What Comes Next_

Thoughts on AI, predictive text, technological metaphors, and the string of thought.

• 🌾The Foundations of Ancient American Indian Religion and Civilization at Cahokia’s Emerald Shrine

  A remote religious site offers clues about the birth of a unique North American metropolis

• 🕊️The Case of “Secret Society” Religions

  Claiming supernatural power for their members and wielding lasting economic influence, secret societies may represent a key stage in human institution-building

• 🧪Chemistry to Life

  Harnessing the power of paradox to unravel how the first forms of life may have developed.

• 🧠Using Big Data to Quantify and Cultivate Genius

  Far from being solo achievers acknowledged for pure achievement, geniuses may be largely the products of their networks.

• 🔬Special Issue and Sections in ‘The New Atlantis’ Dedicated to Big Questions

  Slowing down the discourse on the meanings of today’s fast-paced technological and scientific change.

• 🤔The Virtue of Curiosity

  A quartet of researchers are using computer games and brain scans to measure — and manipulate — our desire to know.

• 🤔Does Self-Giving Love Require an Evolutionary World? Evolutionary Theodicy in Light of the Mystical Tradition

  A harsh natural world may be a necessary condition for the practice of sacrificial love

• 🤔The Problem of Evil and Experimental Philosophy of Religion

  What does it take for the idea of God to become philosophically untenable? It may depend on who you ask.

• 🕍Worship - A Jewish Philosophical Investigation

  Practiced by billions of people but largely neglected by philosophers and social scientists, worship is ripe for a new wave of interdisciplinary study

• 🔬How do novel cell types arise in evolution?

  A new theory offers insight into an evolutionary puzzle

• 🎲The Foundations of Fine-Tuning

  Philosophy, physics, and the implications of an unlikely universe

• 🧠The neurostimulation of belief

  Using brain stimulation to test the relationship between intuition and religious belief

• 🌐Creating a Society for the Study of Cultural Evolution

  Forming connections and framing grand questions on the links between evolutionary inheritance and cultural change

• 🤔Theologically-Engaged Anthropology

  Anthropologists are sometimes ill-equipped to interpret the religious motivations of their subjects. A new initiative is trying to change that.

• 👵Encouraging independence and enterprise for a healthy old age

  Demographic shifts and rising costs may soon push a number of long-standing social safety nets into peril. An analysis of healthcare in the U.K. and its neighbors explores the problem — and some potential ways forward.

• 🕌Developing Religious Leaders with Scientific Awareness

  Research fellowships to rebuild bridges between modern science and Islamic thought

• 🕌Newly-launched Renovatio magazine addresses big questions for Muslim audiences

  With articles and events tied to its second issue, Renovatio magazine is hitting its stride

• 🕍Jewish Philosophical Theology

  Looking for new insights about the nature of God in some of Judaism’s oldest sources

• 🌌String Theory and the Anthropic Universe

  Has flawed intuition created false support for the multiverse?

• 🌌A Fractured Universe – Fundamental Physics, Symmetry and Life

  Computer simulations may help tease apart why some aspects of our universe are symmetrical — and some aren’t

• 🎲Models of Providence - an Abrahamic inquiry

  Bridging gaps through an interfaith investigation into the problems and possibilities of randomness

• 🌌NOVA Wonders

  A storied series provides a cutting-edge take on a set of age-old questions

• 🤔How can we discover the properties of God?

  A widely-used philosophical approach to theology may turn out to be less than perfect.

• 📢FIRE’s Speech, Outreach, Advocacy, and Research Project

  Longtime free speech advocates are working to keep the First Amendment relevant — and robustly protected — on college campuses

• 🌍Freedom Forum Global Expansion

  From Oslo to Johannesburg and beyond, writing the next chapter for a storied human rights gathering

• 🏛️Stanford Religious Liberty Clinic

  Discover how Stanford Law School's Religious Liberty Clinic, in partnership with the John Templeton Foundation, pioneers full-time legal education for defending and understanding religious freedoms.

• 🎓Enhancing Student Purpose with the Middle School Ambassador Program

  When testing is not enough…helping students define their purpose

• 🤝Faith, Politics, and Intellectual Humility

  A public symposium on the prospects for civil discussion

• 🌌New Directions in Philosophy of Cosmology

  In the wild world of string theory, quantum gravity, and multiple universes, should the standard scientific methodology still apply?

• 🤝Surprising Allies

  A new book dispels myths about scientists and people of faith

• 🖖WOW, WHY, HOW?

  Post by post, Orbiter is building an online archive of wonder as it explores the big questions of the natural and social sciences

• 🌱Human Flourishing and Critical Realism in the Social Sciences

  Building a network of young scholars to reconnect the social sciences with the big questions of human life and happiness

• 🌐Purpose

  Reviewing six decades of research into the meaning, development, and benefits of purpose in life

• 🔬Scientists in Synagogues

  Inviting Jewish congregations to explore awe, curiosity and wonder through the lens of science

• 🇺🇸Coalition of Freedom

  Twenty-first-century tools are making the United States’ founding document easier than ever to explore and understand

• 🙏The Spiritual, Character, and Virtue Formation of Seminarians

  Seminary training makes for better theologians and ministers. But does it make them more loving, humble, or resilient?

• 🤔Getting to the Right Question — and Beyond

  Can a creative technique that works for third-graders help grad students launch their research careers?

• 🔬Expanding Science for Seminaries

  Equipping tomorrow’s clergy to discuss scientific findings and technological advances — and the big questions they raise

• 🔬Science for Seminaries

  Equipping tomorrow’s clergy to discuss scientific findings and technological advances — and the big questions they raise

• 🎥The Illumination Tour

  When what seems like “the ultimate curse” becomes “the ultimate state of being.”

• 📝The 2017 Templeton Prize Ceremony

  Celebrating the philosophical achievements of Alvin Plantinga

• 🔍Interview | Opening Up on Open Science

  The director of the Center for Open Science speaks with Templeton.org about the “reproducibility crisis” and his organization’s plans to help scientific research stay true to its values.

• 🎓High school debate turns to the Big Questions

  Does science leave room for free will? High school debaters have some ideas.

• 📚Eight Things You Might Not Know about Booker T. Washington

  For starters, he chose his own last name.

• 🚀What was the first animal in space?

  Discover how fruit flies became the first astronauts, bravely soaring into space in 1947 to unlock secrets of cosmic rays.

• 🗺️Portfolio | History Here 3.0

  In an exciting update to the History HERE app, I've contributed to the launch of version 3.0, which includes seven new historical tours.

• 📜Articles | Lists, Questions and Culinary Delights

  Over the past few months, I've been diving into the fun facts and intriguing stories of history for the History Channel's website.

• 🎅Who Was St. Nicholas?

  Explore the origins of St. Nicholas, from a miracle-working saint to the inspiration behind Santa Claus.

• 🎄The History of Christmas Pudding

  Dive into the fiery history of Christmas pudding, from medieval savories to Dickens' festive table centerpiece.

• 👑Eight Things You May Not Know About Henry VIII

  Defender of the faith? Yes. Of his wives? Not so much.