The False Memory Test
Study a list of words, then take a short memory test. Most people confidently remember a word that was never shown.
Experiments
Philosophy in action
Essays and primers describe these puzzles. This section lets you run into them yourself.
Talk to the Room
Chat with a program that produces fluent-seeming replies through pure pattern matching, then reveal the exact rules behind everything it said.
Human or AI?
Eight short passages, four pulled from essays on this site, four written by AI. Guess which is which.
The Urge Clock
A Libet-inspired timing task: act on a spontaneous urge, then try to mark the exact moment you first felt it.
The Cube That Won't Sit Still
An interactive Necker cube. The same drawing supports two different three-dimensional objects, and your visual system has to pick one.
Would You Pull the Lever?
Four classic trolley-problem variants, identical arithmetic every time, one death against five. Answer fast, then see how your own four answers actually fit together.
Which One Is the Ship?
Rebuild a ship plank by plank and mark when it stops being the same one, then decide which of two rival ships actually deserves the name.
Say the Ink, Not the Word
Name the color a word is printed in, not what the word says. Sixteen trials, half of them rigged to make your own reading compete with your own intention.
Play Telephone
Memorize a sentence, write down what you actually remember, then watch what happens to the same sentence over four more players.
Adventurous or Reckless?
Memorize a word list, read a paragraph about a stranger, and rate him, modeled on a real 1977 study where the words you saw first quietly decided the verdict.
Be Otto for a Minute
Memorize one address yourself, write a second one in a notebook, then compare what it actually feels like to get each one back.
Measure It Anyway
Two lines, exactly the same length. Measure them yourself, then see whether knowing that changes what you actually see.
What Happened in the Picture?
Watch a short animation of two triangles, a circle, and a box, then write down what happened. In 1944, almost everyone who did this saw something the animation never contained.
Would You Wear the Sign?
Decide whether you'd wear a sign that says EAT AT JOE'S, then guess how many people would decide the same way. In 1977, both sides guessed wrong in the same direction.
Find the Spot
A 3D street painting of a pit that looks real from exactly one place on the sidewalk. Walk around it, swap in a real hole, then see what is actually painted on the ground.
Guess Two-Thirds of the Average
Pick a number from 0 to 100. Whoever comes closest to two-thirds of everyone's average wins. Logic says 0, and the people you are playing against usually say something else.