Space: the final ethical frontier

Earthbound exploration was plagued with colonialism, exploitation, and extraction. Can we hope to make space any different? Philip Ball reflects on the ethical issues raised by human spaceflight. Read by Jonathan Booth.

Aeon is a digital magazine, publishing profound and provocative thinking by leading thinkers on science, philosophy, society and the arts.

Aeon

The final ethical frontier

The sexual revolution of the 1960s changed how society views intimacy, romance and even marriage. Daniel Tutt discusses this new normal, how it manifests among different social classes, and the dangers it brings. 

Matrimony and the market

Dogs on India's streets are happier than Western pets

Village or street dogs in India have independent and happy lives without a pet's constraints. So why are they being persecuted? Krithika Srinivasan and Chris Pearson discover the history behind India's disdain for dogs.

The free dogs of India

Is the classroom always the best environment for children to learn in? Naomi Fisher and Heidi Steel discuss how many parents find that their children thrive as soon as they pursue alternative education. 

Unschooling

Laws are in place to protect children from long working hours and exploitation. So why aren't they protected from parents who monetise their lives online? Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore discusses this troubling trend.

Honey, I sold the kids

Does the answer to AI sentience lie in animal minds? 

As the power of AI grows, so do fears of machine sentience. Kristin Andrews and Jonathan Birch argue that we must examine the minds of animals to determine if AI is really capable of feeling.

What has feelings?

Breeding dogs to be cute is animal cruelty

With their big eyes and flat faces, small dogs are designed to be cute. But, as Jessica Pierce explains, the infantile features that make them so adorable are also preventing their ability to live healthy animal lives.

Where went the wolf?

From the Kalahari Desert to Australia, Vivek V Venkataraman explains why hunter-gatherer societies' deep appreciation of rest puts the industrialised world to shame.

Lessons from the foragers

Secrets hurt their keeper

Did you know that keeping secrets can considerably affect your mental health? Michael Slepian discovers why this is and how you can overcome it.

Secrets hurt their holders

A fully vegan diet can be challenging to adopt, but how about aiming to get close? After spending years researching animal ethics, Peter Godfrey-Smith explains why simply doing your best to reduce meat and dairy consumption is good enough.

If not vegan, then what?

Do you think screens are destroying your brain? Technology often gets the blame for poor attention spans, but Joe Stadolnik explains that worries about our focus have existed for as long as writing itself.


We’ve always been distracted

Are you a visual or auditory learner? According to Carl Henrick, as he argues that the learning styles theory in the classroom could harm students' ability to fully grasp a subject, you're actually neither.

Learning styles don’t exist

Could human colonisation of Mars be a  real possibility? As we set our sights beyond Earth's damaged horizons, Arwen E Nicholson and Raphaëlle D Haywood use scientific evidence to explain that there's no second chance waiting after we destroy our original home.

There’s no planet B

The women pioneering change in classical music

Could change be on the orchestral horizon? As female conductors begin to make inroads into a centuries-old male profession, Xenia Hanusiak uses her own experiences as a percussionist to discuss the prevailing sexism in classical music.

Enter the conductrice

It's empowering to lose yourself in a crowd.

Everyone knows there's safety and power in numbers, but herd mentality can also be dangerous. Costica Bradatan explains the evolutionary science and philosophy behind it and why we must embrace a contrarian spirit.

The herd in the head

Can humans survive on the red flag planet? 

Although we've conquered the most hostile environments on Earth, dust storms and freezing temperatures are making our Mars ambitions more challenging than expected. But, as Simon Morden explains, humans can still thrive on the Red Planet if we're prepared to put the work in.

Thriving on Mars

Can we solve moral problems with logic and probability?

Oxford research fellow Elad Uzan argues that subjecting the problems of ethics to the cool quantifications of logic and probability can help us to be better people.

Moral mathematics

Some popular feminists have overlooked something vital about pornography.

Long before Lacan or Judith Butler, pornography saw through the lies of patriarchy and the illusion of the phallus. Often vilified as a weapon of male supremacy, Kathleen Lubey argues that pornography, in fact, has much to tell us about ourselves and our culture.

The honesty of pornography

The Romans were a cosmopolitan network of adventurers.

The Empire enabled an early version of globalisation that offered travellers adventure, novelty and opportunity. Fabio Fernandes considers what propelled ancient Romans to venture forth beyond the confines of their native lands.

Wanderlust of the ancients

Evidence is growing that mental illness is more than dysfunction.

Justin Garson, a professor of philosophy, reflects on the urgency to think of mental health in multiple ways. Here, he explains that it can help professionals understand and interpret causes and possible new pathways to engage in conversation surrounding these often misunderstood illnesses.