"Foreign Tongues" is a humorous, albeit dark, short story on the contextual difficuylties in communication. Anthropologists call this the 'outside context problem', in which communication is impossible due to diverging developments between civilisations; and severe miscommunication is likely. This problem arises between humans and the other species on the planet, and had probably contributed to the state of the natural world today.

But what if such things were to happen to us, with us being the 'other species' instead?

In our last article on philosophy, we discussed the Scientific Method, that is, how we know the thing we know. In this article we ask a different question: 'why'. Science moves forward for a reason; at times out of necessity to solve a real-world problem, at others just for the joy of discovery. But a deeper answer comes in the form of a philosophical question of being.

Plato, the ancient Greek philosopher, attempts to illustrate this in his famous allegory: the Cave

Have you ever wondered whether the things you know are indeed true? We, especially when at a young age, tend to take things at face value. We had, at one time or another, believed in ghosts and magic. Even the smartest people in the past had believed that the world was flat, or at the centre of the universe, or was magically created.
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But that’s in the past no? We’re way too smart to be fooled again. Or are we?

On 7 March 2012, noted astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson testified before the United States Senate's Science Committee. It became one of the most talked about speeches in recent science history, and inspired a slew of grassroot campaigns to double the annual budget for NASA.

Isn't it time for us too, Malaysia?

Transhumanism is an intellectual and cultural movement supporting the use of science and technology to improve human mental and physical characteristics and capacities.

​It's ideas have been a staple in literary works for decades and is now seen a resurgence in recent years. This can be seen in recent Hollywood science fiction, but there are quintessential classics that can't be missed. It's not like you're going to be doing much over the holidays anyway...