Compete in the Berggruen Prize Essay Competition | $50,000 Prize Submit your essay for a chance to win $50,000 and be published by Berggruen Press. Explore fundamental questions and bridge cultural perspectives. Make your mark on the future of philosophy and cultur...

Speculative fiction writers! Berggruen is accepting creative fiction for this year for a philosophical story! $50,000 Prize and no entry fee! berggruen.org/essay-compet...

Thank you internet for making me discover that a pope wrote an erotic book
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tal...
(Before being pope obv)

Just because a President announces he’s agreed to a two week ceasefire moments before he threatened to commit war crimes, does not mean he is suddenly fit to serve. #25thAmendment

The Artemis astronauts. Something that’s happening now that in no way whatever sucks. A blessing.

A starfield filled with thousands of stars and shining clouds of dust. The Milky Way\u2019s elegant spiral structure is dominated by just two arms wrapping off the ends of a central bar of stars. Spanning more than 100,000 light-years, Earth is located along one of the galaxy\u2019s spiral arms, about halfway from the center. Credit: NASA

OH. MY. GOD.

THIS IS THE MILKY WAY SHOT BY THE ARTEMIS II CREW. LOOK AT ALL THOSE STARS!!!!

Adventitious | A Speculative Short Fiction Magazine - Adventitious. Adventitious is a speculative short fiction magazine publishing boundary-defying stories, novellas, and unclassifiable work.

We didn’t plan an Easter-themed issue.

But a lot of the April stories involve:

• things coming back
• rituals that require sacrifice
• systems that endure

So we’re going to test a theory. (Thread inbound) (hop hop)

www.adventitious.net

Human Studies 401 by Abby Nicole Yee Clarkesworld Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine and Podcast.

Wow this is a haunting read by @abbynicoleyee.com

clarkesworldmagazine.com/yee_04_26/

On Anil Seth’s “The Mythology of Conscious AI” — Part 1 In January, the winners of the Berggruen Prize were announced. For those who are not familiar with this prize, it is considered the most important philosophy essay competition. Anil Seth, a famous neuroscientist, won the English-language section with an essay entitled “The Mythology of Conscious AI.” When the essay was published in the magazine Noema, some of my readers asked me about my views on it. That is a fair ask, given that debates on AI consciousness are increasingly splitting the research community into proponents and opponents of the possibility of such a creation, while setting aside the ethical questions that would follow if it were possible. This is a long text. In this first post, I would like to present the beginning of Anil Seth’s essay. The essay opens by explaining that humans have long sought ways to create human-like beings. Anil Seth adds that the creation of conscious beings has also been an important topic in human cultural history. He writes, for instance: > “The cultural history of synthetic consciousness is both long and mostly unhappy. From Yossele the Golem, to Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” HAL 9000 in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” Ava in “Ex Machina,” and Klara in “Klara and The Sun,” the dream of creating artificial bodies and synthetic minds that both think and _feel_ rarely ends well — at least, not for the humans involved. One thing we learn from these stories: If artificial intelligence is on a path toward real consciousness, or even toward systems that persuasively seem to be conscious, there’s plenty at stake — and not just disruption in job markets.” Seth reminds us — _was it necessary?_ — that voices stating that conscious AI already exists, while others consider such a statement as misleading, or false, or as pertaining to the SF register. Still, he concludes: “For many leading experts in AI and neuroscience, the emergence of machine consciousness is a question of _when,_ not _if_.” What is clear here is that, even though many leading experts agree, that does not necessarily mean they are right in their judgment. That is why Seth feels important to add here that: > “How we think about the prospects for conscious AI matters. It matters for the AI systems themselves, since — if they are conscious, whether now or in the future — with consciousness comes moral status, the potential for suffering and, perhaps, rights.” He also added that it matters to us because it may change how we consider, use, or even interact with our AI tools. It matters also because it may change the way we understand “our own human nature and the nature of the conscious experiences that make our lives worth living.” There’s nothing new here, but it is a good, general public-oriented introduction. The body of the text begins with a section titled “The Temptations Of Conscious AI,” which addresses the question of whether AI could be conscious and explains why it is an important question. Then, it presents four arguments related to “Consciousness & Computation,” the field of expertise of Anil Seth. Next is a section oriented more toward ethical questions titled “What (Not) To Do,” followed by a conclusion on “Soul Machine.” From now on, I will restitute the argumentation he presented following his text. To facilitate comparison with Anil Seth’s own text, I will use his section titles for the present discussion. ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

In January, the winners of the Berggruen Prize were announced. For those who are not familiar with this prize, it is considered the most important philosophy essay competition. Anil Seth, a famous neuroscientist, won the English-language section with an essay entitled “The Mythology of Conscious […]

New story featuring aliens x global experiments x love cocktails CLARKESWORLD RYAN COLE• RAJEEV PRASAD NADIA W. ALDSEN •- ABBY NICOLE YEE KATHERINE KHÁN• TANIA FORDWALKER MALENA SALAZAR MACIA "Human Studies 401" by Abby Nicole Yee

New story at @clarkesworldmagazine.com! “Human Studies 401” is about a lot of things, except good sense and self-preservation… What a way to start April!!! Read for free online or subscribe at clarkesworldmagazine.com

Cover for issue 235 of Clarkesworld is by Ian McQue and features a craft floating above dockyards. Background is a hazy purple. Smaller ships float nearby. This issue includes interviews with John Chu and Suzanne Palmer, an article by Jason Collins, and an editorial by Neil Clarke.

Our April 2026 issue features stories by Ryan Cole, Tania Fordwalker, Rajeev Prasad, Katherine Khan, Nadia W. Aldsen, Malena Salazar Maciá, and Abby Nicole Yee.

clarkesworldmagazine.com/issue_235

Subscribe at:
clarkesworldmagazine.com/subscribe/

2026 nuclear family meme— featuring Fritzi as Neurodivergent Aunt, Sluggo as Sluggo, Nancy as Daughter, Nancy Jr as Woke Dog

i have had the wikipedia page for "unethical human experimentation in the united states" open for literally 6 months. for reasons unknown even to myself.

unbelievably happy with my (admittedly tiny) progress with my thesis direction! feel like celebrating with another coffee but really, i’ve had too much already 😅

My favorite parts of x men are when gambit runs out of cards to throw and just tries random bullshit

Tell Us,Bernie......

My tan amstaff Cassie lying on a quilt. She looks like she’s starting to fall asleep. Her paw is on my arm and I’m rubbing her chest.

Almost sleep time for me but here is a baby

resourcedwoman © 11h & Threads If you thought the Epstein files were crazy, wait until you realize that Dinosaurs never existed, oil is not a fossil fuel, that life exists beyond the ice wall, free energy has been suppressed, there was a major timeline reset starting around 1776 and there are tunnels all over the world into inner earth. O 2.9K Q 725 G 268 156 Top v View activity > princessdiariescore 8h The reason why they call it fossil fuel its like blood toh. The Dinsour bones is an explanation to cover ancient giant beings. Everything is electric and energetic, the architecture before 1776 was build to cultivate that energy. They buried the old buildings and built on top of it.

there’s a whole different America out there posting on Threads

I got an idea for comedians. ironic children's book

If you wish to serve me, reading comprehension is of the utmost importance. If I haven't responded to your inquiry that's probably because it was unappealing to me & because it's clear that you haven't actually read over my website.

Five Horror Mockumentaries That Feel Scarily Real - Reactor The fear creeps in wherever the lines between fact and fiction start to blur...

The Blair Witch Project famously played up the idea that its footage was based in real events; here are five other documentary-style horror movies that blur the lines between fiction and reality!

I don’t care what people are reading if they’re reading. There’s way bigger problems in the world than adults READING books written at elementary level. #booksky

💚💚💚

On a whim, I looked up how much it would possibly cost to have my book proof-read by professionals.

It would probably cost somewhere in the region of 500 quid.

Bloody hell, you need to be rich just to write a book.

“…despite all the rigor and precision of his thinking, he was really a mystic at heart…”

— @gearyjames.bsky.social, The World in a Phrase (2nd edition) #booksky #poetry #philosophy #spirituality ❤️‍🔥

The best thing about Chicago, the band, is that it's easy to organize their records. I goes before II and II goes before III, etc.

It's that time! Vote in the annual Locus Awards Poll & Survey to determine the winners of the 2026 awards (tickets available now)!

You can vote at poll.voting.locusmag... or via the link in our bio!

What would normally be presidency-ending scandals not even a blip on the radar

Daily

A fun thing to do is look at Amazon’s price history tool.

Prices remain steady on most things over the last 30 days. Toggle it to 90 and almost everything spiked 30%

You Know What? Maybe the Time Is Right for an AOC Presidential Bid She’s only 36, and there’s a good argument that she should run for Senate and bide her time. But she also could be a formidable White House candidate.

The worst case scenario for an AOC presidential run in 2028 is that she’s setting herself up for 2032 or 2036.

She is going to be president someday—it’s just a matter of time.