Browsing: Lens_ideas

Thinking of nucleobases as a long sequence of letters may contribute to the illusion that DNA is a language.Neil Palmer / CIAT via Flickr When we talk about genes, we often use expressions inherited from a few influential geneticists and evolutionary biologists, including Francis Crick, James Watson, and Richard Dawkins. These expressions depict DNA as […]

There is only a certain level of novelty that most people are willing to tolerate.

Why the singularity is greatly exaggerated.

The “marshmallow experiment” has become a famous way to measure the self-control of children. (This is a version of the test made for entertainment, not research, purposes.) Every year since 1988, my friend Lou and I have picked a New Year’s resolution together. We meticulously keep to each promise for exactly one year. The 2014 […]

Creative robots, the Kurzweil fallacy, and what it means to be human.

The power of mind-wandering.

How silence affects the scientists who study it.

How silence affects the scientists who study it.

My years surveying trees in the Amazon taught me the forest is unknowable.