Stories by John Horgan

Is consciousness nothing more than an illusion? That idea defined the work of Daniel Dennett (1942–2024)

A brain scientist and a philosopher have resolved a wager on consciousness that was made when Bill Clinton was president

Quantum entanglement seems like it shouldn’t be possible, but experiments from 2022 Nobel Prize winners based on John Bell’s work tell us otherwise

A moral movement called longtermism, which focuses on protecting humanity’s future, dwells too much on artificial intelligence and not enough on war

A “replication crisis” in mathematics raises questions about the purpose of knowledge

The psychiatric syndrome called derealization raises profound moral and philosophical questions

As the war in Ukraine intensifies, rather than prepare for future wars, we should talk about ending war once and for all

Superdeterminism, a radical quantum hypothesis, says our “choices” are illusory

A radical retelling of civilization’s origins leads to an expansive vision of human possibility

A radical quantum hypothesis casts doubt on objective reality

Scientists search for hidden variables underpinning our swerving moods and thoughts

Tech companies seek to create far more immersive digital environments, possibly mediated by brain implants

Bills totaling $287,365.08 provide insights into the dysfunctional economics of American medicine

Wearable devices that track our health may do more harm than good

Fear of mortality might underlie physicists’ fondness for the anthropic principle, multiverses, superdeterminism and other shaky ideas

Quantum mechanics inspires us to speculate that interactions between entities, not entities in themselves, are fundamental to reality

Ordinary human dilemmas are tougher to solve than the most difficult problems of physics and mathematics

Theories that try to explain these big metaphysical mysteries fall short, making agnosticism the only sensible stance

A 92-year-old essay provokes musings on the nature of knowledge, reality—and uptalk

Can we ever really know the world?

A lingering hockey injury forces a science writer to reconsider his criticism of American medicine

Our diverse ways of seeing reality will never, and should never, meld into a monolithic worldview

Three physicists envision ways in which the quest for knowledge can last forever

Along with other nations, we should begin talking about how to put militarism behind us