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worker-sits-inside-a-box-outdoors-stockpack-adobe-stock
Worker sits inside a box outdoors
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post
Author
News
Date
June 18, 2021
Categorized
Business and Finance, Media
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Amazon’s “Mindful Practice Rooms” Backfire

It turns out the human soul needs far more than a telephone booth with a computer
News
June 18, 2021
5
Business and Finance, Media

Amazon posted a video this week featuring a “mindful practice room” – a new company initiative to give employees a mental and emotional break during their work day. The room is just one component of their WorkingWell program, which is intended to ease worker stress by providing them with tools and training for better physical, mental, and emotional well-being. The video did not go over as hoped, however, and Amazon took it down. The Guardian called the rooms “coffin-like booths”, Gizmodo called it “a dystopian solution” to long work hours and harsh conditions, and Twitter users went to town with their own sarcastic tweets and memes. The now-deleted video featured Amazon worker Leila Brown, creator of the “ZenBooth”, which she Read More ›

archaeological-excavation-stockpack-adobe-stock
Archaeological excavation.
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post
Author
News
Date
June 17, 2021
Categorized
Philosophy of Mind, Science
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Death: Child Grave From 80,000 Years Ago Shows Abstract Thinking

The lovingly prepared site on the Kenyan coast held the remains of a 2–3 year-old child
News
June 17, 2021
5
Philosophy of Mind, Science

A child’s grave, found recently in Kenya, pushes clear evidence of abstract thinking back to 80,000 years ago, the Middle Stone Age. The child, nicknamed “Mtoto” (child in Swahili) by the archaeologists, was 2½ – 3 years old; whether a boy or a girl is as yet unclear: In a tour de force of discovery, recovery, and analysis, an interdisciplinary research team has uncovered the earliest known human burial in Africa. The grave, found less than 10 miles inland from southeast Kenya’s lush ocean beaches, contained the remains of a two- to three-year-old child buried with extraordinary care by a community of early Homo sapiens some 78,000 years ago. While some human burials in the Middle East and Europe are Read More ›

stack-of-papers-isolated-on-white-background-stockpack-adobe-stock
Stack of papers isolated on white background
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post
Author
Gary Smith
Date
June 17, 2021
Categorized
Peer Review, Science
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A Vulnerable System: Fake Papers and Imaginary Scientists

Publication counts and citation indexes are too noisy and too easily manipulated to be reliable
Gary Smith
June 17, 2021
7
Peer Review, Science

In the last two posts, we examined how scientific publication has ceased to be a good measure of scientific accomplishment, and how the peer review system is being gamed by unscrupulous publishers and researchers alike. Now, we will continue the discussion on the undermining of scientific publication using two examples: SCIgen and citation counts. SCIgen In 2005 three MIT graduate computer science students created a prank program they called SCIgen for using randomly selected words to generate bogus computer-science papers complete with realistic graphs of random numbers. Their goal was “maximum amusement rather than coherence,” and also to demonstrate that some academic conferences will accept almost anything. They submitted a hoax paper titled, “Rooter: A Methodology for the Typical Unification of Access Points and Redundancy,” Read More ›

octopus-stockpack-adobe-stock
Octopus
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post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
June 17, 2021
Categorized
Ethics, Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience
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Octopuses Get Emotional About Pain, Research Suggests

The smartest of invertebrates, the octopus, once again prompts us to rethink what we believe to be the origin of intelligence
Denyse O'Leary
June 17, 2021
7
Ethics, Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience

The octopus is becoming a popular creature among neuroscientists. It is a very smart invertebrate with an unusually complex nervous system, organized in a fundamentally different way from that of, for example, mammals. Recently, a researcher has found the first strong evidence that octopuses feel pain, as opposed to merely reacting to it. There are two parts to pain: The natural physical reaction, like a sophisticated alarm system, sets off a chain of involuntary responses. But that chain of responses, by itself, doesn’t prove that any “self” is feeling anything. The alarm system would work just the same in an empty building as in a populated one. The second component can be called “emotional.” The life form experiences the pain Read More ›

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Business risk control concept, Businessman protect wooden block fall to planning and strategy in risk to business Alternative and prevent. Investment Insurance Business.
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post
Author
News
Date
June 16, 2021
Categorized
Censorship, Law, Social Media
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The Push to Break Up Big Tech Monopolies

Facebook is "acting as an arm of the state," says Florida's governor
News
June 16, 2021
5
Censorship, Law, Social Media

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis appeared on Fox’s Sunday Morning Futures, hosted by Maria Bartiromo, over the weekend. The two discussed Big Tech’s alarming censorship power and Florida’s efforts to combat that power. Recent government emails obtained through Freedom of Information Act lawsuits suggest that Dr. Anthony Fauci and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg coordinated what should and should not be dispersed through social media platforms regarding COVID-19 and its origins. “Do you believe Fauci colluded with Mark Zuckerberg? Does this expose Facebook to legal action?” Bartiromo asked DeSantis. DeSantis answered by calling Facebook “an arm of the state”: Here’s an example of working with Fauci where Facebook, you can argue, is essentially acting as an arm of the state, because they’re Read More ›

lying-businessman-holding-fingers-crossed-behind-his-back-stockpack-adobe-stock
Lying businessman holding fingers crossed behind his back
Type
post
Author
Gary Smith
Date
June 15, 2021
Categorized
Peer Review, Science
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Gaming the System: The Flaws in Peer Review

Peer review is well-intentioned, but flawed in many ways
Gary Smith
June 15, 2021
8
Peer Review, Science

Last time, we examined how scientific publication has ceased to be a good measure of scientific accomplishment because it has now become a target, following Goodhart’s Law. In today’s post, we will continue that examination by turning to the peer review system, and how that system is being gamed by unscrupulous publishers and researchers alike. In theory, the peer review process is intended to ensure that research papers do not get published unless impartial experts in the field deem them worthy of publication. Peer review is well-intentioned, but flawed in many ways. First, the best researchers are incredibly busy and naturally more inclined to do their own research than to review someone else’s work. Thus, peer review is often cursory or Read More ›

accurate-facial-recognition-software-detection-technology-blur-people-with-facial-scan-showing-digital-personal-data-and-social-credit-stockpack-adobe-stock
accurate facial recognition software detection technology. blur people with facial scan showing digital personal data and social credit
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post
Author
News
Date
June 15, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance
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U.S. Ranked #8 in Countries Using Facial Recognition Technology

7 in 10 governments widely use facial recognition technology
News
June 15, 2021
4
Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance

A new report has ranked the United States #8 among 100 countries for widespread use of facial recognition technology (FRT). The report came out of Comparitech last week. A team evaluated the 100 most populated countries to compare their use of FRT. The study analyzed the use of FRT in governments, police departments, airports, schools, banks, workplaces, and on public transportation. The U.S. scored 18 on a scale of 0-40 (0 indicating an invasive use of FRT, and 40 indicating no evidence or an outright ban on the technology), pairing it with Mexico for the eighth ranking in the top 10 list. “There is…growing use of this technology within the US, but buses don’t appear to have FRT installed as Read More ›

female-artist-works-on-abstract-oil-painting-moving-paint-brush-energetically-she-creates-modern-masterpiece-dark-creative-studio-where-large-canvas-stands-on-easel-illuminated-low-angle-close-up-stockpack-adobe-stock
Female Artist Works on Abstract Oil Painting, Moving Paint Brush Energetically She Creates Modern Masterpiece. Dark Creative Studio where Large Canvas Stands on Easel Illuminated. Low Angle Close-up
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post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
June 15, 2021
Categorized
Business and Finance, Science
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Intelligent Design Is Not What Most People Think It Is

Widespread confusion about Intelligent Design leads us to address the question: What exactly is it?
Jonathan Bartlett
June 15, 2021
8
Business and Finance, Science

When I tell people that I do work in Intelligent Design (ID) research, either the person I’m talking to has no idea what Intelligent Design is, or they have quite a faulty idea of what Intelligent Design is. This isn’t their fault — media reports don’t seem to be able to make sense of what we are doing either. Some people have attributed this to malice, and, while I’m sure there’s plenty of that to go around, I think that it is in large part actually the result of Intelligent Design doing something genuinely new, making it difficult for people to shove us into existing boxes. Intelligent Design, at its core, says that agency is a distinct causal category in the world. That Read More ›

abstract-green-dna-stockpack-adobe-stock
Abstract green DNA
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post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
June 14, 2021
Categorized
Events, Science
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An Unlikely Collaboration to Elucidate Life’s Blueprints

Joining together the forces of biology and engineering to improve both fields
Jonathan Bartlett
June 14, 2021
3
Events, Science

What happens when you get sixty biologists and engineers together in a conference for three days? That’s the question asked by Steve Laufman, head of the Engineering Research Group at Discovery. In the recent “Conference on Engineering in Living Systems,” biologists and engineers of every stripe got together to see how the two disciplines could benefit each other. For biologists, learning how engineers examine, design, and plan projects was eye-opening. Traditionally, biologists focus on individual interactions, not whole-systems approaches. For engineers, discovering the details of cellular architecture and control mechanisms was especially enlightening.  The conference had a diverse set of presentations, covering numerous areas of overlap between the two fields. One presentation discussed biologically-inspired robots, as well as how they can Read More ›

custom-library-stockpack-adobe-stock
Custom library
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post
Author
Gary Smith
Date
June 14, 2021
Categorized
Peer Review, Science
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Publish or Perish — Another Example of Goodhart’s Law

In becoming a target, publication has ceased to be a good measure
Gary Smith
June 14, 2021
5
Peer Review, Science

The linchpin of scientific advances is that scientists publish their findings so that others can learn from them and expand on their insights. This is why some books are rightly considered among the most influential mathematical and scientific books of all time:  Elements, Euclid, c. 300 B.C.Physics, Aristotle, c. 330 B.C.On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres, Nicolaus Copernicus, 1543Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Galileo Galilei, 1632Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, Isaac Newton, 1687The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin, 1859 As Newton said, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” It seems logical to gauge the importance of modern-day researchers by how much they have published and how often their research has been cited Read More ›

young-man-wearing-coverall-and-safety-mask-working-on-production-line-of-modern-pharmaceutical-factory-portrait-shot-stockpack-adobe-stock
Young man wearing coverall and safety mask working on production line of modern pharmaceutical factory, portrait shot
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post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
June 14, 2021
Categorized
Medicine and Health, Science
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U.S. Moratorium(ish) on Gain-of-Function Research

Evaluating the effectiveness of the 2014 U.S. moratorium on gain-of-function experiments
Heather Zeiger
June 14, 2021
5
Medicine and Health, Science

In the last two articles, we discussed the vindication of the lab leak theory through the publication of several investigative articles, and the risky nature of gain-of-function research and the evidence that it may be a key component to the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, we turn to the U.S. Due to the risky nature of gain-of-function research, what actions has the U.S. government taken to mitigate those risks? In 2014, the U.S. government placed a moratorium on new gain-of-function experiments for influenza, MERS, and SARS. That moratorium defines “gain-of-function” in very broad terms covering any “research that improves the ability of a pathogen to cause disease.” The moratorium expired in 2017 and was replaced by an oversight board, Read More ›

dachsund-dog-portrait-studio-looking-up-stockpack-adobe-stock
dachsund dog portrait studio looking up.
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post
Author
News
Date
June 13, 2021
Categorized
Natural Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind, Religion
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Do Any Dogs Go To Heaven? If So, Why?

Neuroscientist Christof Koch was troubled as a child by the Catholic tradition that dogs like his beloved Purzel did not go to heaven
News
June 13, 2021
5
Natural Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind, Religion

In recent articles, we’ve discussed well-known neuroscientist Christof Koch’s Integrated Information Theory (IIT) of consciousness which, as he acknowledges, takes a panpsychist (everything is conscious to some degree) approach to the mind. He has explained his reasoning at MIT Press Reader: Materialists must see human consciousness as an illusion — but then whose illusion is it? Panpsychism allows humans to have actual consciousness but, he says, “experience may not even be restricted to biological entities but might extend to non-evolved physical systems previously assumed to be mindless — a pleasing and parsimonious conclusion about the makeup of the universe.” His perspective is gaining popularity in science. One, perhaps unexpected, factor that he mentions as shaping his overall approach was youthful Read More ›

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duck decoy with stuffed and calls
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post
Author
News
Date
June 13, 2021
Categorized
Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Science
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A Physicist’s Defense of Reality, Despite Quantum Physics

He explains why Eddington’s solid table really IS solid, even if, at the highest resolution, it is mostly empty space
News
June 13, 2021
4
Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Science

In the wake of quantum physics, King’s College philosopher of physics Alexander Franklin is concerned to stress that “everyday reality is not illusory but emergent”: Popular science often tells us that we are radically deceived by the commonplace appearance of everyday objects and that colour and solidity are illusions. For instance, the physicist Sir Arthur Eddington [pictured] distinguished in 1928 between two tables: the familiar table and the scientific table, while the former is solid and coloured, the scientific table “is nearly all empty space”. Eddington then makes the striking claim that “modern physics has by delicate test and remorseless logic assured me that my second scientific table is the only one which is really there”. Alexander Franklin, “Solid objects Read More ›

nerve-cell-3d-neurons-stockpack-adobe-stock
Nerve Cell. 3D. Neurons
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post
Author
News
Date
June 12, 2021
Categorized
Neuroscience
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Researchers Can’t Explain: Memories Drift From Neuron to Neuron

Memories are supposed to stay put in the neurons that lay them down. A recent study, published at Nature, shows that they move a lot…
News
June 12, 2021
4
Neuroscience

“Scientists are meant to know what’s going on, but in this particular case, we are deeply confused”, a recent article at The Atlantic begins. It’s about the way nervous system cells don’t simply lay down memories and keep them. The memories drift from neuron to neuron, quite contrary to textbook claims and traditional neuroscience assumptions: The relatively simple explanation found in neuroscience textbooks is that specific groups of neurons reliably fire when their owner smells a rose, sees a sunset, or hears a bell. These representations—these patterns of neural firing—presumably stay the same from one moment to the next. But as Schoonover, Fink, and others have found, they sometimes don’t. They change—and to a confusing and unexpected extent. Schoonover, Fink, Read More ›

numbers waves face
Birth of Virtual Consciousness
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post
Author
News
Date
June 12, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind
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Neuroscientist: Conscious AI Is Not an Insurmountable Problem

Neuroscientist: Conscious AI is not an insurmountable problem
News
June 12, 2021
4
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind

Neuroscientist Ryota Kanai, founder and CEO of Tokyo-based startup Araya, aims to “understand the computational basis of consciousness and to create conscious AI.” He isn’t sure, he says, if we want AI to be conscious. But, technically, he doesn’t see it as an insurmountable problem: If we can’t figure out why AIs do what they do, why don’t we ask them? We can endow them with metacognition—an introspective ability to report their internal mental states. Such an ability is one of the main functions of consciousness. It is what neuroscientists look for when they test whether humans or animals have conscious awareness. For instance, a basic form of metacognition, confidence, scales with the clarity of conscious experience. When our brain Read More ›

science-fiction-illustration-of-a-battle-cruiser-spaceship-travelling-faster-than-the-speed-of-light-in-hyperspace-3d-digitally-rendered-illustration-stockpack-adobe-stock
Science fiction illustration of a battle cruiser spaceship travelling faster than the speed of light in hyperspace, 3d digitally rendered illustration
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post
Author
News
Date
June 12, 2021
Categorized
Arts & Culture, Ethics, Science
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What If a Loved One Aged Much Faster Than You? – Sci-fi Saturday

It’s one of the implications of faster-than-light travel
News
June 12, 2021
13
Arts & Culture, Ethics, Science

“ARK” at DUST by Nelson Cruz (June 8, 2021, 8:19 min) “Captain Mira Bernhard is finally home after a lengthy mission to the new planet, GAIA – humanity’s last hope. But what’s only been a 5-year trip for her, has been 45-year wait for her husband.” Review: ARK debuted in 2020. Time, we are told, is running out for Earth. The radio announcer, informing the audience of Bernhard’s ship’s arrival, also announces that this will be the final week of broadcasts. We are told that Bernhard’s husband Peter (played by Patrick Gorman) does not know what to expect. But, of course, he really does. And he faces a big decision: Should he just free her (Sheila Cutchlow) to return to Read More ›

ai-stockpack-adobe-stock
AI・人工知能
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post
Author
News
Date
June 12, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Ethics, Law
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Could You Be Reconstructed From Your Memories? – Sci-fi Saturday

If you were, would destroying the digitized “you” be murder?
News
June 12, 2021
14
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Ethics, Law

“The Final Moments of Karl Brant” at DUST by Neil Ellice and Matthew Wilson (June 10, 2021 at DUST, 15:46 min) “Set in the near future where experimental technology allows two detectives to bring a murder victim back to life in a digital state in order to question him about his final moments.” Review: This is an “oldie” from 2013, recently uploaded to DUST. Entrepreneur Karl Brant and academic neuroscientist Bennett Ferryman were partners in a promising new high tech venture in which Brant suddenly perishes, leaving Ferryman now the sole owner — and under interrogation down at the local cop shop: “Am I a suspect?” “Not if you give us a good reason why you shouldn’t be.” Not too Read More ›

medical-science-laboratory-concept-of-virus-and-bacteria-research-stockpack-adobe-stock
Medical science laboratory. Concept of virus and bacteria research
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post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
June 11, 2021
Categorized
Medicine and Health, Science
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What Is Gain-of-Function Research and Why Is It Risky?

The Wuhan Institute of Virology and the NIH find themselves in a tough spot
Heather Zeiger
June 11, 2021
7
Medicine and Health, Science

Last time, we talked about the vindication of the lab leak theory, as a growing number of investigative articles have pointed to a lab accident as the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now,we turn to the role risky gain-of-function research may have played in the affair. To understand why some in the U.S. government and the NIH want to downplay funding of gain-of-function research, we need to understand what exactly it is. All viruses mutate, some faster than others. Influenza is one of the fastest mutating viruses, followed by HIV. SARS-CoV-2 mutates slower than both viruses, which is why many scientists believe vaccine booster shots will likely be every few years, rather than annually, like the flu. Scientists need to Read More ›

3d-rendering-of-futuristic-blue-circuit-board-stockpack-adobe-stock
3d rendering of futuristic blue circuit board
Type
post
Author
News
Date
June 11, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Can AI Design AI?: Responding to Google’s Latest Tech

Anything can be intelligence if we set the bar low enough
News
June 11, 2021
3
Artificial Intelligence

Could a computer design itself? Could it design a bigger and better computer? A team at Google says yes. According to a recent article at NewScientist, Google has begun using AI to design AI. “Engineers at Google have tasked an artificial intelligence with designing faster and more efficient processors – and then used its chip designs to develop the next generation of specialised computers that run the very same type of AI algorithms,” writes Matthew Sparkes. Sparkes continues by explaining Google’s chip design, and introducing the reader to Google’s Anna Goldie, a member of the team at the front of this effort that tasks computers with making better computers. “It is conceivable,” says Sparkes, “that this new AI-designed chip will be used Read More ›

light-bulb-stockpack-adobe-stock
Light bulb
Type
post
Author
News
Date
June 10, 2021
Categorized
Law
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How Patent Law Has Changed for the Worse

Scientific achievement is almost impossible for the little guy anymore
News
June 10, 2021
5
Law

During their conversation about the National Science Foundation, Drs. Robert J. Marks and Paul Werbos took a moment to discuss patent law. Their short rabbit trail ends with a grim analysis of patent law today: it’s now “almost impossible for the little guy” to secure a patent – and expensive. Patent law was considered so important to the nation’s founders that they enshrined it in the Constitution, granting Congress the authority to protect the rights of inventors to their inventions (see: Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8). “Granting exclusive rights to the inventor is intended to encourage the investment of time and resources into the development of new and useful discoveries,” explains Cornell’s Legal Information Institute. In 2011, then-President Barack Read More ›