French mathematician Rene Descartes, in 1637, announced the “first principle” of his philosophy in scholarly Latin: “Cogito, ergo sum.” Its eloquent simplicity has haunted us ever since: “I think, ...

Think of it this way. A computer follows recipes, step by step, no matter how complex. But some truths can only be grasped through non-algorithmic understanding—understanding that doesn't follow from ...

A University of Portsmouth physicist has explored whether a new law of physics could support the much-debated theory that we are simply characters in an advanced virtual world. The simulated universe ...

In a pitch to investors last spring, Anthropic said it intended to build AI to power virtual assistants that could perform research, answer emails, and handle other back-office jobs on their own. The ...