Aeon Magazine
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Aeon is a magazine of ideas and culture. Visit aeon.co for more.
In today's Video, Bill Hammack, an engineer and professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, explores the remarkable engineering and tragic demise of the airship that would end Britain’s dream to dominate the skies
Before the Hindenburg there was R101 – Britain’s ill-fated airship | Aeon Videos
The remarkable engineering and tragic demise of the vessel that would end Britain’s dream to dominate the skies
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This Essay by Craig Maier transports you to a late summer’s day on his father-in-law’s farm in southern Wisconsin. Drawing on Aldo Leopold’s ‘The Land Ethic’, Maier ponders how we might encode an ethic of land use that focuses on restoration buff.ly/oT8dXCp
A prairie enthusiast in search of a farming land ethic | Aeon Essays
By dwelling and conversing together across communities and generations, we learn our deep responsibility to the land
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At the Old Tucson theme park in Tucson, Arizona, visitors step out of their normal lives and into the American West. Over the course of a day, the directors Sue Ding and Sarah Garrahan capture visitors stepping into a romanticised past that never quite existed buff.ly/X2h3OAO
At an Old West theme park, tourists play in a past that never existed | Aeon Videos
Be it movie mythos or nostalgia for a ‘simpler’ time, there’s an undeniable allure in stepping into the American West
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In today’s Essay, Eric Leas investigates the potentially dangerous Amanita muscaria mushroom being sold in some misleadingly labelled ‘magic mushroom’ gummies buff.ly/EemErrg
A scientist’s search for answers about Amanita muscaria gummies | Aeon Essays
When I found the mushroom Amanita muscaria being sold in candy wrappers, I uncovered legal loopholes, dangerous dosages and more
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In this short documentary, US director Leah Varjacques traces an effort to record the sounds of a rainforest before they're altered forever, due to the construction of Indonesia's impending new capital city buff.ly/ZvHXVNu
Indonesia is building a new capital city. What’s being lost? | Aeon Videos
As Indonesia builds a new capital city, the race is on to preserve the sounds of the rainforest before they vanish forever
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How strongly should we hold onto our own beliefs? When are we being needlessly dogmatic, and when do we need to fight harder? Let the past guide you towards a healthy scepticism with this historically rich Essay on the life and philosophy of Cicero
A good sceptic has more than doubt and less than certainty | Aeon Essays
Cicero’s life and thought are a testament to the idea of probabilia: we should be confident in our beliefs, but never certain
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Until I met astronomer @richardvnd.bsky.social I did not know that colliding black holes 'ring'... nor that they seem to forget all the violence of such an event. He wrote about why that fascinates him in this mind-expanding essay for @aeon.co 🧪⚛️
Aeon Magazine@aeon.co · 6d agoIn this lyrical Essay, the astronomer Richard Dyer explores how the remarkable ‘amnesia’ of black holes – which contain no trace of their history, nor any distinguishing features – elucidates the fundamental physics governing our own storied and feature-rich world
It’s not just screen time: the problem with children’s media is that it has become relentlessly hectic, loud and bright. An Essay by Natalia Kucirkova
It’s not just screen time: kids are bombarded by hectic media | Aeon Essays
It’s not just screen time: the problem with children’s media is that it has become relentlessly hectic, loud and bright
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Decades after seeing ‘Platoon’, the US filmmaker Kevin B Lee recalls how the film stirred generational trauma in his family and racism at school.
Are we ever really done seeing a movie? On ‘Platoon’ and memory | Aeon Videos
Decades after seeing ‘Platoon’, Kevin recalls how the film stirred generational trauma in his family and racism at school
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In this lyrical Essay, the astronomer Richard Dyer explores how the remarkable ‘amnesia’ of black holes – which contain no trace of their history, nor any distinguishing features – elucidates the fundamental physics governing our own storied and feature-rich world
Black holes ring like bells. What happens next is stranger | Aeon Essays
A black hole rings like a struck bell, then settles into silence, forgetting almost everything about its history. Why?
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Have you ever wondered how animals see the world? In this short poetic documentary, the director Carlo Nasisse probes the diverse visual experiences of creatures big and small
The alien worlds beside our own – a journey into animal eyes | Aeon Videos
Probing the biology, beauty and mystery of animal eyes, this short poetic documentary explores an alien world
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How do we decide which version of a design is better? In this Essay, the designer Liam Spradlin @iamli.am investigates the origins and true cost of ‘computism’ – an ideology in which human subjectivity is being replaced by data analysis buff.ly/in7Yu1k
If computers count all the petals, who tastes the cherries? | Aeon Essays
The computist has one dream: to debug the subjectivity out of all of human knowledge, creating a pure, frictionless world
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In this engaging video, PhD student Mary McGillivray (@_theiconoclass) gives a comprehensive deep dive into the inventive ways humans have found to fake marble throughout history, and explores what is behind this millennia-long fascination buff.ly/kqjdrYw
The millennia-long history of our obsession with fake marble | Aeon Videos
From ancient Roman frescoes to modern kitchen benchtops, our desire to recreate marble is about more than cutting costs
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Check out this essay in @aeon.co by Shawn William Miller, author of DREAM ROAD TO PAN AMERICA: "A century ago, the Pan-American road promised a new era of fraternity between the two continents. Did it succeed?" aeon.co/essays/why-t...
Why the Pan-American Highway only half-exists | Aeon Essays
A century ago, the Pan-American road promised a new era of fraternity between the two continents. Did it succeed?
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The Italian diaspora longs for Italy, but sometimes Italy turns its back. Ben Faccini explores loyalty and longing in a moving essay for @aeon.co aeon.co/essays/itali...
Italianness is a state of travelling in both directions | Aeon Essays
Homecomings, fantasies, food and ghosts – how the myth of eternal return keeps the Italian diaspora in a state of longing
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In this deeply personal Essay, author Ben Faccini explores the intense pride that many descendants of Italian migrants feel towards their heritage – and the ways traditions, values and ideas of ‘Italian-ness’ have endured long after families have left the country itself buff.ly/66PnMdp
Italianness is a state of travelling in both directions | Aeon Essays
Homecomings, fantasies, food and ghosts – how the myth of eternal return keeps the Italian diaspora in a state of longing
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Are we ever really done seeing a movie? Watch this deeply personal video essay, where US filmmaker Kevin B Lee recalls watching Vietnam War film Platoon in 1980s San Francisco buff.ly/tOAcoHg
Are we ever really done seeing a movie? On ‘Platoon’ and memory | Aeon Videos
Decades after seeing ‘Platoon’, Kevin recalls a film that stirred generational trauma in his family and racism at school
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In our increasingly digital world, many parents, educators and caregivers are becoming cautious of the amount of screen time children have. In today’s Essay, the children’s literacy expert Natalia Kucirkova suggests that we should focus more attention on the pace of children’s media
It’s not just screen time: kids are bombarded by hectic media | Aeon Essays
It’s not just screen time: the problem with children’s media is that it has become relentlessly hectic, loud and bright
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Physicians reject palmistry as nonsense. But reading the creases of our palms for hidden meaning is what doctors have always done. An Essay by Alison Bashford
What palmistry and medicine have always had in common | Aeon Essays
Physicians reject palmistry as nonsense. But reading the creases of our palms for hidden meaning is what doctors have always done
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The Pakistani historian of science Mariam Sabri explores the lives of four titans of early Islamic science to find that beyond their superficial differences, they shared something essential: ’none let a single discipline set a boundary on their thinking‘
Four Islamic polymaths prove breadth beats specialisation | Aeon Essays
The fathers of Islamic science hold lessons for students: breadth over specialisation, and never let constraints get in the way
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Are computers capable of conscious states? Today's Video unpacks John Searle's ‘Chinese room’ experiment and considers how his argument – that the pattern recognition of computers only simulates understanding – holds up in an era of increasingly complex AI
Could there ever be a viable test for artificial consciousness? | Aeon Videos
Can we test for AI consciousness when we don’t understand our own? Getting into John Searle’s ‘Chinese room’ experiment
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In this historically rich Essay, Katherine Harvey explores the surprisingly modern views our medieval ancestors held about mental health and what we might learn from their approach
The curio cabinet of medieval mental health | Aeon Essays
Saffron and ostrich liver were prescribed but so were exercise, gardens, animals, socialising, and music
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In today's Video, British artist Patrick Waterhouse invites Aboriginal Australian artists to revise the narrative imposed by colonial archives like maps and photographs through the traditional technique of dot painting buff.ly/QpSPDtK
Meet the Aboriginal Australian artists painting over the colonial past | Aeon Videos
Indigenous knowledge and art overwrite colonial cartography to correct the historical record in Central Australia
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What do medicine and palmistry have in common? In this intriguing Essay uncovering the history of the so-called ‘simian line’ palm crease, the science historian Alison Bashford shows how fortune tellers and doctors alike act as semioticians of the body
What palmistry and medicine have always had in common | Aeon Essays
Physicians reject palmistry as nonsense. But reading the creases of our palms for hidden meaning is what doctors have always done
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In his decade long journey from Rio de Janeiro to Washington DC, Leônidas Borges de Oliveira championed the ideals of a Pan-American Highway that would connect the continents. But what came of these dreams of fraternity? buff.ly/sVFquYT
Why the Pan-American Highway only half-exists | Aeon Essays
A century ago, the Pan-American road promised a new era of fraternity between the two continents. Did it succeed?
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Neoliberal policies have hollowed out democracies and spawned unchecked oligarchs. Grasping their structure points to a fix. An Essay by Les Coleman
Why Western democracy is ailing and how to fix it | Aeon Essays
Neoliberal policies have hollowed out democracies and spawned unchecked oligarchs. Grasping their structure points to a fix
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We are most human when we play freely, imaginatively, pointlessly. Gamification risks atrophying that most precious capacity. An Essay by Justin Neuman
Play is doing its work even if we’re not keeping score | Aeon Essays
We are most human when we play freely, imaginatively, pointlessly. Gamification risks atrophying that most precious capacity
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In this Essay, Les Coleman expertly elucidates how damaging the neoliberalist revolution has truly been and offers a timely solution: more democracy can save democracy buff.ly/A6Mw7I6
Why Western democracy is ailing and how to fix it | Aeon Essays
Neoliberal policies have hollowed out democracies and spawned unchecked oligarchs. Grasping their structure points to a fix
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After traumatic childhoods, sisters Patte and Randa Starr have dedicated their golden years to having the carefree childhood they never had. This charming short film celebrates their irrepressible commitment to fun buff.ly/StNHns4
After traumatic childhoods, two sisters dedicate their golden years to fun | Aeon Videos
‘If it’s not fun, it’s not worth doing.’ After traumatic upbringings, two septuagenarian sisters reclaim their childhoods
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In their essay, Siobhan Unwin and Kathryne Ford explore the idea of neuroqueering – an act of excess which exposes the limits of societal expectations – and why we should resist the urge to contain or resolve public displays of excess
Neuroqueer expression and the limits of social tolerance | Aeon Essays
Hans Christian Andersen’s tantrum in Charles Dickens’s garden was a case of ‘too muchness’, emotions bursting past respectability
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