Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

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Multiracial team of professional medical surgeons performs the surgical operation in a modern hospital. Doctors are working to save the patient. Medicine, health and neurosurgery.

Human Brain Tries Immediately to Compensate for Language Loss

Neurosurgeons recently had a unique opportunity to observe brains undergoing the loss of the speech area and compensating in real time
The observations showed that the brain needs specific lobes for normal processing but also — good news for rehab — that it compensates naturally. Read More ›
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Macro photo of Toxocara canis, dog roundworm

Can the Simplest Animal Minds Explain Human Minds?

Kristin Andrews thinks consciousness researchers should discard the assumptions of “overwhelmingly white, male and WEIRD” philosophy profs and study more crabs
Panpsychism is a faith, like materialism; its assumptions and assertions are not “value-free.” We are likely to be unpacking them for some time. Read More ›
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In the Era of ChatGPT, Bradley Center and Mind Matters News Defend the Irreplaceable Human

From the COSM conference, a groundbreaking new book, and hundreds of perceptive articles, the Bradley Center has had a significant and successful year.

Editor’s Note: Mind Matters News is sponsored by the Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence, a program of the non-profit Discovery Institute. We rely on donations from individuals like you to continue to operate. If you have benefited from Mind Matters News, would you consider an end-of-year donation to support our work in 2024? You can find more about the work of the Bradley Center in 2023 in the article below. This year the seemingly-miraculous capabilities of ChatGPT and other Large Language Models (LLMs) dominated public discussions about artificial intelligence (AI). While many pundits and tech writers openly wondered whether ChatGPT portended humanity’s doom, the Bradley Center provided a clear voice in defense of the continuing need for Read More ›

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Two Scientists in the Brain Research Laboratory work on a Project, Using Personal Computer with MRI Scans Show Brain Anomalies. Neuroscientists at Work.

On the Limitations of Cutting-Edge Neuroscience

Neuroscientist Joseph Green separates the hype from reality when it comes to current brain research.
The current dogma that pervades neuroscience is established by intellectual pressure rather than solid scientific evidence. Read More ›
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illustration, mouse in the kitchen, generative ai.

Mice Pass the Mirror Test — Not a Self-Knowledge Test

Whether an animal recognizes its own image surely has less to do with self-awareness than with the role that sight — as a sense — plays in its life
The researchers, refreshingly, made clear that they were NOT making unsubstantiable claims about mouse self-awareness; they were studying neural wiring. Read More ›
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Big brother electronic eye concept, technologies for the global surveillance, security of computer systems and networks

This is Digital McCarthyism

Far from being liberated by these technologies, we have been plunged back into the worst abuses of surveillance and privacy violation.

The notion that we’re getting somewhere, making progress, is remarkably durable. It survives wars, financial collapse, riots, scandals, stagnating wages, and climate change (to name a few). Though techno-futurists are also fond of AI apocalypse scenarios, where artificial intelligence somehow “comes alive,” or at any rate uses its superior intelligence to make an autonomous decision to wipe out humanity, much more ink has been spilled this century prognosticating indomitable technical progress, which somehow stands in for human progress generally. But sanguine belief in progress is belied by the actual events of the twenty-first century. Computers have gotten faster and AI more powerful, but digital technology has also been used to spread misinformation, make deep fakes, and conduct relentless cyberwarfare. Financial Read More ›

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An artificial intelligence robot writer creating generative AI writing

Can AI Write Screenplays for Films You’d Want to See?

That issue was the heart of the Hollywood writers’ strike. How was it resolved? Or WAS it resolved?
AI can replace screenwriters only if you are content to see the same-old same-old every day forever. That’s true no matter who owns the technology. Read More ›
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Black egg on a black background. The concept of coloring eggs for Easter. Standing alone egg

Alien Review, Part 2

Herding aliens in space is a bad idea

Read Part 1 of this review first if you missed it: Alien Review, Part 1 | Mind Matters In the previous review, we began discussing the sci-fi classic, Alien, and we left off with one of the Nostromo’s crewmembers, Kane, waking up after being attacked by a strange creature which had essentially glued itself to his face. Now, the creature is dead, and all seems well. Since Kane appears to be alright, and the crew begins eating another meal, preparing to renter cryosleep for their return journey to Earth. But as they are eating, Kane begins to scream in pain. The other’s try to help him, but they have no idea what’s going on. Finally, another alien explodes from Kane’s Read More ›

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Natural Dualism

Neuroscience Must Be Dualist, Whether or Not “Science” Allows It

Riccardo Manzotti and Paulo Moderato set out the dilemma: The human mind makes no sense apart from the forbidden dualist perspective. Read More ›
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people in the art gallery center

Why AI Can’t Create Genuine Beauty

AI, though a helpful tool in certain contexts, cannot replace the intentionality and creativity of the human person.
If our experiences are all just brain chemicals responding to different gradations of light, it would seem nigh impossible to defend beauty. Read More ›
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Robotic hand using wooden geometrical shapes at during machine learning. 3d illustration.

Why the Turing Test Is Becoming Obsolete

Chatbots can easily pass the test without doing any thinking at all
One research team recommends replacing the Turing test (can it deceive humans?) with tests for actual reasoning skills. Read More ›
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Chinese flags on barbed wire wall in Kashgar (Kashi), Xinjiang, China.

China: An inside look at Neo-Totalitarianism

Writing in the journal Dignitas, Heather Zeiger outlines the Chinese government’s attempt at total control of the everyday life of residents of XinJiang province
This approach to government — a hybrid of totalitarian aspirations and advanced AI surveillance techniques — has been called neo-totalitarianism. Read More ›
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businessman are floating on the sea of paper

The Modern World’s Bureaucracy Problem

The Iron law states that any market reform or government initiative aimed at shrinking bureaucracy ends up expanding it.
Bureaucracy keeps getting bigger, no matter how much politicians talk about taming it. Read More ›
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Funny pixelated boss sunglasses on new blue background. Gangster, Black thug life meme glasses . Pixel 8bit style. Color of the Year 2022. Very Peri

From Memes to Hodgepodge

AI again makes an odd mish-mash out of images, this time with memes
If you go through the slideshow provided at the Gizmodo link, you'll see the blatant distortions in the human faces to the point they're almost unrecognizable. Read More ›
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A close - up handshake between a doctor and a patient in a medical office with clean

Do Scientists Need to Learn to Lie More Believably?

As public trust in science diminishes, one serious proposal that scientists should manipulate our beliefs for our own good
Why should we believe what materialists say anyway? Generally, the sciences whose ultimate message is meaningless void-ism are running aground. Read More ›
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blue earth seen from the moon surface

The Search for ET Should Quit Claiming Earth Is Not Special

How will we assess the raw probability of being alone in this universe when we have no other universe to compare with ours?
Earth IS special. The Copernican Principle is false, due to massive evidence of fine-tuning. Of course, that does not show that Earth is unique. Read More ›
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Traditional building Yap, Micronesia

Can Money Be Pure Information? Merely a Trusted Idea?

A group of pragmatic Pacific Islanders put that concept to the test centuries ago
The giant stone discs of Yap have been compared to bitcoin in that the financial system they represent functions without a central banking authority. Read More ›
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Purkinje neuron, GABAergic neuron located in the cerebellum

Researchers: Human Cerebellum Aids Higher Cognitive Functions

At one time, the cerebellum was thought to facilitate only functions like movement. But recent research shows that it’s more complex
It’s not wise to bet against complexity in the brain. Or to bet that no differences will be found between the human brain and, say, the mouse brain. Read More ›
Atomic structure. Futuristic concept on the topic of nanotechnology in science. The nucleus of an atom surrounded by electrons on a technological background

Hossenfelder vs Goff: Debate About Electrons Sparks Social Media!

The public has not suddenly become interested in whether electrons exist. Rather, more people are using new media for an increasingly broad array of purposes.
A classic top-down discussion is now taking place on X, an intrinsically bottom-up platform — broadening access while threatening former gatekeepers. Read More ›