I don’t know about you, but ever since I can remember – from my early teens – I have been bemused about the endless rituals we humans perform; and even more so about what can and can’t be said about ...

The everyday meaning of “common knowledge” is knowledge held in common, often as an open secret. For example, it is common knowledge that publishers like books that seek, via quirky examples, to ...

You’re reading Open Questions, Joshua Rothman’s weekly column exploring what it means to be human. Take your young kid with you as you commute through Penn Station and you’ll find that you have a lot ...

On Sept. 29, Harvard Psychology professor Steven A. Pinker sat down at the First Parish Church to discuss his most recent book, “When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows…: Common Knowledge and the ...

Jamie Q. Roberts does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond ...

From using words to overthrowing regimes, shared awareness is necessary for people to coordinate. The cognitive scientist explains to Nature how it works. When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows...: ...

I don’t know about you, but ever since I can remember – from my early teens – I have been bemused about the endless rituals we humans perform; and even more so about what can and can’t be said about ...