ArchiveArticles
Philosopher Explains How We Can Know That Consciousness Is Real
Robert J. Marks to speak at Big Sky Conference in Billings, Montana
He will focus on the way in which, while AI offers exciting possibilities, many claims for AI are provably overblown
The Transhumanist Delusion of the Nazis
"All the Light We Cannot See" shows what can happen when the delusions of transhumanism join forces with an appalling ideology.
Fighting Pseudoscience With Empathy? Try a Little Humility First…
The accusation of “pseudoscience,” under the current science regime, has often become little more than an elite-driven smear against inconvenient data
Do People Who Speak Different Languages Think Differently?
For centuries, linguists found that an intriguing, attractive idea but there is no clear evidence for it
Internet Pollution — If You Tell a Lie Long Enough…
Large Language Models (chatbots) can generate falsehoods faster than humans can correct them. For example, they might say that the Soviets sent bears into space...
Does the Brain Constrain the Mind Instead of Creating It?
There is no systematic, science-based reason today to think that’s not true and plenty of evidence suggests that it is
Facebook and Instagram Allegedly Hook Youngsters with Dopamine Triggering Tactics
Can There Really Be an Ultimate Happiness Machine?
Technology can do so much. Can it really provide an answer to the eternal human quest for happiness?
Does Plagiarism Really Matter Any More?
Yes, if we don’t want a world drowning in merely private truths
Alien 3 Review, Part 4
Ripley's curtain callIn the third article, Ripley woke up in an all-male prison after surviving a shuttle crash. A parasitic alien tagged along and implanted an embryo in an inmate’s dog. The embryo breaks out of the animal and begins killing people until everyone figures out what’s going on, then they hatched one of the dumbest plans I’ve ever seen in cinema. After that, Ripley begins feeling sick. She goes to her still fully intact cryobed and scans herself. She finds that the parasitic alien has also planted an embryo inside her. The fact that Ripley had an embryo in her the entire time is ridiculous for a number of reasons. As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, her cryobed wasn’t broken, so Read More ›
Can Science Tell Us Whether Our Cats Love Us?
Researchers have found out some intriguing things about the way cats react to humans
A Darwinian Argument for a Global Government
The evolutionary researchers worry that we have not evolved to be worthy of a global government and will face ecological ruin in consequence.
Is Tech Still Innovating?
Is it just me, or is the world of technology feeling a bit … stale?
Are Good Ideas Hard to Find?
This academic paper tells us a lot about why innovation has slowed
Deciphering the Hidden Meanings of Cave Art
In many cases, there are more dots and lines than animals, which suggests some sort of early information system
Does ChatGPT Depend on Copyright Violation to Function?
Without copyrighted material, ChatGPT has slim pickings to go on.ChatGPT, the large language model developed by OpenAI, might seem like it generates novel content, but of course we know that it partakes in what’s generally called “scraping.” It takes pre-existing material on the Internet in response to the prompt a human user inserts. Not surprisingly, the folks who put things on the Internet for a living, like writers and artists, haven’t taken so kindly to AI’s online sleuthing. In fact, a number of artists, writers (including George R. R. Martin, Jonathan Franzen, and John Grisham) and even news outlets have sued OpenAI over copyright infringement allegations. What’s fascinating, though, is that OpenAI hasn’t tried to dodge the allegation but freely admits that ChatGPT depends on copyrighted material to function. Read More ›
AI Will Disrupt Everything — But Forget the Robot Apocalypse!
It will be a slow, steady, measured disruption, like the one the printing press created