Mind and Psychology
Psychic Numbing
For Robert Jay Lifton, treating veterans’ trauma was an antiwar tool. How did PTSD, the diagnosis he helped create, come to accommodate state violence?
Who’s Afraid of Frantz Fanon?
Long decried by liberals and conservatives alike, the Martinican psychiatrist remains one of the most piercing critics of colonialism.
Our Avatars, Ourselves
Generative AI has made it possible to create lifelike models of real people. Should we?
Father of War
My son’s violent illness humbled my sense of control and transformed my understanding of what it means to parent.
You Owe Me an Argument
Epiphanies can prompt us to view the world differently, a new book contends. But they are no substitute for ethical and political debate.
Just Wear Your Smile
The gender politics of Positive Psychology valorize the nuclear family and heterosexual monogamy.
Mental Illness Is Not in Your Head
Decades of biological research haven’t improved diagnosis or treatment. We should look to society, not to the brain.
The Shocking School
The Judge Rotenberg Center, a Massachusetts school, still uses electric shock therapy to punish disabled students. How can an entire field of mental health accept this?
Imagine the Worst
How philosophical thinking can make truthfulness possible even when the truth can barely be fathomed.
UFOs and the Boundaries of Science
This summer, an intelligence report and a new Harvard research project have renewed the public’s interest in UFOs. But neither is likely to change many minds.
The Politics of White Anxiety
Trump is only the latest to exploit it. A new path forward must address the structures that sustain it.
Our Identities, Ourselves?
Adhering to a particular sexual or gender identity may mean abandoning the things that make us most unique.
The Why of the World
Allured by the promise of Big Data, science has shortchanged causal explanation in favor of data-driven prediction. But ultimately we must ask why.
Don’t Overthink It
A new book wants us to navigate life’s crossroads with the precision of a military exercise. But personal decisions are more difficult than even the most consequential political decisions.
Programming My Child
Through the experience of parenting his daughter, a software developer came to see Google and Facebook as the first digital children.
The Friendship that Changed Economics
Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman transformed how we think about economics and human behavior.
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