The life-changing magic of Japanese clutter | Aeon Essays
Shimayama-san behind the counter of his tiny shop in Akihabara, Tokyo, which he ran for 43 years. Photo by Lee Chapman The joy of clutterThe world sees Japan as a paragon of minimalism. But its hidden clutter culture shows that ‘more’ can be as magical as ‘less’by Matt Alt + BIO Shimayama-san behind the counter of his tiny shop in Akihabara, Tokyo, which he ran for 43 years. Photo by Lee Chapman I
Your brain does not process information and it is not a computer | Aeon Essays
No matter how hard they try, brain scientists and cognitive psychologists will never find a copy of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony in the brain – or copies of words, pictures, grammatical rules or any other kinds of environmental stimuli. The human brain isn’t really empty, of course. But it does not contain most of the things people think it does – not even simple things such as ‘memories’. Our shoddy
Is Westernisation fact or fiction? The case of Japan and the US | Aeon Essays
In 1860, Fukuzawa Yukichi, a young Japanese student still learning English himself, accompanied the first ever Japanese diplomatic mission to the United States as its English interpreter. This American encounter, along with a second trip with a Japanese Embassy to Europe in 1862 and a third trip back to the US in 1867, greatly influenced his thinking about Japan and its future. Although Fukuzawa t
What if your consciousness is an illusion created by your brain? | Aeon Essays
In the movie The Matrix (1999), Morpheus offers Neo a red pill. If he takes it, he will discover that reality as he knows it is an illusion created by machine overlords to keep humans enslaved. I am going to offer you a different pill, which – if it works – will convince you that your own consciousness is a sort of illusion, a fiction created by your brain to help you keep track of its activities.
Consciousness is neither a spooky mystery nor an illusory belief | Aeon Essays
These days it is highly fashionable to label consciousness an ‘illusion’. This in turn fosters the impression, especially among the general public, that the way we normally think of our mental life has been shown by science to be drastically mistaken. While this is true in a very specific and technical sense, consciousness remains arguably the most distinctive evolved feature of humanity, enabling
How cult leaders brainwash followers for total control | Aeon Essays
I began my formal research in 1999, eight years after battling my way out of a secret, so-called Marxist-Leninist group whose leader controlled my life in its most intimate details. He determined what I wore: a version of the advice in John Molloy’s bestseller Dress for Success (1975), featuring tailored blue suits and floppy red silk bowties. More significantly, he decided when I could marry, and
Hume is the amiable, modest, generous philosopher we need today | Aeon Essays
Socrates died by drinking hemlock, condemned to death by the people of Athens. Albert Camus met his end in a car that wrapped itself around a tree at high speed. Nietzsche collapsed into insanity after weeping over a beaten horse. Posterity loves a tragic end, which is one reason why the cult of David Hume, arguably the greatest philosopher the West has ever produced, never took off. While Hume wa
How Disney took to subverting its own romantic ideals | Aeon Essays
Love, in the world of Walt Disney films, has changed. Between Tangled (2010) and Moana (2016), the ideal of heterosexual romance has been dethroned by a new ideal: family love. The happy ending of our most-watched childhood stories is no longer a kiss. Today, Disney films end with two siblings reconciled despite their differences, as in Frozen (2013); or a mother and a daughter making amends, as i
A belief in meritocracy is not only false: it’s bad for you | Aeon Ideas
‘We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else …’ Barack Obama, inaugural address, 2013 ‘We must create a level playing field for American companies and workers.’ Donald Trump, inaugural address, 2017 Meritocracy has become a leading social ideal. Politicians across the ideological spectrum continually retur
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Do humans really have a killer instinct or is that just manly fancy? | Psyche Ideas
What is the problem with ethical trolley problems? | Aeon Essays
The Little Ice Age is a history of resilience and surprises | Aeon Essays
How did being happy become a matter of relentless competitive work? | Aeon Essays
Have modern zoos really put their history behind them? | Aeon Essays
How the Many-Worlds theory of Hugh Everett split the Universe | Aeon Essays
What Albert Einstein owes to David Hume’s notion of time | Aeon Essays
How personal letters built the possibility of a modern public | Aeon Essays
Cheerfulness cannot be compulsory, whatever the T-shirts say | Aeon Essays
When time became regular and universal, it changed history | Aeon Essays
The intriguing history of the autism diagnosis | Aeon Essays
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