ArchiveArticles
AI Ascends — But Not Above Its Teachers
LLMs are tools, able to augment human accomplishment in extraordinary ways. But to call them intelligent in the same way we describe human minds is a mistake
Why Smart Cities Are a Dumb Idea
Seattle, in its current state, feels like the ghost of a promise — an uncanny blend of technological optimism and visible collapse
Physicist: “Bad Philosophy” May Spur Search for New Physics
Carlo Rovelli points out that revolutions’ in the history of fundamental physics are more conservative than they are often depicted
Terminator: Dark Fate: Welcome to the New Future
Which turns out to be the same as the old one. Here’s Part 2 of my review
Why the Human Mind Is Not and Cannot Be a Meat Computer
On this week’s podcast, Robert J. Marks and Eric Holloway explain why that claim — sometimes called computationalism — is not even mathematically possible
How Google Search Rank Disrupted the Alternative Health Industry
Part 6: Google’s bias is as real as ever, but the firm has deflected it to an impersonal policy that gives an air of objectivity
The Lies in New York’s Assisted Suicide Bill
New York is close to passing a bill to legalize assisted suicide. Having passed the assembly, it is currently being considered in the senate
Google’s Power Over Online Business: Monopolistic and Extravagant
Part 5: To help people understand Google’s power over online businesses, I ask. What if the road on which the local Walmart is located suddenly became a dirt trail?
Does AI Expose Colleges’ Underlying Problem?
AI could be a symptom of a deeper issue in higher education
Group Founded by Francis Collins Starts PR Campaign for “Science”
The answer to lack of public trust in science does not lie in PR. It lies rather in addressing the attitudes and practices that lead to loss of trust
Becoming a Slave to Google: How It Happens
Part 4: After an update, you always have to second guess what Google did. You become a reverse engineer who never sees under the hood
Companies Spending A Lot on AI Are Not Seeing A Big Return
Target and WalMart are reversing course, cutting back on self-checkout
How a Split Brain Enables a Unified Mind Still Baffles Us
In the comments following Sean McDowell’s interview with neurosurgeon Michael Egnor, a viewer asked, are the parts of a split brain still really connected?
Dead Man “Returns” via Deepfake to Testify Against Killer
An eerie deepfake video was allowed to impersonate a manslaughter victim talking about his thoughts and feelings in the courtroom
A Potential Chink in Google’s Armor: Loss of Legal Immunity
Part 3: Currently, Google is legally protected from the consequences of frequent copyright violation
Monday Micro Softy 26: Arguing with Pythagoras
Will the diagonal of a triangle with sides of 3 and 4 feet be 5 feet or, as a visiting mathematician suggests, 7 feet?
Bioethics: Just Another Social-Justice Political Movement Now?
A new survey shows how the movement has swung toward pushing woke “social justice” initiatives as its primary purpose
Philosopher: There Is No Mystery of Consciousness
Galen Strawson points out at even young children a completely general conception of what consciousness is