John Horgan
American science journalist; staff writer at Scientific American from 1986 to 1997. Author of The End of Science (1996) and Pay Attention (2023). Writes Cross-check, a free journal on his site, on science, AI, mind and war.
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What they believe
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Research on animals provides limited insights into complex human illnesses.
Most of the excitement about optogenetics is based on experiments on mice, monkeys and other animals. This research provides limited insights--at best--into complex human illnesses such as depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
johnhorgan.orgSaid 10 Oct 2026This on korrents
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No one truly knows what anyone else is thinking.
This perspective, called solipsism, is a bit extreme, but it reflects a hard truth about our existence: No one really knows what anyone else is thinking.
johnhorgan.orgSaid 4 Sept 2026This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These 2: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 11 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
Research on animals provides limited insights into complex human illnesses.
Most of the excitement about optogenetics is based on experiments on mice, monkeys and other animals. This research provides limited insights--at best--into complex human illnesses such as depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
Skip to Content Said 10 Oct 2026
Optogenetics may not provide accurate results because it alters the cells and circuits it seeks to study.
But optogenetics alters the cells and circuits it seeks to study so much that experimental results might not apply to unaltered tissue.
Skip to Content Said 10 Oct 2026
High-tech tests and treatments contribute to high medicine costs and often have dubious benefits.
Far from being the solution to our healthcare woes, technology is part of the problem. High-tech tests and treatments contribute to medicine's high costs and often have dubious benefits.
Skip to Content Said 10 Oct 2026
Show 8 more
No one truly knows what anyone else is thinking.
This perspective, called solipsism, is a bit extreme, but it reflects a hard truth about our existence: No one really knows what anyone else is thinking.
Skip to Content Said 4 Sept 2026
Most people only care about knowledge that provides practical benefits.
Most of us only care about knowledge that benefits us in practical ways. Helps us live longer, get around and swap info faster, get richer, kill our enemies and so on.
Skip to Content Said 4 Sept 2026
Reality is intrinsically and objectively weird.
Reality isn't just temporarily weird, weird until we figure it out. Reality is intrinsically, objectively weird. The more we study existence, the more improbable it seems.
Skip to Content Said 4 Sept 2026
The net effects of AI may be catastrophic.
Although AI (unlike nukes) can be useful, I fear its net effects will be catastrophic.
Skip to Content Said 18 Jul 2026
The debate over whether AIs are conscious is irresolvable due to the solipsism problem.
That debate is irresolvable because of the solipsism problem. I can't be sure my fellow humans are conscious, let alone Claude or Grok.
Skip to Content Said 18 Jul 2026
A ban on AI is unlikely.
A ban on AI looks even more unlikely than a ban on nuclear weapons.
Skip to Content Said 18 Jul 2026
The journalistic enterprise in the United States is greatly diminished.
We're in a greatly diminished journalistic enterprise in this country.
Skip to Content Said 13 Jul 2026
Science journalism is currently more important and more imperiled than ever before.
Science journalism has never been more important, or imperiled, than it is right now.
Skip to Content Said 13 Jul 2026
What is a korrent?
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Where they publish
Site johnhorgan.org Cross-check: weekly first-person columns on science, consciousness, AI and war
Link verified 24 Oct 2026.
x.com @horganism Links to his columns and comments
Link verified 24 Oct 2026.
Bluesky @jhorganism.bsky.social Short posts linking his columns
Link verified 24 Oct 2026.
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