The Source Code of Belief Every religion has a source code. For some traditions, the source is textual — a scripture, a canon, a set of authoritative writings. For others, it is oral — a tradition maintained

The mucus trail of a snail is one of nature's more philosophically generous phenomena. It is simultaneously map and autobiography, both a record of where the animal has been and a communication to others

There is a particular cruelty embedded in the word destination. It implies that the point of a journey is its termination — that movement is a problem to be solved, a gap to be closed, an inconvenience

The Act of Faith in the Cipher Every encryption is addressed. When you encrypt a message, you are not locking it in a safe without a key — you are sealing it with a key that only one intended person, or

The Paradox States Itself If everything is allowed, then nothing means anything. This is the intuitive objection to any philosophy that leads with permission. It appears in the history of philosophy dressed

The problem with gratitude Gratitude, as normally practiced, requires a benefactor. You are grateful to someone, for something they did or gave. This structure is intuitive and useful for tracking social