Mind Matters
Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis
A Neurosurgeon on Near-Death Experiences: Evidence for the Soul?
Panpsychist Philosopher Espouses “Heretical” Form of Christianity
Latest Articles
Today’s Free Will Debate Shows How Science Culture is Changing
The fact that this Sapolsky–Mitchell debate is still raging shows that eliminative materialism and physicalism are experiencing setbacks in our philosophy of science culture today
“Nature of the Universe” Questions That Still Puzzle Physicists
What would go wrong if we just accepted that we live in a universe designed by a Mind far greater than ours? Would that really be the end of science?
My Parting Thoughts on the Terminator Series
Nostalgia is powerful enough to make people stay away from new films if those films undermine what they loved about past ones
Arguments Against Free Will Viewed as Junk Science?
“No free will” used to be taken for granted as “what science says” but incisive critiques are beginning to pop up
MIT Study Associates ChatGPT Use with Cognitive Trouble
The ChatGPT users in the study lost major ground in creativity, memory, and deep thinking
Philosopher Asks at Nautilus, Is Matter Conscious?
To say that consciousness is real is to say that the immaterial world is, in principle, real. That is a very big admission for neuroscience to make. But the alternative is the void.
Update: Brain-Dead Mother’s Baby Is Born
I was surprised at the controversy my plea for the baby’s life generated. I heard the trite “Handmaid’s Tale” trope more than once
Did Orwell’s 1984 Predict the Rise of AI?
A simple act like writing a diary entry emblemizes the struggle to stay human
Just When Human Reason is Most Productive — AI Makes Things Up
In Part 2, we see how the ability to handle only one type of truth limits AI. AI models are fundamentally untethered from reality
AI Productivity Hype: The New “Cargo Cult Science”?
Physicist Richard Feynman coined the term to describe imaginary scenarios for success based on simple misunderstanding of realities
Why AI Breaks Down Where Human Creativity Begins
Part 1: AI can handle statements that are internally coherent but that is not the same thing as correspondence with reality
Immortality of the Soul Is a Reasonable Belief
Some may think that immortality of the rational soul is not possible in the physical world in which we live. But they are mistaken
Monday Micro Softy 31: Elementary Algebra
How much can an equation be simplified?
Science Writer: The Self Is Part of a Conscious Universe
Annaka Harris seems to be fleeing eliminative materialism — the snake that eats its own tail
In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and the Human Industrial Revolution
To stand against IVF is not easy, because it provides infertile couples the blessed opportunity to conceive children. But it is the door into new and hellish bioethics
An Experimental Physicist Reacts to Pop Physics Re the Big Bang
Physicists Brian Cox and Sir Roger Penrose make a number of claims about infinite and endless universes. But how much of this is really physics? We asked Rob Sheldon
Terminator Dark Fate: A Sickening Conclusion
There is no actor alive who could deliver some of these lines in a believable way
Podcast: Free Will, Determinism, and the Immortal Soul
Michael Egnor explains, to claim, “There is no free will,” is to make a rational argument while denying the very capacity that makes rational argument possible
No, Large Reasoning Models Do Not Reason
Large reasoning models continue the Large Language Model detour away from artificial general intelligence
A Physicist Ponders the Nature of Consciousness
Ethan Siegel fears that we abandon science when we think that consciousness is not a material thing
Briefs
At Nautilus: Slime molds show intelligence without a brain
Study: Neanderthals followed river systems, speeding up migration
Will there be any reckoning for COVID misinformation?
Why electronics and AI don’t really save us time
The rise of citizen journalism as a win for readers
Will you become a chatbot for grieving relatives? Maybe…
Did humans first start using fire to smoke, not cook, meat?
Is tech hype starting to get deflated?
Is Bluesky finding the limits of the sky?
Smartphones in North Korea — a surveillance paradise
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
