NOEMA

YESTERDAY

The Doomsday Organism

Scientists working on synthetic “mirror life” have come to realize that, if created, it could pose an existential threat to life on Earth.

MAY 12. 2026

We May Be Entering A Second Axial Age

The transition from small hunter-gatherer societies into complex civilizations gave rise to the first Axial Age. Today, the planetary polycrisis of climate chaos, mass migration, increasing warfare and transformative AI represents a rupture of comparable magnitude.

MAY 8. 2026

Virtual Civil Society Is Coming To China

Teacher Li, a new species of dissident, is paving the way.

MAY 7. 2026

There Is No ‘Hard Problem Of Consciousness’

Consciousness is not separate from the physical world — our “soul” is of the same nature as our body and any other phenomenon of the world.

MAY 5. 2026

How To Protect Human Autonomy In An Age Of AI

It’s time to move past the fantasy that humans are absolutely self-sovereign.

MAY 1. 2026

What Separates The Great From The Petty In History

Embracing the relentless ally of reality makes all the difference.

APRIL 30. 2026

What America Owes The Nuclear Future

In the Nevada underground, civilization’s longest promise remains unkept.

APRIL 29. 2026

When The ‘Eternity Glaciers’ Disappear

A race to map Papua’s tropical ice before it’s gone forever.

APRIL 24. 2026

The Humility Of Bioscientists

Those most in the know are aware of what little they know.

APRIL 23. 2026

The Rise & Fall Of ‘Petty Tyrants’

History shows that bad leaders can successfully undermine democracy — but the story always ends the same way.

APRIL 21. 2026

Emergence Is Not Engineering

The universe creatively sets the rules for its own becoming.

APRIL 17. 2026

OpenAI Proposes A ‘Social Contract’ For The Intelligence Age

It fills the vacuum left by an unimaginative political class.