“Agency” is a small word but it has large meanings. In my day job in the financial industry, for example, “agency” issues refer to the differences in interests between investors (the principals) and their financial advisors (the agents). read more »

There is a realm the laws of physics prevent us from accessing. Ryan Mandelbaum  read more »

Death may be the greatest of all human blessings. Socrates read more »

I do not believe in free will. Einstein

There is no absolute or free will. Spinoza read more »

Pretend that you have free will. It’s essential that you behave as if your decisions matter, even though you know they don’t. Ted Chiang read more »

If all phenomena are determined by physical laws … then life itself becomes little more than a string of kinetic experiences. Walter Pater read more »

There is no coming into being nor passing away, there is neither genesis nor decay; the elements out of which everything is composed assemble or disassemble while themselves remaining unchanged. Parmenides, c. 475 BC read more »

I think I can safely say that nobody really understands quantum mechanics. Richard Feynman read more »

God does not play dice with the universe. Albert Einstein read more »

We are speculating about how the Taliban will govern Afghanistan the second time around. Last week I concluded that one prevalent fear – that the Taliban would protect terrorist groups that are a major threat to the West – is unlikely to happen. read more »