What is The Utility Monster? Let’s say it’s your friend’s birthday, and there’s a yummy cake ready for everyone to enjoy. But imagine that one friend says they could enjoy the cake way more than anyone else, like ten times more! To make the party the best it can be, should you just let that one friend have all the cake because they’ll get the most happiness from it? T... »
What is the Omphalos Hypothesis? Picture for a moment that you found a diary filled with entries from before you were born, but then you learned it was actually written yesterday. The Omphalos Hypothesis kind of suggests something similar for the whole universe. It’s a thought-provoking idea which says the universe might look really old with lots of history, like trees with growth rings or r... »
What is The Beetle In The Box? The Beetle in the Box is like a puzzle from a famous thinker, Ludwig Wittgenstein. He wants us to think about our own feelings and how we talk about them. Imagine everyone has a box only they can look into, and inside is something they call ‘a beetle’. No one else can see inside anyone’s box. We might all think we know what ‘beetle’ mean... »
What is The Library of Babel? The story “The Library of Babel” is like a big imaginative puzzle. It was written by Jorge Luis Borges and introduces readers to a library that seems to go on forever. Each room in this endless library is the same shape—a hexagon—and they’re all full of books. These aren’t ordinary books, though. The pages are filled with every mix of letters, ... »
Simple Definitions of the Prisoner’s Dilemma Imagine two friends, Alex and Taylor, caught by their parents after they both snuck out past curfew. Their parents separate them and offer them each the same deal: if one blames the other for the idea to sneak out, that one gets a shorter grounding time, but the other gets a longer one. If both blame each other, they both get grounded for a medium... »
What is Newcomb’s Problem? Newcomb’s Problem is like a game where you have to make a big decision, and the right choice isn’t easy to see. Imagine someone really smart, called the Predictor, who has guessed what decision you will make. Now, there are two boxes in front of you. The first box is clear, and you can see it has $1,000 inside. The second box is not see-through, and it ... »
What is the Experience Machine? The Experience Machine is a thought experiment, which means it’s a kind of philosophical story designed to make us think about big ideas. It helps us to understand what truly makes us happy. Is it only about having all the pleasure we can imagine, or is there something special about the real experiences we have, even if they sometimes come with pain or trouble... »
What is the Ring of Gyges? The Ring of Gyges is a fascinating idea from long ago that asks a big question: would people still be good if they could do anything without getting caught? An ancient Greek thinker named Plato brought up this idea in a famous book called “The Republic.” It’s not just some tricky problem with no answer, but rather a deep dive into thinking about right a... »
What is Maxwell’s Demon Paradox? Imagine a little creature that can sort warm air from cool air without using any energy, breaking the rules we know as the laws of physics. This creature isn’t real, but a thought experiment known as Maxwell’s Demon. The paradox lies in the idea that this imaginary creature can sort molecules in a way that seems to reduce chaos without any cost, challenging o... »
Introduction Imagine living in a dark place where everything you see is just a shadow, and your whole life you believe these shadows are the only real things. Well, this picture is part of a famous story called Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. It’s a story that Plato, a great thinker from ancient Greece, wrote to help us understand the difference between what seems real to us and what is ... »