Taking a Cosmic Perspective

By Raya Bidshahri, 26 Jan 2013
Most of us are so preoccupied with our own small insignificant personal lives that we forget that we are a part of a remarkable, exceptional and ambitious species.

The Free Will Illusion

By Raya Bidshahri, 4 January 2013
We human beings like to think that we are in control. The idea that we have free will with our thoughts and actions forms the very foundation for our morality, law, politics, religion, public policies, friendship and even sensations of guilt and accomplishment.

Intelligent Optimism

By Raya Bidshahri 3 November 2012
Head girl, Raya, writes about what it means to be optimistic in an intelligent, informed and rational way.

Philosophers from Antiquity

Raya Bidshahri, 17 August 2012
Today, we are privileged with the existence of extraordinary machines that extend our senses and allow us to learn more about the external world around us. But until several centuries ago, all of mankind relied on philosophers and nothing but their brilliant brains to explore the world, both within and around them.

A Universe From Nothing

Raya Bidshahri, 19 May 2012
How did a universe, so beautifully complex and unimaginably vast come to existence? What, or should I say who, caused its existence?

The Quantum World

Raya Bidshahri, 30 April 2012
Science is all about explaining the Universe in a series of determinative laws. It is all about certainty, predictability and ultimate truths… Or is it?

The Significance of Evolution

Raya Bidshahri, 30 April 2012
When Nicholas Copernicus first introduced the notion of a heliocentric universe in which the earth revolved around the sun, the human population was appalled not because it was a fallacious theory but because it wasn’t what they wanted to be true. [...]

A Perfect Universe?

Raya Bidshahri, 30 April 2012
The Universe is so flawlessly perfect… So finely tuned that it is difficult to accept the possibility that it may not have a designer. I believe this is one of the most intriguing, thought-provoking and fascinating dilemmas in modern cosmology.

Eyes

Raya Bidshahri, March 30, 2012
Every single one of us would find it unconditionally distressing to envision a world without the power of sight. Most of us, without doubt, appreciate vision to be a valuable ability to perceive our surroundings. There’s no denying that without it, we would all be truly impotent.

The Virtual Omega Point

Raya Bidshahri, 18 February 2012
Noah stared, open-mouthed, at the grand spacecraft that stood in a perpendicular position. Six majestic cylinders were bundled around the colossal craft’s belly as its chunky nose kissed the azure sky.

Vivid Blindness

Raya Bidshahri, 18 February 2012
Little by little, Catherine bestirred herself. Her siesta had been the most intense that she had ever experienced in her nineteen years of living. As she aroused herself into reality, her physique pounded and her cranium throbbed.

Consciousness and Goosebumps

Raya Bidshahri, 18 February 2012
Consciousness is a spine-chilling illusion that lies at the heart of every scientific study. Nowadays, it is the multi-million dollar question within the scientific world.

Stop Searching the Skies for Life

Raya Bidshahri, 25 Jan 2012
As much as I’d take pleasure in the idea of intelligent life elsewhere in this wondrous Universe, I am strongly convinced that Homo sapiens’ quest for alien life is over-rated and its consequences, overlooked.

The Essence of Infinity

Raya Bidshahri, 23 January 2011
What I truly cherish about Science is its capacity to deliver the actual unbiased view of the manner in which things operate. In this field, there are neither prejudices nor one-sided arguments. [...]

The Suicide

Raya Bidshahri 23 January 2012
Untold numbers of skyscrapers towered over one another, thrusting up into the dusky urban sky. Here and there, myriads of lights glowed and if one gazed for long enough one could perceive them increase in numbers [...]

The Wonders of the Human Brain

Raya Bidshahri, 14 January 2012
The human brain is an elaborate, enthralling, and enigmatic organ on its own. It is within this wondrous organ that all the enigmas, puzzles, and riddles of the universe along with each and every branch of knowledge boil down to.

The Awesome Natural World

Raya Bidshahri, 11 January 2012
Amongst the hundreds of billions of galaxies that constitute this enigmatic universe, there lies a splendid star system in the midst of nowhere significant; a remarkable ivory whorl of glimmering celestial bodies.

The Mind Reader

Raya Bidshahri, 11 January 2012
Caroline’s eyelids snapped open to reveal her vivid hazel pupils as the tiresome alarm beeped away. Confined in a state of utter lethargy, She slammed her heavy palm against the obnoxious machine. It took a few moments for her to gain consciousness from the vigorous sleep she had been in.

What if…?

Raya Bidshahri, 7 January 2012
What if we all instantly awakened to learn that each and every trivial aspect of our ‘reality’ was merely a vivid dream? All our achievements and failures would turn out to be a trifle [...]

Ignition and Lift Off

Raya Bidshahri, 7 January 2011
After decades of aspiring and years of training, Noah was alas face-to-face with one of his greatest desires. For as long as his memory had served him, he had stared at the spectacular starry skies, open-mouthed in wonder [...]

The Origins of Morality

Raya Bidshahri, 7 January 2012
In this day and age, there is a clear outline of the many aspects of ethics in society. By early adulthood, most of us are familiar with what is right and what is wrong. Yet, who are we to claim whether a certain deed is righteous or not? Indeed, what are our references when it comes to ethics? Where does our morality originate? [...]

Time

Raya Bidshahri, 18 December 2011
What is time? To an ordinary individual, with no exceptional perspective of reality or any intrinsic grounding in science, this may seem like an absurd question to ask [...]

Oblivion

Raya Bidshahri, 18 December 2011
Ava plodded along the soggy pavement, her glossy ebony hair glimmering under the dusky night sky that besieged her. She swathed herself in a cable-knit sweater for the brisk breeze was stabbing into her olive skin [...]

The Open Door

Raya Bidshahri, 10 December 2011
Joshua-52 transferred his entangled and sophisticated thoughts to the mighty processor that stood in front of him. His synthetic heart began to beat furiously beneath his chest; his electrically operated neurons shot around his body and his half-computerized mind began to sizzle.

The Logophile

Raya Bidshahri, 18 November 2011
The lover of words had ensconced herself on the tired armchair. Her slim fingers clutched an ebony pen as she stared hungrily at the notebook that lay before her. Its bleached pages were bare, but this wouldn’t be for long.

If Only She Knew

Raya Bidshahri, 28 October 2011
His eyes unlatched and greeted the open air but he had yet to gain consciousness. It took a few languorous breaths until his powers of recall were restored.

Fortunate Species

Raya Bidshahri, 1 Oct 2011

The more mankind hunts the cosmos for traces of intelligent life, the more we fathom its scarcity. For decades, the human race has moved the heavens and the earth to locate even the most trifling traces of living creatures. It is as if we are smothering in loneliness amongst this infinite universe, intensely hoping that we are not alone.

The Well of Madness

Raya Bidshahri, 16 May ’11
The clouds spread ravishingly against the love-me-blue sky that sheathed the majestic castle. It was one of those flawless days where butterflies soared and gaudy florets blossomed [...]

The Wedding

Raya Bidshahri, 15 April ’11

As I marched up the stairs, the crestfallen trees shivered, clattering their leaves. I could have sworn they knew, or rather sensed my feelings of confusion and dejection.

Missive to the “Non-reader”

Raya Bidshahri 1 April, 2o11
Raya doesn’t mince words in this letter to those who don’t read books.

Annabella’s Tale

Raya Bidshahri, 13 March ’11
A modern take on an old fairytale

The Fall

Raya Bidshari 24 Feb, ’11
A new take on an old story, Raya vividly dramatises an age-old tale of the clash between good and evil.

Science Greets Magic

Raya Badshari 4th February ’11
Noetics – Science or pseudo-science. Raya offers her view.