Recent

Toward an Encyclopedia Apocalyptica

To a post-apocalyptic population, merely explaining scientific and technological facts about our situation won't help. We'll need a guidebook.

Science

Must We Sacrifice the Beasts at the Altars of Our Fierce Gods?

Like the Aztecs before us, and despite the sheen of humane treatment, zoos continue to be sites of ritual animal sacrifice.

Science

Consider the Troll

The pressing question isn't so much what a troll is and how he came to be, but what to do when confronted with a troll.

Science

We Have Never Been Human

Within our bodies, single-celled organisms outnumber cells that we identify as human DNA ten to one. We're merely a colony within a colony within a colony.

Science

A Brief Lesson on Poetry for Physicists

Praise for Carlo Rovelli's international bestseller Seven Brief Lessons on Physics has been near universal. Can the reviewers all be wrong? Yes, they can.

Science

E.T. Was Gay

Steven Spielberg's most child-friendly blockbuster primed a generation to be more accepting of homosexuality.

Film

I Was So Bored Watching 'Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens'

Star Wars is the latest exemplar of a genre that's accelerating toward its own creative exhaustion. That genre, of course, is the Hollywood tent-pole.

Film

Where Is the Truth in Our Romance of Popular Physics?

If all the truth of physics is in the math, what kind of storytelling are we lay persons getting when we read popular accounts of physics that are completely stripped of it?

Science

How Ethical Are Ad Blockers?

For many netizens, a free Internet would be the apogee of its early techno-utopian vision. Yet the "free internet" rallying cry is one of the latest, greatest manifestations of consumerism.

Internet

The Empire of Scientism Strikes Back

Despite what Steven Pinker has claimed in his epic debate with Leon Wieseltier in The New Republic, science is less Theory of Everything and more Harper's "Findings".

Technology

'No God But Funny' and 'Earth Angel' Are Preaching to the Choir

It's challenging enough to write good comedy. It's nearly impossible to do so burdened with an agenda, even one as innocuous as featuring a "likeable atheist" as the protagonist.

Television

A Public Service Announcement From Your Future AI Overlords

Perhaps what worries Stephen Hawking and his fear mongering colleagues is not some hostile Other like Agent Smith from The Matrix, but the more pedestrian Other that is other people.

Science

What's So Funny About Atheism?

Since New Atheists have done a stand-up job of elucidating the illusions of religious belief, why not point out some of the logical absurdities of atheism?

Television

Someone Else's South America: Louis C. K. Considers Life on Other Planets

Louie knows that if we do, ever, really encounter aliens, they're sure as hell not going to bend over backwards to accommodate our point of view.

Science

Pop Ten

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 1: 100 - 81

The 25 Best Classic Progressive Rock Albums

The 20 Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2019

Jackie Chan's 10 Best Films

The 70 Best Albums of 2019

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '90s - Part 1 (100 - 81)

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 5: 20 - 1

The 20 Best Metal Albums of 2019

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 2: 80 - 61

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Mixed Media

Collapse Expand Mixed Media

PM Picks

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Toward an Encyclopedia Apocalyptica

To a post-apocalyptic population, merely explaining scientific and technological facts about our situation won't help. We'll need a guidebook.

Must We Sacrifice the Beasts at the Altars of Our Fierce Gods?

Like the Aztecs before us, and despite the sheen of humane treatment, zoos continue to be sites of ritual animal sacrifice.

Consider the Troll

The pressing question isn't so much what a troll is and how he came to be, but what to do when confronted with a troll.

We Have Never Been Human

Within our bodies, single-celled organisms outnumber cells that we identify as human DNA ten to one. We're merely a colony within a colony within a colony.

A Brief Lesson on Poetry for Physicists

Praise for Carlo Rovelli's international bestseller Seven Brief Lessons on Physics has been near universal. Can the reviewers all be wrong? Yes, they can.

E.T. Was Gay

Steven Spielberg's most child-friendly blockbuster primed a generation to be more accepting of homosexuality.

I Was So Bored Watching 'Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens'

Star Wars is the latest exemplar of a genre that's accelerating toward its own creative exhaustion. That genre, of course, is the Hollywood tent-pole.

Where Is the Truth in Our Romance of Popular Physics?

If all the truth of physics is in the math, what kind of storytelling are we lay persons getting when we read popular accounts of physics that are completely stripped of it?

How Ethical Are Ad Blockers?

For many netizens, a free Internet would be the apogee of its early techno-utopian vision. Yet the "free internet" rallying cry is one of the latest, greatest manifestations of consumerism.

The Empire of Scientism Strikes Back

Despite what Steven Pinker has claimed in his epic debate with Leon Wieseltier in The New Republic, science is less Theory of Everything and more Harper's "Findings".

'No God But Funny' and 'Earth Angel' Are Preaching to the Choir

It's challenging enough to write good comedy. It's nearly impossible to do so burdened with an agenda, even one as innocuous as featuring a "likeable atheist" as the protagonist.

A Public Service Announcement From Your Future AI Overlords

Perhaps what worries Stephen Hawking and his fear mongering colleagues is not some hostile Other like Agent Smith from The Matrix, but the more pedestrian Other that is other people.

What's So Funny About Atheism?

Since New Atheists have done a stand-up job of elucidating the illusions of religious belief, why not point out some of the logical absurdities of atheism?

Someone Else's South America: Louis C. K. Considers Life on Other Planets

Louie knows that if we do, ever, really encounter aliens, they're sure as hell not going to bend over backwards to accommodate our point of view.

Tipping the Swear Jar: How mewithoutYou Used the F-Bomb to Say More Than the F-Word

Electro's Sotomayor Merge House and Merengue on "Menéate pa' mí" (premiere)

Gab De La Vega Turns and Faces the Familiar, Strange on "YYZ" (premiere)

British Soul/Blues Artist Izo Fitzroy Asks for "Blind Faith" (premiere)

Fell Runner Celebrate the Strange Dreams of an Unlikely Hero with "Jeffrey" (premiere)

The James Hunter Six's "Brother or Other" Asks to Spread the Love in a Time of Division (premiere)

Crowhurst + Gavin Bryars Demonstrate the Powers of Collaboration With "Dead Swans of Dreams" (premiere + interview)

Matt Wilson and His Orchestra Consider Memory, Mortality With "When I Was a Writer" (premiere + interview)

Robert Vincent Considers the Human "Conundrum" (premiere)

Electropop's Σtella Shares the Funky Dance Pop of "The Break" (premiere)