“Zombie intuitions” explores a methodologically inconvenient phenomenon: In philosophical thought experiments, as in ordinary discourse, our understanding of verbal case descriptions is enriched by automatic comprehension inferences. Such inferences have us routinely infer what else is also true of the cases described. The paper considers how such routine inferences from polysemous words can generate ‘zombie intuitions’: intuitions that are ‘killed’ (defeated) by contextual information but kept cognitively alive by the psycholinguistic phenomenon of linguistic salience bias.

Ancient Greek philosophers like Plato were the first to propose ideas that people have been exploring ever since. From time to time, writers will present an idea that seems original but is a rehash of these old ideas. Writers referred to as postmodernists have explored the meaning of reality in books and movies. Plato also philosophized about reality, most famously in his allegory of the Cave. This allegory can give us a deeper understanding of certain modern (or postmodern) movies about constructed reality, such as The Matrix and Inception. In turn, understanding these movies in a new light can teach us something about our own relationship with reality.

While political campaigns ostensibly center on the policy differences between candidates, years of research have shown people are often ultimately swayed by elusive feelings: attraction, anger, fear. 

But as Germany nears its most unpredictable election in years on September 26, millions of Germans are seeking to bypass such sentiments by using a digital survey: the Wahl-O-Mat. 

The Wahl-O-Mat — or Vote-O-Mat — is designed to strip away abstract emotions and guide voters to their candidates based solely on tangible policy preferences. Using a series of statements, the government-funded website matches voters with ideologically aligned candidates. Essentially, it eschews “Who would you rather have a beer with?” for “There should be a general speed limit on all Autobahnen: agree, neutral, disagree.”

While similar tools exist in other countries, Wahl-O-Mat has become a household name in Germany. Leading up to the country’s last federal election in 2017, the Wahl-O-Mat was used nearly 16 million times — about once for every four eligible voters. At that scale, it’s no exaggeration to say the site could potentially influence the course of an election. 

Despite many different kinds of substances available for depression treatment, depression itself still appears to be a clinical challenge. Recently, formerly illicit substances came to scientists’ attention, including lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin and dimethyltryptamine (DMT). Some studies suggest that these substances might be effective in depression treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of LSD, psilocybin and DMT in depression treatment in the light of current medical literature. The authors followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines for this systematic review. The authors searched the PubMed and Cochrane Library databases to identify relevant publications. Finally, 10 papers were included. Most of the selected studies showed significant correlation between psilocybin and DMT use and reduction in depression symptom intensity. By analyzing qualified studies, it can be concluded that psilocybin and DMT could be useful in depression treatment, but further observations are still required.