“The Lament for Icarus” by Herbert James Draper (1898). Source: Public Domain.

World Mythology Warnings for TODAY #2: Icarus’s Flight & Dangerous Ambitions

Welcome back to our series World Mythology Warnings for Today. In case you missed our previous (and first) episode, be sure you click here to explore what happened in Persia. In today’s second episode, we’ll revisit Ancient Greece as we present a tale that has been told across generations: Icarus’s Flight. This particular legend captures

Re-enactment of the Industrial Revolution at the 2012 London Olympics. Source: CC BY 2.0

Preparing for the AI Future: Echoes from the Industrial Revolution

Imagine a world where daily life was marked by the clink of a blacksmith’s hammer and the rustle of horse-drawn carts. This was the reality for much of humanity before the late 18th century. Villages relied on farming to survive and most people lived off the land with just enough to get by. The artisan’s

Roko’s Basilisk relies on the potential development of VR indistinguishable from reality, something entirely achievable from a technology standpoint (cottonbro studio / Public Domain)

Roko’s Basilisk: The Thought Experiment That Could Kill You

Generally speaking, thought experiments are not dangerous. As useful tools for “gaming” out a scenario, they could certainly point to a danger in the future, but they are not traditionally a problem for those who conduct them. Such an idea would, for much of human history, feel ludicrous. But we live in unusual times, and