punishment. Let's do better.
The base rate fallacy may help to explain low reproducibility in various fields of science.
Suppose that fetuses are persons. Since pregnant people are too, how should conflicts between them be settled?
what does pro-life mean
Regardless of political ideology, one of the few things that many people seem to have in common is a moral hypocrisy that arises from a fundamental lack of self-reflection.
assholes
We all know assholes. Perhaps, you are one. Now, psychologists are trying to answer one of life's biggest mysteries: What, exactly, makes someone an asshole?
One form of domestic abuse involves a parent breaking their child’s connection with the other parent.
Aristotle's ancient virtues play a vital role in today's war.
science
Science cannot be isolated from culture.
math awe
Mathematics and religion both embody awe-inspiring, eternal truths.
John Templeton Foundation