^ArchiveArticles

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 10, 2021

Categorized
Law

Tagged
America Invents Act (AIA), Intellectual Property, National Science Foundation (NSF), patent law, Paul Werbos}

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 ›

Science laboratory research and development concept. microscope with test tubes

^{Type
post

Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
June 10, 2021

Categorized
Media, Medicine and Health, Science

Tagged
Anthony Fauci, Chinese Communist Party (CCP), COVID-19, COVID-19 lab leak hypothesis, Dr. Shi Zheng-Li, EcoHealth Alliance, Katherine Eban, National Institute of Health (NIH), Nicholas Wade, Nicholson Baker, Peter Daszak, SARS-CoV-2, Vanity Fair, WHO COVID-19 investigation in China, World Health Organization (WHO), Wuhan Institute of Virology}

Lab Leak Theory Vindicated: What That Means for Fighting COVID-19

_{What was the U.S. government's role in downplaying the lab leak theory?} _{Heather Zeiger

June 10, 2021

5

Media, Medicine and Health, Science}

Vanity Fair adds to the growing number of investigative articles pointing to a lab accident as the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic. This article looks at the U.S. government’s role in downplaying that lab leak theory. Behind closed doors, however, national security and public health experts and officials across a range of departments in the executive branch were locked in high-stakes battles over what could and couldn’t be investigated and made public. Katherine Eban, “The Lab-Leak Theory: Inside the Fight to Uncover COVID-19’s Origins” at Vanity Fair At a time when the Mainstream Media has sullied its reputation by parroting experts rather than seeking multiple viewpoints and checking sources, several articles stand out as excellent pieces of long-form writing and Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 9, 2021

Categorized
Censorship, Law, Social Media

Tagged
Amazon, Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), Facebook, Florida, Florida and Big Tech, Free speech, Google, Mark Zuckerberg, NetChoice, Parler, Ron DeSantis, Section 230, Senate Bill 7072, Twitter}

Censoring the Censors? Florida’s Anti-Censorship Law

_{What exactly does the law do, and why is Big Tech sponsoring a lawsuit to halt it?} _{News

June 9, 2021

6

Censorship, Law, Social Media}

Originally published by Dr. Karl Stephan at Engineering Ethics On May 24, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill designed to stop social media firms from censoring free speech. At least that’s what the governor’s website claims it does. Two big-tech industry groups, Netchoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), sued the state of Florida in early June over the legislation, which is scheduled to take effect on July 1. What exactly does the law do, and why are organizations such as Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, and Google sponsoring a lawsuit to halt it? People of certain political persuasions need not look far for motivations to pass such a law. Following the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 of this year, Read More ›

DNA in hand on blue background concept design.

^{Type
post

Author
Andrew McDiarmid
Date
June 9, 2021

Categorized
Science

Tagged
Bill Gates, Biology, Charles Darwin, DNA, Intelligent Design, Origin of life, Return of the God Hypothesis (book), Richard Dawkins, Signature in the Cell (book), software design, Stephen C. Meyer}

The Coolest Tech on the Planet (Hint: It’s Inside You!)

_{The intricate design of the living cell has left many materialists stumped} _{Andrew McDiarmid

June 9, 2021

5

Science}

These days, we surround ourselves with technology to stay in touch, to keep ourselves informed, and to manage the challenges of our daily lives. We also recognize in our devices and machines all the hallmarks of design, understanding reflexively that they express the ingenuity of engineers or software developers. Our appreciation for applied intelligence comes as second nature to us — we intuitively recognize the work of other minds. But what happens when we look up from our technology and survey the world of nature? When we look up at the movement of the planets, or into the eyes of our children, or when we peer through a microscope into a living cell? Do we see signs of minds in Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Caitlin Cory
Date
June 8, 2021

Categorized
Censorship, Law, Social Media

Tagged
Big Tech, Big Tech censorship, Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), Facebook, First Amendment, Florida, Florida and Big Tech, Fourteenth Amendment, Free speech, Google, John Snyder, NetChoice, Ron DeSantis, Section 230, Senate Bill 7072, Twitter}

Big Tech Sues Florida Over New Censorship Law

_{Facebook, Twitter, and Google are fighting back against a Florida law that seeks to reign them in} _{Caitlin Cory

June 8, 2021

4

Censorship, Law, Social Media}

Technology trade companies representing Facebook, Twitter, and Google are suing Florida over its new law regulating the editorial and censorship powers of large social media platforms. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 7072 into law on May 24, the first of its kind in the nation to curb the powers of online companies to remove and censor content and users. NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) – technology trade groups that have been vocal about their opposition to the law – filed the lawsuit against Florida the following Thursday in Tallahassee federal court. DeSantis and other supporters of the new law argue that its purpose is to safeguard the First Amendment rights of ordinary Florida citizens Read More ›

In the Hospital Sick Man Lying on the Bed, His Visiting Wife Hopefully Sits Beside Him and Prays for His Rapid Recovery. Tragic, Somber and Melancholy Scene.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 8, 2021

Categorized
Ethics, Medicine and Health, Neuroscience

Tagged
brain death, Euthanasia, organ donation, Uniform Declaration of Death Act, World Brain Death Project}

Is It Safe to Revise the Standard for Legally Recognized Brain Death?

_{People have a right to not have a controversial concept of death imposed upon them} _{News

June 8, 2021

5

Ethics, Medicine and Health, Neuroscience}

Originally published on MercatorNet on May 28, 2021 by Nancy Valko I have been writing for many years about the implications of brain death, the lesser known “donation after cardiac/circulatory death”, diagnosed brain death cases like the supposedly “impossible” prolonged survival and maturation of Jahi McMath, and unexpected recoveries like Zack Dunlap’s. Some mothers declared “brain dead” were able to gestate their babies for weeks or months to a successful delivery before their ventilators were removed. Last August, I wrote about the World Brain Death Project and the effort to establish a worldwide consensus on brain death criteria and testing to develop the “minimum clinical standards for determination of brain death” (emphasis added). I also wrote about the current effort “to revise the (US) Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA) to assure a Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
June 7, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Law

Tagged
criminal justice, criminal law, criminal liability, Cybercrime, drones, IEEE, legal neutrality, Ryan Abbott, Steven Cherry, The Reasonable Robot (book), Voter fraud allegations (in U.S.)}

Can a Robot be Arrested and Prosecuted?

_{An Uber driver is held liable if he runs over someone. But what if a driverless taxi ran over someone?} _{Richard W. Stevens

June 7, 2021

8

Artificial Intelligence, Law}

The title, “Can a Robot Be Arrested? Hold a Patent? Pay Income Taxes?”, is bound to attract clicks and attention. Posted on the IEEE Spectrum site, a podcast transcript by that name reports Steven Cherry’s interview of Ryan Abbott about artificial intelligence and the law. Abbott, a physician, lawyer, and professor, wrote the aptly titled book, The Reasonable Robot: Artificial Intelligence and the Law, published by Cambridge University Press in 2019. To the point: Can a robot be arrested? Technically, an arrest occurs when a person is forcibly but lawfully detained. Of course, one can forcibly detain a robot – we’ve seen that done in many science fiction movies. Abbott was talking specifically about how criminal law should apply to actions taken by artificial intelligence (AI) Read More ›

Statue of Saint Anselm and the towers of the Cathedral of Aosta, the Cattedrale di Aosta de Corso Pere-Laurent in Aosta. Aosta Valley. Italy. Europe

^{Type
post

Author
Robert J. Marks and Samuel Haug
Date
June 7, 2021

Categorized
Mathematics, Religion

Tagged
Anselm of Canterbury, Axioms, Definitions, Descartees, God's existence, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Kurt Gödel, Kurt Gödel (belief in God), ontological proof, Theorems}

Gödel Says God Exists and Proves It

_{Here is a line-by-line explanation of his proof} _{Robert J. Marks and Samuel Haug

June 7, 2021

8

Mathematics, Religion}

Kurt Gödel, an intellectual giant of the 20th century, offered a mathematical proof that God exists. Those who suffer from math anxiety admire what the theorem (shown below) claims to do, but have absolutely no idea what it means. Our goal is to explain, in English, what Gödel’s existence of God proof says. Gödel’s proof shows the existence of God is a necessary truth. The idea behind the truth is not new and dates back to Saint Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109). Great scientists and philosophers, including Descartes and Leibniz, have reconsidered and refined Anselm’s argument. Gödel appears to be the first, however, to present the argument using mathematical logic. Lexicography In any development of a mathematical theory, there are foundational axioms Read More ›

Man sits in a spaceship car and flies to the planet with a sunset in space. Space travel by car, concept. Driver behind the wheel. Interplanetary taxi in space, creative idea

^{Type
post

Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
June 7, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance

Tagged
Elon Musk, Ford, Roadster, SpaceX, Tesla}

Ford Calls Out Exaggerated Musk Claims in Epic Twitter Troll

_{Automakers are beginning to respond to Musk with mockery and satire} _{Jonathan Bartlett

June 7, 2021

3

Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance}

Elon Musk has long been making strange claims about Tesla’s future plans for vehicles. At Mind Matters News, we have documented extensively his continually-changing claims about Teslas being able to be used as robotaxis. This is especially important to consumers of these products, as Tesla is charging customers $10,000 for future functionality that may never exist. We have largely ignored other claims from Musk as it is sometimes difficult to tell when Musk is being serious or when he is just joking around. This can be problematic, however, since Musk has listed his Twitter account as being a source of official company communications. Not being able to tell if a given message is an official corporate communication or just a funny Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 6, 2021

Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Consciousness, David A. Oakley, human brain, Peter L. Halligan}

We Are Now Informed: Consciousness Does Not Really Exist

_{Rubbish. Giving up consciousness as an illusion would be like turning off the master switch. What would the ensuing darkness and powerlessness tell us?} _{News

June 6, 2021

2

Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind}

What you think is enabling you to listen with any attention to neuroscientists (your dog, coffee cup, and your toothpaste are not listening to neuroscientists) is something — some of them tell us — we should give up as an illusion. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 6, 2021

Categorized
Economics, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
China, Demographics, Elinor Ostrom, Family structure, free will, Garrett Hardin, Michelle Nijhuis, Population, Tragedy of the Commons concept}

Is More Coercion — in Principle — an “Extension” of Morality?

_{Activist Garrett Hardin popularized government coercion to “save the planet” in 1968} _{News

June 6, 2021

5

Economics, Philosophy of Mind}

Recently, the Communist Party of China has announced permission for the three-child family, possibly because of the demographic ruin that the previous one-child family has occasioned in that country. But the basic idea that government should control everything is not new and it did not originate in China. Let’s go back to the 1960s in the United States. In 1968, Garrett Hardin (1915–2003) made a famous appeal in the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s magazine, Science, for good old-fashioned coercion of human beings to stop having so many children: The abstract for his “Tragedy of the Commons” (Science, 1968), a Cool concept at the time, read simply “The population problem has no technical solution; it requires a fundamental Read More ›

A girl with Down syndrome blows bubbles. The daily life of a child with disabilities. Chromosomal genetic disorder in a child.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 6, 2021

Categorized
Science

Tagged
Cancel culture, discrimination, Dominic Lawson, Down Syndrome, Eugenics, human dignity, Richard Dawkins}

Richard Dawkins is not just ableist, he’s unscientific

_{He refuses to see the joy that people with Down Syndrome bring into the world} _{News

June 6, 2021

5

Science}

Originally published on MercatorNet on June 2, 2021 by Ann Farmer Way back when, one of life’s great certainties used to be that no matter how obnoxious, prejudiced, jaundiced or snooty Richard Dawkins, the Grand Poobah of Atheism, was, the accolades would continue to roll in. Alas! Those were the Good Old Days for poor old Richard. Nowadays he is looking more and more like a bewildered T-Rex the day after the Cretaceous extinction event. Earlier this year Richard was cancelled by the American Humanist Association. It revoked his 1996 humanist of the year award because he had expressed scepticism about trans people in one of his recent tweets. It turns out that Richard needed his mouth washed out with soap Read More ›

A cute girl playing with wooden abacus. Educational concept for kids. Learing to count. Math for children. Math for children.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 5, 2021

Categorized
Mathematics, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Abstraction, Colin Barras, Number sense}

The Mystery of Numeracy: How DID We Learn To Count?

_{Some animals can do rough figuring but only humans count} _{News

June 5, 2021

3

Mathematics, Philosophy of Mind}

At a time when many people see numbers, arithmetic, and mathematics as mere oppression, others are intrigued by the basic question, how did the human race learn to do math? There are some clues, as a new project called Quanta is trying to establish. First, while no animals use abstract numbers in the wild, some animals can do rough figuring: Although researchers once thought that humans were the only species with a sense of quantity, studies since the mid-twentieth century have revealed that many animals share the ability. For instance, fish, bees and newborn chicks can instantly recognize quantities up to four, a skill known as subitizing. Some animals are also capable of ‘large-quantity discrimination’: they can appreciate the difference Read More ›

Tree brain with human head cape, idea concept of think hope freedom and mind , surreal artwork, dream art , fantasy landscape, imagination of nature

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 5, 2021

Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Benjamin Libet, free will, Free won't, Michael Egnor, Robert J. Marks}

New Paper Provides Further Evidence for Free Will

_{According to the new research, many of the busy brain signals on which the “no free will” position depends on were system noise} _{News

June 5, 2021

6

Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind}

We all sense that free will is real. We know that we could have stopped ourselves from making some mistakes. For decades, some neuroscientists have claimed that free will is an illusion, based on some well-publicized experiments. Some recent research challenges that: Experiments spanning the 1960s and 1980s measured brain signals noninvasively and led many neuroscientists to believe that our brains make decisions before we do—that human actions were initiated by electrical waves that did not reflect free, conscious thought. However, a new article in Trends in Cognitive Science argues that recent research undermines this popular case against free will. “This new perspective on the data turns on its head the way well-known findings have been interpreted,” said Adina Roskies, Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Caitlin Cory
Date
June 5, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
a wrinkle in time, Albert Einstein, Dimensions, Madeleine L'Engle, Science fiction}

A Wrinkle In Time: Reading Science Fiction At An Early Age

_{An early introduction to science fiction will be a boon to any child's imagination} _{Caitlin Cory

June 5, 2021

4

Arts & Culture, Science}

When I was young, my father was constantly pressing new books into my hands. The first in remembrance was C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The second to stand out was Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle In Time. It was a funny choice, really. My father’s theology does not match L’Engle’s universalism, nor are his preferred subjects math and science. At the time, I was unable to wrap my mind around concepts of dimension and time introduced by L’Engle, but the novel became a fast favorite that I have returned to in my adulthood. A Wrinkle In Time was most recently brought back into popular view when an adaptation imagined by director Ava DuVernay was released in theaters Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 5, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Dima Taran, Laniakea (film), Laniakea (galaxy supercluster), Science fiction}

“Are We Alone?” Asks a New Sci-Fi Short. But Then Why?

_{In “Laniakea,” we are introduced to a civilization’s – museum? Or what is it? An intriguing Sci-fi Saturday} _{News

June 5, 2021

13

Arts & Culture}

“Laniakea” at DUST by Dima Taran (November 13, 2020, 5:48 min, animated) “The action takes place in the future, when superluminal speeds allow for travel to any point in the universe. People are hoping to find extraterrestrial life, but as of yet no one has succeeding in finding anything. One day, a lonely man finds a message in a monolith that has been drifting in space. It helps him to find a portal that leads to the home planet of those who made the monolith. He finds a giant structure, a building. But …This place is breathing on its own. Where has everyone gone?” Review: Good graphics and animation, in the service of a sobering point. The aliens could have Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 5, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Audrey Flegel, It's Okay (film), Justin Giddings, Ryan Welsh, Science fiction, Time travel}

If It’s Real, It Must Be Endured. – Sci-Fi Saturday

_{“It’s Okay?”, using futurist technology, takes a woman back through her time with someone she loves.} _{News

June 5, 2021

13

Arts & Culture}

“It’s Okay” at DUST by Justin Giddings and Ryan Welsh (June 3, 2021, 8:47 min) In this Black Mirror-esque tale, a couple revisit key moments of their past, only for their memories to take an unexpected turn. … Cam and Alex are a simple couple living an un-extraordinary life, when strange things suddenly start happening to them. Will they uncover the truth before they lose one other? Review: This is a remarkably well done short film. The directors are in control of their plot. If you don’t entirely understand what is happening at first, you will later. And that’s no easy task when the very proposition of the story involves bending time. The human mind is structured to understand time Read More ›

Little brave pawn wearing artificial paper crown suit on chessboard with figures, business entrepreneur leadership concept

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 4, 2021

Categorized
Ethics, Medicine and Health, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Falsehoods ("white lies"), Moral judgments, Neuroscience, Pareto lies}

Do You Have a “Selfish Prefrontal Cortex”?

_{Do you tell “white lies” only for selfish motives?} _{News

June 4, 2021

3

Ethics, Medicine and Health, Philosophy of Mind}

A recent neuroscience paper claims to determine whether your motives are selfish: You may think a little white lie about a bad haircut is strictly for your friend’s benefit, but your brain activity says otherwise. Distinct activity patterns in the prefrontal cortex reveal when a white lie has selfish motives, according to new research published in Journal of Neuroscience. White lies — formally called Pareto lies — can benefit both parties, but their true motives are encoded by the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). This brain region computes the value of different social behaviors, with some subregions focusing on internal motivations and others on external ones. Kim and Kim predicted activity patterns in these subregions could elucidate the true motive behind Read More ›

Veterinarian feeding African gray parrot

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 4, 2021

Categorized
Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Birds (language), Language, Stephen Law}

Is the Key to Human Language To Be Found In Singing Birds?

_{If singing birds can explain human speech, why aren’t the birds all giving interviews?} _{News

June 4, 2021

5

Philosophy of Mind}

That’s the claim of a recent article in Cognitive Sciences: The study is based on evidence from diverse fields such as archaeology, evolutionary genomics, neurobiology, animal behaviour and clinical researcher on neuropsychiatric disorders. With these, it shows that the reduction of reactive aggressiveness, resulting from the evolution and process of self-domestication of our species, could have led to an increase in the complexity of speech. According to the authors, this development would be caused by the lowest impact on brain networks of stress hormones, neurotransmitters that activate in aggressive situations, and which would be crucial when learning to speak. To show this interaction, researchers analysed the genomic, neurobiological and singing-type differences between the domesticated Bengalese finch and its closest wild Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 4, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Social Media, Technocracy

Tagged
Artificial Intelligence, capitalism, Communism, Elon Musk, Grimes, TikTok}

“AI is fastest path to Communism,” says Elon Musk’s partner

_{In a viral TikTok video, the singer/songwriter said AI will lead us to a world of leisure and no work} _{News

June 4, 2021

4

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Social Media, Technocracy}

Social media was aflood yesterday with confusion and intrigue when Grimes – a Canadian singer/songwriter and 3-year partner to technological entrepreneur Elon Musk – said that “AI is actually the fastest path to communism” and encouraged communists to embrace the technology if they want to see their political dreams come true. Grimes (born Claire Elise Boucher) posted a short video to TikTok on Thursday, proposing that artificial intelligence could lead us to a utopia in which no one has to work and everyone lives in leisure: “I have a proposition for the communists. So, typically most of the communists I know are not big fans of AI. But if you think about it, AI is actually the fastest path to Read More ›