Aeon Magazine
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Aeon is a magazine of ideas and culture. Visit aeon.co for more.
For millennia, philosophers and scientists have interrogated the nature of the human self and how we understand it. Today's Essay by @tonyjprescott.bsky.social explores a new approach – the attempt to create or synthesise a sense of self in robots
Why the best way to understand the self is to build a robot one | Aeon Essays
In order to better understand our human nature, we must attempt to build a robot capable of robust subjective experiences
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January 12, 2026 at 11:15 AM
For millennia, philosophers and scientists have interrogated the nature of the human self and how we understand it. Today's Essay by @tonyjprescott.bsky.social explores a new approach – the attempt to create or synthesise a sense of self in robots
Marine scientists face an unexpected roadblock: laws designed to protect reefs are preventing them from saving corals during heatwaves. To resolve this, we must build new legal frameworks, argues Irus Braverman in this urgent Essay
Should we intensively alter coral reefs so they can survive the heat? | Aeon Essays
All our laws and rules to protect coral reefs now stand in the way of radical action to save them from heat death
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January 9, 2026 at 11:30 AM
Marine scientists face an unexpected roadblock: laws designed to protect reefs are preventing them from saving corals during heatwaves. To resolve this, we must build new legal frameworks, argues Irus Braverman in this urgent Essay
Not all documentaries are heavy or emotionally demanding. The short films across the Aeon and Psyche archives inspire wonder and open windows onto lives and places far beyond our own. Here, Aeon Media’s video curator, Tamur Qutab, shares a selection of his favourite uplifting films buff.ly/vtQn524
January 8, 2026 at 8:01 PM
Not all documentaries are heavy or emotionally demanding. The short films across the Aeon and Psyche archives inspire wonder and open windows onto lives and places far beyond our own. Here, Aeon Media’s video curator, Tamur Qutab, shares a selection of his favourite uplifting films buff.ly/vtQn524
Could the US stance against annexation-by-conquest be softening? And, if so, what would be the consequences for global order? Revisit this revealing and timely Essay from the Aeon archive
How it became wrong for nations to conquer others | Aeon Essays
It’s only a century since US diplomats first persuaded the world that it’s wrong for countries to annex their neighbours
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January 8, 2026 at 4:30 PM
Could the US stance against annexation-by-conquest be softening? And, if so, what would be the consequences for global order? Revisit this revealing and timely Essay from the Aeon archive
Providing a glimpse into the microscopic worlds within us, this animation illustrates a fascinating process in which specialised proteins repair damaged DNA by using an intact copy as a template
Groundbreaking visuals capture how our bodies repair damaged DNA | Aeon Videos
A dazzling visualisation of how the body’s specialised proteins repair damaged DNA by using an intact copy as a template
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January 8, 2026 at 1:45 PM
Providing a glimpse into the microscopic worlds within us, this animation illustrates a fascinating process in which specialised proteins repair damaged DNA by using an intact copy as a template
It took five ill-fated conversations with Jean-Paul Sartre before the Vietnamese philosopher Trần Đức Thảo finally broke with French philosophy. This essay traces Thảo’s life and work, and how he came to be one of the first theorists of the divide between colonised and coloniser
The tragic life and principled politics of Trần Đức Thảo | Aeon Essays
How the persecuted Vietnamese philosopher became one of the first theorists of the divide between colonised and coloniser
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January 8, 2026 at 11:30 AM
It took five ill-fated conversations with Jean-Paul Sartre before the Vietnamese philosopher Trần Đức Thảo finally broke with French philosophy. This essay traces Thảo’s life and work, and how he came to be one of the first theorists of the divide between colonised and coloniser
For the Iranian Australian musician Hamed Sadeghi, one strum of the tar is all it takes to echo millennia of Persian history. In this short film, Sadeghi gives a soulful performance of the guitar-like instrument and explains why, for him, playing it is an act of anchoring
Why millennia of history echo in each strum of a Persian tar | Aeon Videos
For a tar player, each strum offers a connection with Iranian classical music, some of which was lost after the revolution
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January 7, 2026 at 11:30 AM
For the Iranian Australian musician Hamed Sadeghi, one strum of the tar is all it takes to echo millennia of Persian history. In this short film, Sadeghi gives a soulful performance of the guitar-like instrument and explains why, for him, playing it is an act of anchoring
Reposted by Aeon Magazine
The exceptional editorial nous of the Aeon people has produced a another insightful collection of essays. Read and give a little to the cause. They’re unlike anyone else in this dark world. I’m always illuminated.
To understand how the brain functions, we need to shift away from thinking in terms of individual brain regions and instead consider how they might work together as neuronal ensembles
How the human brain is like a murmuration of starlings | Aeon Essays
The brain is much less like a machine than it is like the murmurations of a flock of starlings or an orchestral symphony
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January 3, 2026 at 1:26 AM
The exceptional editorial nous of the Aeon people has produced a another insightful collection of essays. Read and give a little to the cause. They’re unlike anyone else in this dark world. I’m always illuminated.
Two researchers have taken a deep dive into online communities of chronic disease sufferers, finding what they call a ‘spiral of suffering’, in which initially helpful validation can turn sour and compound into a sense of hopelessness
Are online communities for chronic illness doing more harm than good? | Aeon Essays
For people with chronic illnesses, the relief and recognition of online communities can set up a toxic psychological trap
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January 6, 2026 at 11:15 AM
Two researchers have taken a deep dive into online communities of chronic disease sufferers, finding what they call a ‘spiral of suffering’, in which initially helpful validation can turn sour and compound into a sense of hopelessness
This intimate short documentary follows Desmond Grant, a Jamaican immigrant in Munich, Germany, as he navigates the liberating yet isolating transition to a new country
The patient labour of building ties in a city far from home | Aeon Videos
A documentary on the patient labour of building a home away from home and the courage it takes to open oneself to new bonds
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January 5, 2026 at 2:15 PM
This intimate short documentary follows Desmond Grant, a Jamaican immigrant in Munich, Germany, as he navigates the liberating yet isolating transition to a new country
In 1894, the tomb of an ancient female poet by the name of Bilitis was discovered in Cyprus, containing poems revealing she was a contemporary to Sappho. But who was Bilitis? Did she ever even exist? Find out more in @catlamb.bsky.social’s wonderfully illuminating Essay
How a playful literary hoax illuminates Classical queerness | Aeon Essays
A lush translation of this late-discovered lesbian poet added to the legacy of Sappho, but there was a trickster at work
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January 5, 2026 at 12:00 PM
In 1894, the tomb of an ancient female poet by the name of Bilitis was discovered in Cyprus, containing poems revealing she was a contemporary to Sappho. But who was Bilitis? Did she ever even exist? Find out more in @catlamb.bsky.social’s wonderfully illuminating Essay
To understand how the brain functions, we need to shift away from thinking in terms of individual brain regions and instead consider how they might work together as neuronal ensembles
How the human brain is like a murmuration of starlings | Aeon Essays
The brain is much less like a machine than it is like the murmurations of a flock of starlings or an orchestral symphony
buff.ly
January 2, 2026 at 12:30 PM
To understand how the brain functions, we need to shift away from thinking in terms of individual brain regions and instead consider how they might work together as neuronal ensembles
Reposted by Aeon Magazine
By our director Inanna Hamati-Ataya @berytia.bsky.social
Globalisation didn’t begin in the 1990s, or even in the past millennia. The tale of globalisation is written across human history. So why do we keep getting the story so wrong? This Essay was one of our most read by you in 2025. Revisit it here:
There are no pure cultures – we have always been global | Aeon Essays
All of our religions, stories, languages and norms were muddled and mixed through mobility and exchange throughout history
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December 30, 2025 at 4:29 PM
By our director Inanna Hamati-Ataya @berytia.bsky.social
Reposted by Aeon Magazine
Who should decide the role of AI in the future of medicine? –Check out my latest essay in @aeon.co aeon.co/essays/who-s... edited by @nigelwarburton.bsky.social
Who should decide the role of AI in the future of medicine? | Aeon Essays
Medical error kills hundreds of thousands yearly. If AI is sophisticated enough to help, doctors must not stand in the way
aeon.co
December 23, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Who should decide the role of AI in the future of medicine? –Check out my latest essay in @aeon.co aeon.co/essays/who-s... edited by @nigelwarburton.bsky.social
A hero or a murderer? Stalin’s legacy is still a contentious issue in his birthplace, Georgia, seven decades after his death.
Start your new year with this accomplished portrait of place – a favourite Aeon Exclusive from the archive
Start your new year with this accomplished portrait of place – a favourite Aeon Exclusive from the archive
In Stalin’s home city in Georgia, generations clash over his legacy | Aeon Videos
A hero or a murderer? Stalin’s legacy is still a contentious issue in his birthplace, seven decades after his death
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January 1, 2026 at 4:01 PM
A hero or a murderer? Stalin’s legacy is still a contentious issue in his birthplace, Georgia, seven decades after his death.
Start your new year with this accomplished portrait of place – a favourite Aeon Exclusive from the archive
Start your new year with this accomplished portrait of place – a favourite Aeon Exclusive from the archive
‘One of the best Aeon articles I’ve read.’ – Medora, Aeon reader, September 2025
In this compassionately told Essay, Cynda Hylton Rushton draws out her framework of moral resilience, which she built over three decades as a nurse, researcher and professor of clinical ethics
In this compassionately told Essay, Cynda Hylton Rushton draws out her framework of moral resilience, which she built over three decades as a nurse, researcher and professor of clinical ethics
How moral resilience helps nurses work through ethical strife | Aeon Essays
Nurses experience deep suffering when they can’t act according to their moral compass. Our research shows a way forward
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January 1, 2026 at 11:15 AM
‘One of the best Aeon articles I’ve read.’ – Medora, Aeon reader, September 2025
In this compassionately told Essay, Cynda Hylton Rushton draws out her framework of moral resilience, which she built over three decades as a nurse, researcher and professor of clinical ethics
In this compassionately told Essay, Cynda Hylton Rushton draws out her framework of moral resilience, which she built over three decades as a nurse, researcher and professor of clinical ethics
How do large language models really work – and why do they continue to surprise even their creators? In this clear-eyed explainer created for the Computer History Museum, Grant Sanderson @3blue1brown.com traces the evolution of LLMs and opens up their hidden scaffolding
Why large language models are mysterious – even to their creators | Aeon Videos
River bank or bank account? How chatbots learned to make the quantum leap to context by training on billions of prompts
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December 31, 2025 at 11:15 AM
How do large language models really work – and why do they continue to surprise even their creators? In this clear-eyed explainer created for the Computer History Museum, Grant Sanderson @3blue1brown.com traces the evolution of LLMs and opens up their hidden scaffolding
Globalisation didn’t begin in the 1990s, or even in the past millennia. The tale of globalisation is written across human history. So why do we keep getting the story so wrong? This Essay was one of our most read by you in 2025. Revisit it here:
There are no pure cultures – we have always been global | Aeon Essays
All of our religions, stories, languages and norms were muddled and mixed through mobility and exchange throughout history
buff.ly
December 30, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Globalisation didn’t begin in the 1990s, or even in the past millennia. The tale of globalisation is written across human history. So why do we keep getting the story so wrong? This Essay was one of our most read by you in 2025. Revisit it here:
Take a trip to a former hunting lodge, now part living museum, part work of art. One of our most-viewed archive videos, this playful and quietly profound film invites us to reflect on the character of our own lived-in spaces, as the year draws to a close
How an artist transformed a dilapidated hunting lodge into a house made of dreams | Aeon Videos
Take a trip to Luna Parc, New Jersey, a former hunting lodge, now part living museum, part work of art, and wholly individual
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December 29, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Take a trip to a former hunting lodge, now part living museum, part work of art. One of our most-viewed archive videos, this playful and quietly profound film invites us to reflect on the character of our own lived-in spaces, as the year draws to a close
This Essay, arguing that philosophy must reckon with the meaning of thermodynamics, was one of our readers’ favourites of 2025. Today we’re re sharing it along with a new quote from the author
Philosophers must reckon with the meaning of thermodynamics | Aeon Essays
Everything eats and is eaten. Everything destroys and is destroyed. It is our moral duty to strike back at the Universe
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December 29, 2025 at 11:45 AM
This Essay, arguing that philosophy must reckon with the meaning of thermodynamics, was one of our readers’ favourites of 2025. Today we’re re sharing it along with a new quote from the author
The work of the writer and critic Susan Sontag remains endlessly relevant and urgent. She died on this day, twenty-one years ago, and to mark her life we’re sharing a favourite archive essay in memory of her hunger for knowledge and the remarkable body of work she left behind
Susan Sontag was a monster, of the very best kind | Aeon Essays
She took things too seriously. She was difficult and unyielding. That’s why Susan Sontag’s work matters so much even now
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December 28, 2025 at 1:30 PM
The work of the writer and critic Susan Sontag remains endlessly relevant and urgent. She died on this day, twenty-one years ago, and to mark her life we’re sharing a favourite archive essay in memory of her hunger for knowledge and the remarkable body of work she left behind
Protecting the names and identities of its interviewees, this animated short documentary by @artefr.bsky.social gives Russians a rare chance to speak with unguarded honesty about how the war has changed their lives, as well as how they view their homeland in its wake
In rare, candid interviews, Russians discuss life amid war | Aeon Videos
In rare interviews, Russians speak candidly about their lives in the presence of war – animated to protect their identities
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December 27, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Protecting the names and identities of its interviewees, this animated short documentary by @artefr.bsky.social gives Russians a rare chance to speak with unguarded honesty about how the war has changed their lives, as well as how they view their homeland in its wake
We are just one branch of a diverse human family tree. Aside from Neanderthals, who were they – and why did we replace them? This excellent essay on human evolution is an editor’s favourite, and the perfect companion to a quiet Boxing Day
Why one branch on the human family tree replaced all the others | Aeon Essays
We are just one branch of a diverse human family tree. Aside from Neanderthals, who were they – and why did we replace them?
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December 26, 2025 at 11:30 AM
We are just one branch of a diverse human family tree. Aside from Neanderthals, who were they – and why did we replace them? This excellent essay on human evolution is an editor’s favourite, and the perfect companion to a quiet Boxing Day
Blending live action, animation, and a soulful, hip-hop-infused beat, director Tajana Tokyo offers a rich snapshot of how relationships are understood in Sierra Leone, and how those views diverge from Western ideas – from divorce and cheating to why you should never ‘marry a man you like too much.’
Never marry a man you love too much, and other views on romance in Sierra Leone | Aeon Videos
A playful collage of audio interviews captures candid and revealing reflections on love, sex and marriage in Sierra Leone
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December 25, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Blending live action, animation, and a soulful, hip-hop-infused beat, director Tajana Tokyo offers a rich snapshot of how relationships are understood in Sierra Leone, and how those views diverge from Western ideas – from divorce and cheating to why you should never ‘marry a man you like too much.’
‘Our mental worlds are lively with experiences of absence, yet it’s a mystery how the mind performs the trick of seeing nothing.’ Revisit one of our most read Essays of 2025:
Why zero could unlock how the brain perceives absence | Aeon Essays
It took centuries for people to embrace the zero. Now it’s helping neuroscientists understand how the brain perceives absences
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December 25, 2025 at 11:30 AM
‘Our mental worlds are lively with experiences of absence, yet it’s a mystery how the mind performs the trick of seeing nothing.’ Revisit one of our most read Essays of 2025: