Better Thinking and Useless Robots

When Is It Better To Think Without Words?

Henrik Karlsson | Escaping Flatland | 23rd October 2025

Famous mathematicians have reported thinking not through words, images or equations but such ineffable things as “vibrations in their minds, nonsense words in their ears, or blurry shapes in their heads”. Breakthroughs resulted from this state of “deep, conscious-blurry concentration”. They were reluctant to use words because “they were afraid of the false precision writing forces onto thinking” (3,400 words)

Nomido is the Browser's daily word game. Play today's before it's gone!

In Praise Of Useless Robots

Laura Tripaldi | MIT Press Reader | 27th October 2025

Once dominated by human-like bodies and rigid materials, robotics is embracing flexible materials with a range of appearances — octopus-like, pachydermic. Their movements are not pre-programmed but emerge from the material’s response to the environment. Instead of triggering the uncanny valley, they “evoke a sense of sublime otherness, like swimming alongside a whale in the sea” (1,900 words)