Redshift, The Reachable Universe and The Future Visibility Limit — When astronomers talk about the universe, they almost always mean the observable universe. The word observable does not refer to the capability of technology to receive signals from distant galaxies, or even if there is anything out there to be detected. Rather, it is a limit based on the speed…

The Original Position Thought Experiment — If one wanted to design a society which was built on the principle of impartiality, how would one go about doing so? …

A Problem of Sincerity and Retro Causation — In 1983 the moral philosopher Gregory Kavka presented a thought experiment known as “The Toxin Puzzle”, borne out of his work on deterrence theory. To do it justice, here is the original puzzle as laid out by Kavka: “An eccentric billionaire places before you a vial of toxin that, if…

The replaceability argument — strengths and weaknesses — Upon the emergence of utilitarianism in philosophy, an intriguing argument arose concerning the ethics of meat-eating, now known as the replaceability argument (or sometimes the ‘logic of the larder’). …

Has Modern Technology Expanded Our Moral Obligations? — The Australian philosopher Peter Singer wrote an essay in 1971 titled “Famine, Affluence and Morality.” It included a now-famous analogy designed to probe our ethical obligations in light of modern charitable opportunities. Singer asks the reader to imagine they are walking to work one day when they pass a shallow…

What are the implications of tools like ChatGPT? — The history of human civilisation can be categorised as having three major revolutions. Firstly, there was the agricultural revolution, which harnessed animal power to allow humans to transition away from the hunter-gatherer lifestyle and form settlements. The next major revolution would take roughly another 10,000 years to arrive: the industrial…

What are the limits of religious freedom? — In June last year Roe v Wade was overturned, ending federal abortion rights and allowing individual states to regulate their own abortion laws. Following this, a TikTok video was posted with text overlayed saying “how to protect your religious freedom of abortion”. …

Value judgement and the Efficient Market Hypothesis — Investment management firms are primarily tested on their ability to judge value in the market. They buy and sell shares when they deem them to be under or overvalued, but how does this work? How do any of us ascribe value? …

Albert Camus’ legacy of absurdism — L’Etranger, written in 1942 by Albert Camus, centres around the title character of Mersault. L’Etranger can be translated into English as one of three words: the stranger, the outsider or the foreigner. Mersault can be said to have been all three- he was a stranger to himself, an outsider to…