Edward O. Wilson is simultaneously one of my intellectual heroes and someone who frustrates me enormously, and these conflicting feelings were once again stirred as I read his most recent book, The ...

Edward O. Wilson is simultaneously one of my intellectual heroes and someone who frustrates me enormously, and these conflicting feelings were once again stirred as I read his most recent book, The ...

The informal TechCrunch book club is now venturing into the short story “Exhalation,” the second piece in Ted Chiang’s eponymous collection. Today’s story gets at the meaning of existence, climate ...

1. The reason we exist: The meaning of meaning -- Solving the riddle of the human species -- Evolution and our inner conflict -- 2. The unity of knowledge: The new enlightenment -- The all-importance ...

We are continuing our discussion of Ted Chiang’s “Exhalations.” Today (and one day late because of the MLK holiday), I give some thoughts on the first short story of the collection, “The Merchant and ...

In the middle of a pinballing conversation about jazz and the mystery of existence, Wayne Shorter once asked, “This ever happen to you? You’re sitting by yourself and you start to drift off. And the ...