In his new book 'A World Appears,' journalist Michael Pollan explores the mysteries of the human brain — and whether computers could ever catch up.

In his new book, “A World Appears,” Michael Pollan argues that artificial intelligence can do many things—it just can’t be a ...

After changing how we eat and how we trip, the author returns to his garden — and the page — to examine the mystery of ...

Michael Pollan’s lucid and lively writing on the science of everyday life—plant biology, nutrition, cooking—has made him one of the most popular nonfiction writers around. I ...

Richard Jeffery Wagner, PhD explores love, free will, and sentient companionship in a near future shaped by technology ...

Can we be conscious without language? Does language influence our conscious experience? These questions, which are central to understanding the human mind, have been explored by researchers at the ...

On Wednesday, Anthropic released a revised version of Claude’s Constitution, a living document that provides a “holistic” explanation of the “context in which Claude operates and the kind of entity we ...

As more people use AI assistants and chatbots for everyday tasks, a curious phenomenon is emerging: a growing number of users view their chatbots as not merely intelligent tools but as conscious ...

Ms. Grose is a Times Opinion writer and the author of a Times newsletter on culture, social change and the American family. Marzena Abrahamik is a photographer based in Chicago. Jan. 7, 2026 ...

Right now, the debate about consciousness often feels frozen between two entrenched positions. On one side sits computational functionalism, which treats cognition as something you can fully explain ...