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In Defense of Tribalism. Three Evolutionary Instincts That Taught Us to Cooperate

Michael Morris, cultural psychologist: The rise of tribes expanded our circle of trust. Today we can trust a complete stranger if they speak our language, practice the same profession, or share the same ideals. By Kasper Kalinowski and Michael Morris Kasper Kalinowski: Aristotle described man as a "social animal,

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Why Did Great Civilizations Fall?

How did it come about that the civilizations created by the Romans, the Maya, and the inhabitants of Easter Island came to an end? It is easy to conclude that there is no hypothesis too absurd for some scholar to have put forward. By Kamil Kopij At the end of

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Weavers of History. A British Historian on the Place of Women in the ancient world

Daisy Dunn, scholar of the ancient world: On Roman tombstones, women were praised for their virtue and their spinning of wool. Yet without poets, priestesses, prophetesses, and rebels, the history of antiquity cannot truly be told. By Kasper Kalinowski and Daisy Dunn Kasper Kalinowski: What irritates you most about popular

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We Demand Too Little of AI. Artificial Intelligence Can Be Closer to the Human

If we want AI to help us overcome serious civilizational problems, we need a model that learns about the world more like a human does. I have a proposal for how such a model might be developed — says Prof. Rafał Rzepka, a computer scientist at Hokkaido University. By Łukasz Kaniewski

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Lucid Dreaming as a Second Life. Can It Be Controlled?

One in every two people in the world will experience at least one spontaneous lucid dream in their lifetime, but enormous numbers of people try to train themselves in techniques for inducing them on demand. What do psychology and neuroscience tell us about lucid dreaming? By Piotr Szymanek It is

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Can Artificial Intelligence Have Consciousness?

Consciousness remains a mystery of the human brain. How does it arise, and will artificial intelligence ever become something more than an advanced algorithm? By Paweł Orłowski and Michał Bola Consciousness is the most fundamental and self-evident element of human existence. It accompanies us always and is wherever we

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Animals Can Learn What Death Is. But They Will Understand It Differently From Us

Philosopher Susana Monsó: Many of us have watched a cat torment a mouse without killing it. The killing bite is distinctly different from that cruel play. This is evidence of cognitive control over behavior. The cat chooses when it kills. By Maria Hawranek and Susana Monsó Maria Hawranek: Is the

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What Happened to the Cro-Magnons? The Tangled History of Europe's Hunter-Gatherers

More than 50,000 years ago, anatomically modern humans began migrating into Europe and interbreeding with Neanderthals. The genes of some of them survive to this day. By Łukasz Kwiatek Paul Broca is most easily encountered in a neurobiology textbook. This French physician became famous for performing the autopsy of