Aeon Magazine

More nothing now

We are most human when we play freely, imaginatively, pointlessly. Gamification risks atrophying that most precious capacity. Aeon audio explores the most profound and re

The Singapore strategies

The nation’s water is secure, but its food is another matter: lessons from the city-state in efficiency versus self-sufficiency. Aeon audio explores the most profound and

Beyond food and people

Nietzsche shows us how to embrace our connection with nature – without denying its essential conflict, strife and suffering. Aeon audio explores the most profound and rel

Empire of flight

They have big brains, long childhoods and sociable, curious minds. So why haven’t birds developed complex culture?. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ide

The planetary fix

Despite decades of inaction we can avert the climate Hellocene and restore the atmosphere to keep our world habitable. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant

The fog of hunger

From childhood, women are trained to restrict their appetite. And there’s a huge, hidden, cognitive price to pay for it. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevan

Dolphins and other lovers

The Andoque of the Amazon know what we have forgotten: the forest’s most beautiful creatures are also its most dangerous. Aeon audio explores the most profound and releva

In praise of zealotry

Early feminists like Mary Astell and Catharine Macaulay refused their male peers’ advice to remain polite in debate. Why?. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relev

Worm munch matters

The lives that slither and scurry beneath the soil’s surface are vital for ecological health: now we can listen in to them. Aeon audio explores the most profound and rele

Where did the grandeur go?

Superlative things were done in the past century by marshalling thousands of people in the service of a vision of the future. Aeon audio explores the most profound and re

Natural-born existentialists

Ethics cannot be based on human nature because, as evolutionary biology tells us, there is no such thing. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant ideas, told t

The neverending house

The self-built homes of Santiago are precarious and ever changing. They are, always and at once, being and becoming. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant id

Mecca and the mall

In a bid for spiritual renewal, I made a pilgrimage to Islam’s holy city. Almost everything I expected to see was gone. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant

A second sexual revolution

Until Shere Hite’s Report, even the most daring sexologists refused to listen to what women desired and hated in sex. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant i

How we meet the future

If we couldn’t make generalisations, we would be paralysed by the world’s complexity. Does that ever excuse stereotyping?. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relev

Sasquatch science

The hunt for Bigfoot sounds like the opposite of good science, but those pursuing the creature are often serious empiricists. Aeon audio explores the most profound and re

Culture clash

C P Snow’s ‘Two Cultures’ lecture provoked a savage response from fellow critic F R Leavis. What was at the heart of it all?. Aeon audio explores the most profound and re

Towards an AI for Africa

Western-developed AI rides roughshod over Ubuntu values of connection and community that animate African ethical life. Aeon audio explores the most profound and relevant

Thucydides the perspicacious

Far from thinking that ‘might makes right’, the great historian’s analysis of war identifies a vice common to all states. Aeon audio explores the most profound and releva

Resist the technocrats

Through international organisations, they wield power under the pretence of simply following the experts. Don’t believe them. Aeon audio explores the most profound and re