Chance Philosophy

A Philosophy Of Holes

Roberto Casati & Achille Varzi | SEP | 14th June 2023

A hole is made of nothing and contains nothing. It is an absence, not a substance. Can a hole even be said to exist, save as a property of the substance in which it forms a hole? We might say that holes exist in their own right as pieces of space; but, if so, how is it that we can move holes around (move a donut and you move the hole) when we cannot move pieces of space around? (2,160 words)

Second Chance Suite

Sam Sweet | Baffler | 15th July 2023

Three true stories from Los Angeles about luck, magic and death. The first centres on “Crazy Mike” Caro, the poker player who wrote a standard work on tells; the second on Professor Dai Vernon, illusionist and co-founder of The Magic Castle; the third on Wardell Gray, a dazzling jazz saxophonist whose career echoed that of Charlie Parker right down to Gray's fatal heroin overdose at age 34 (3,500 words)