Mind Matters
Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis
If China Wins the Blockchain Derby, a Global Chill Will Follow
Physicist Sabine Hossenfelder Gets Canceled by the Munich Center
Latest Articles
Materialism in Science: Touching Another Hot Button
With a discussion of the findings of rigorous research into telepathy, the challenge to the presumption of materialism in science is beginning to be sounded loud and clear
A Realistic Direction for Artificial General Intelligence Today
Based on GPT5's performance to date, it would make a superb substitute for a mansplainer I know of — call him Brock
Part 2: What If We Apply Harris’s “No Lies” Rule to Warfare?
As a former defense contractor, let me offer a view from reality
Micro Softy 44: Pete’s Pill Problem
Pete, alone on a desert island, accidentally scattered the pills he must take in the correct order. He has only a few numbers to work with to reconstruct his instructions
Kilmeade: ‘Just Kill’ Mentally Ill Homeless Who Refuse Help
Kilmeade, who later offered a terse apology, is not a would-be TikTok influencer. He is a major personality on the country’s most watched cable news channel
Wall Street Journal: A Disappointing Fret About “Conspiracy Physics”
If physicists are starting to “worry about the consequences” of discussing long-term theory failure, it is reasonable to think that there are even more serious problems within the discipline
California: Experiments on People with ‘Life-Shortening’ Conditions
“Life-shortening” conditions is not the same thing as "terminally ill"
And Sci Fi Thought AI Was Going To… Take Over?
Here are some non-hype news briefs from the world of the supposed AI takeover that could help us separate fact from fiction
Measuring Machine Intelligence Using Turing Test 2.0
Podcast: Georgios Mappouras’s updated approach asks whether machines can go beyond imitation to produce new knowledge
Review: Time Machine 2002 – Wells’ Tale Gets an Unneeded Makeover
Part 1: This doesn’t seem like the same story as H.G. Wells’s 19th-century tale! But there's still a time machine, Eloi and Morlocks here, so let’s look at it anyway
Lying: Sam Harris Buckled Under the Weight of Absolutism
Part 1: Having written a book on why it is always wrong to lie, he shamelessly buckled when a particular outcome mattered to him
Charlie Kirk Shooting: A Reader Who Lives Nearby Reflects
"Our kids had friends at the event on the university campus. My son's brother-in-law is a police officer who was on scene"
Nobel Prize-Winning Physicist To Speak at COSM 2025
John F. Clauser has helped us understand the quantum world better — and tangled with climate activists
R.I.P Charlie Kirk, Who Was Killed While in Dialogue with College Students
He was a great man of faith who dared to speak his mind.
Dawkins Watches as Science Skeeters Off a Cliff, Learns Nothing
The decline is mainly due to the loss of traditional insights gained in large part from religion
Should ‘Nature’ Own Stock in Companies?
Which aspect of nature would be in control? Flora? Fauna? Geological features? Mosquitoes?
Artificial Intelligence, Science and the Limits of Knowledge
In Part 3, I show that AI, like science, has limits. It depends on narrowing a problem: making it specific, discarding most possibilities, sealing it inside a representation and specification
Baboons as the New Humans: The Disney Effect at work
As a recent review in Science shows, the Disney Effect allows even research scientists to ignore the differences between animal minds and the human mind
Decode or Be Deceived: Read What Authorities Say Carefully
Increasingly we must examineclaims from experts — human or AI —carefully, instead of adopting their clever sound bites
Hal Philipp: From Touchscreens to Tough Love on Wellness
In a podcast with computer science professor Robert Marks, the gifted inventor makes a case for a simpler, stronger life via nutritional awareness
Briefs
The fundamental mistake programmers made in designing AIs
Publishers suing Google over summarizing their stories
Hundreds of Google workers fired after lodging complaints
Flash!: Bigger computers do not just start acting like minds
Anthropic agrees to pay authors for use of work to train chatbots
Court: Satire is not illegal, even in California
Would the Fantastic Four adopt a ruthless theory of life?
Even in mice, decision-making involves complex brain activity
Jay Richards: AI, Robots, and Moravec’s Paradox
Lots of things are immaterial and we just don’t realize it
Videos
Science Uprising 10: Asking the Impolite Questions About AI
Is It Really the End for Silicon Valley or Just a Reboot?
COSM 2021: Kai-Fu Lee Tries His Hand at Future Casting
