Imagination on the Cusp of Impossibility — The Junkyard A post by Zach Kohler There is something strange about the experience of theatrical magic. Anyone who has watched a good magic trick knows the feeling—it presents itself without fanfare, yet leaves u...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Zach Kohler junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2026/3/...

Imagination in Learning and Creativity — The Junkyard A post by Kerry Clark Introduction Imagination is used in many ways—whether in daydreaming, anticipating future outcomes, or engaging in creative works. I take imagination to be (roughly) the ment...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Kerry Clark junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2026/2/...

The Discovery of Imagination — The Junkyard A post by Avshalom Schwartz   The safest general characterization of the history of imagination is that it begins with Plato. Indeed, this is a rare point of agreement between scholars—from int...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Avshalom Schwartz junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2026/2/...

Why do we rewatch fictions—but not sports? — The Junkyard A post by Neil Van Leeuwen In the background as I write this blog, the Superbowl is on. The Seahawks currently lead 6-0 in the second quarter, which makes me vaguely happy, since I dislike the Patrio...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Neil Van Leeuwen junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2026/2/...

Grieving Imagined Futures — The Junkyard A post by Hannah Fasnacht «Wie geht’s?» fragte die Trauer die Hoffnung. «Ich bin etwas traurig», sagte die Hoffnung. «Hoffentlich», sagte die Trauer. —Franz Hohler “How are you?” Sadness asked ...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Hannah Fasnacht junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2026/2/...

Can We Imagine New Emotions? — The Junkyard A post by Irene Lonigro According to a venerable philosophical tradition, imagination builds upon experiences we have already had (Nagel, 1974; Paul, 2014). I cannot imagine what it feels like to tas...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Irene Lonigro junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2026/1/...

The world of image — The Junkyard A post by Reza Hadisi In one of his commentaries, al‑Shahrazūrī (d. ca. 1288) cites and elaborates on an enigmatic passage from Suhrawardī (d. 1191), the founder of the Ishrāqī philosophical movement...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Reza Hadisi junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2026/1/...

Imagination, Autonomy, and Really Big Numbers — The Junkyard A post by Ansley Avis “It’s one banana, Michael, what could it cost, $10?” -Lucille Bluth , Arrested Development Imagine an elephant. Got it? Perfect. How many toenails does it have? Your ele...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Ansley Avis junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2025/12...

Delirium, the imagination and altered states — The Junkyard A post by Dorothy Wade In my work as an intensive care psychologist, I frequently hear from patients about the vivid and frightening experiences they undergo. Bombarded by hallucinations and delusion...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Dorothy Wade junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2025/12...

Episodic Construction: Compositional or Associative? — The Junkyard A post by Joshua Myers and Johannes Mahr. Imagination and episodic memory are intimately linked. Imagination draws on previous experience—when picturing yourself on a beach in Portugal sipping mango ...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Joshua Myers and Johannes Mahr junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2025/11...

A Unique Epistemic Value for Imagination? — The Junkyard A post by Eric Peterson In a recent post on this wonderful blog, Nick Wiltsher discusses three interrelated claims of which he is increasingly sympathetic towards.  These are: (1) Imagination...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Eric Peterson junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2025/11...

What is it like to have aphantasia? — The Junkyard A post by Raquel Krempel Imagine an apple. Nothing happened? You probably have aphantasia. This is a common way of introducing and thinking about aphantasia. On the web, images such as Figure 1 (bel...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Raquel Krempel junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2025/11...

The Text-Conditioned Image — The Junkyard A post by Julia Minarik And someday there will be a more complete machine. One’s thoughts or feelings during life – or while the machine is recording – will be like an alphabet with which the image ...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Julia Minarik junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2025/11...

Are we aware of neural activity in imagination? The attention model of conscious imagery and aphantasia — The Junkyard A post by Jianghao Liu Please imagine a red Gala apple. Is it darker or lighter than a cherry? Most of us can easily conjure a mental image, a perceptual-like experience that feels almost as if we we...

This week at the Junkyard: A post by Jianghao Liu junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2025/11...

Psychedelic visions are immersive mental simulations — The Junkyard A post by Maria Fedorova In a series of interviews conducted by T. C. Swift and his colleagues on psilocybin (the psychoactive compound in “magic” mushrooms) experiences of cancer patients suffering ...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Maria Fedorova junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2025/10...

Leaving It to the Imagination — The Junkyard A post by Luke Roelofs There’s a common idea that sometimes the best aesthetic choice is to “leave something to the imagination”, where that primarily means not presenting it explicitly. Sometimes...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Luke Roelofs junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2025/10...

How to boost imagination and emotional well-being through an integrated approach — The Junkyard A post by Sheila Pontis The pace of global change has only grown in recent years, spiraling uncertainty about the present and future. Discouraging news reported daily increases feelings of anxiety, ...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Sheila Pontis junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2025/10...

Imaginative Jailbreak and Phenomenal Overflow — The Junkyard A post by Edvard Aviles-Meza Have a look at Raphael’s School of Athens (figure 1 below). During a quick glance, do you see each of the individuals depicted? Surely, you wouldn’t recognize them at...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Edvard Aviles-Meza junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2025/10...

Imaginative Choices in Empathy — The Junkyard A post by Sarah Vernallis Empathy is an imaginative activity. When we succeed in empathizing, we come to understand what it is like for another person. But what role, exactly, does the imagination pl...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Sarah Vernallis junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2025/9/...

Imagine Learning Through Play — The Junkyard A post by Lucia Oliveri Imagine a world destroyed by a thirty-year-long war, the most devastating war that seventeenth-century Europe had ever seen. Imagine standing in front of a destroyed land, lik...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Lucia Oliveri junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2025/9/...

Touching Invisible Walls — The Junkyard A post by Niklas Maranca Insight into the structure and approach of a practice-based PhD project on imagination This text traces a path from practice to research. It opens with three short scenes ...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Niklas Maranca junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2025/9/...

The University in Crisis: A Review of Undisciplined: Reclaiming the Right to Imagine — The Junkyard A post by Seth Goldwasser I never had the pleasure of meeting or speaking with Dr. Melz Owusu before his passing, which occurred after I had cited interest in reviewing his book. I’m deeply saddened ...

This week at The Junkyard: Seth Goldwasser reviews Melz Owusu's *Undisciplined* junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2025/9/...

In and out of touch with the past: the archaeological sublime — The Junkyard A post by Mark Windsor and Jakub Stejskal Many of us are inexorably drawn to material remains of humanity’s deep past: we like to read about new archaeological finds and observe them up close in sit...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Mark Windsor and Jakub Stejskal junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2025/8/...

Free Speech and Imagination — The Junkyard A post by Eric Peterson Free speech is either a civil liberty essential for a flourishing liberal democracy or a threat to that very democracy, depending on who you ask. There are many arguments that...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Eric Peterson junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2025/6/...

To imagine how, creatively — The Junkyard A post by Felipe Morales Carbonell Note: This is a side-piece to a longer essay I am working on, which focuses on how imagination can help us learn how to do things or how to act. The topic here is ...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Felipe Morales Carbonell junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2025/5/...

Co-imagination: The future we imagine — The Junkyard A post by Brendan Bo O’Connor Our future is not a foregone conclusion. It’s actively constructed at the horizon of the present. In a moment when the world feels divisive and isolating, I’d like to sh...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Brendan Bo O'Connor junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2025/5/...

It's not all about aboutness — The Junkyard A post by Tom Schoonen It's been almost ten years since a great burst of logics of imagination appeared (depending on when you start counting, of course). The idea behind these formalisations is th...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Tom Schoonen junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2025/5/...

The Power of Reimagining: How Imagination Can Reshape Our Past, Future, and Selves — The Junkyard A post by Cassandra Vieten As a psychologist and researcher, my career has focused on how people change. In particular, I have investigated the experiences, practices, and environments that transform...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Cassandra Vieten junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2025/5/...

The value of epistemic imagining — The Junkyard A post by Nick Wiltsher Here are three related claims to which I’m increasingly sympathetic: (1) Imagination has no distinctive epistemic ends. (2) The epistemic ends that can be pursued using imag...

This week at The Junkyard: A post by Nick Wiltsher junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2025/4/...

Imagining The Future of Creative Skills and Education — The Junkyard A post by Caterina Moruzzi Imagine the near future of 2030 where AI has become deeply embedded in creative workflows. What does that future look like?​ This is one of the questions that ...

This week at the Junkyard: A post by Caterina Moruzzi junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2025/4/...