The evidence is mounting... "we" are mostly who we think we are. Our identities are mental constructs, cobbled together from memory and stories. Jonathan Adler gives us a crash course in narrative identity and mental health.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Oxford University philosopher Nick Bostrom offers a cautionary take on artificial intelligence in his new book, Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. In it, he imagines what could happen if computers were to ever become smarter than humans. He tells Steve Paulson that it could have catastrophic effects, unless we start thinking about it now.
Mark Frauenfelder is co-creator of the weblog BoingBoing.net and the author of "Made by Hand: Searching for Meaning in a Throwaway World."
For years, Paul Ewald's been trying to convince people that cancer is caused by germs, not genes.
Julia Alvarez talks about her novel for young adults, and how it mirrors her own experience reconciling a native Dominican background with the culture of her adopted home: a small town in rural Vermont.
Neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor nearly died from a massive stroke at the age of 37. The experience taught her life lessons on how the mind perceives the world.
Nicholson Baker's latest novel is called "The Anthologist." Baker tells Anne Strainchamps the book's about a writer who longs to be a poet.
Joel Waldfogel talks with Jim Fleming about what's really wrong with all those cringe-inducing neckties and fruitcakes nobody eats.
Pages
