Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

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Young Asian man sitting on stairs outside reading a book

Why You Should Read More Fiction

The mental benefits for reading good stories are many.

When looking for “solutions” to today’s mental health crisis in the United States, particularly among the millions of men who are checking out of society, reading fiction may not immediately come to mind. However, a new article from Psychology Today argues that reading fiction is “essential” for today’s men. The author of the article, psychologist Jett Stone, focuses on men in part because today’s literary market is largely geared towards women, and fiction and femininity are often closely associated. Nonetheless, he believes that reading fiction can benefit both women and men. He writes, Recent research indicates that reading fiction fosters critical thinking by presenting ideas subtly and in more roundabout ways than nonfiction. One study of adolescents found that frequent fiction readers possessed more Read More ›

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Full length of man touches with digital pencil simulation space wearing headset to create virtual reality dimension. Male using tablet computer for control augmented VR environment standing outdoors

See Through the False Promises of Apple Vision Pro

The illusion of connection so shapes our desires that we may lose our taste for the real thing
Vision Pro isolates us by the mere fact of its presence since everything we see has this device in the middle. Read More ›
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demostrator with megaphone and notebook protesting

The Strike is Over

After almost five months, the Writers Guild of America's (WGA) strike against Hollywood has ended.

After almost five months, the Writers Guild of America’s (WGA) strike against Hollywood has ended. WGA and Hollywood came to an agreement that includes higher employee wages and limitations in the ways artificial intelligence (AI) can be employed. AI has been at the forefront of the moviemaking conversation for the past few months, and for good reason. TV and movie writers are concerned with how the technology might take away their jobs or otherwise cheapen the quality of TV scripts. Ryan Faughnder writes for the Los Angeles Times, The new WGA contract includes language that regulates the studio’s use of AI but also provides flexibility to the guild’s members. Companies must disclose to writers if any material given to a Read More ›

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dunes in the mountains

Dune Review, Part One

Despite the cynical ways of the Bene Gesserit sect, a deeper providence guides the story in Dune.
Despite the cynical ways of the Bene Gesserit sect, a deeper providence guides the story in Dune. Read More ›
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Spider birded in terrarium live end sleep

What Does It Mean to Say That Spiders “Dream”?

It means much less than we might be led to think
The war on the basic fact that humans are different from other life forms is leading researchers down some very unusual paths. Read More ›
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An octopus holding a plastic bottle , generative ai

Octopus Intelligence Is Unlike Anything We Know

Could such a different neurology really evolve purely by natural selection acting on random mutations?
If a complex neurology like that of the mammal was a fluke, what are the chances of a completely different complex neurology happening by chance again? Read More ›
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Trees in forest from below, green tops of trees, blue sky background

Are Plants Cognitive, Intelligent Organisms? A Controversy Brews

Some plant biologists want to see them that way; others continue to insist on a Darwinian view
Darwinians may need to learn how to “adapt” to a new environment where panpsychism is increasingly an underlying assumption in science and science writing. Read More ›
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illustration of future education classroom with robotic tech teacher . AI

If ChatGPT Had Children, Would They Be Geniuses or Blubbering Idiots?

It would seem that when AI begets more AI, the result is nonsense.
Blubbering idiocy can be avoided in LLMs by transfusion of fresh information from the creative minds of humans. Read More ›
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Laundromat

In Neuroscience Flap, Science Media Tackle “Pseudoscience” Claim

As the leading theory of consciousness is tarred by neuroscientists as “pseudoscience,” science media struggle to outline just WHAT science is
If materialism collapses — and this episode seems like an early warning — what will science look like? Will the same people continue to dominate? Read More ›
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Financial Updates, Close-Up of Newspapers, Daylight, High-Definition Picture Generative AI

Five Key Ways Media Have Changed in the Last 35 Years

Major media no longer really represent a vast number of average audience members
Increasingly, the audience is fragmenting as people select their own individually crafted news streams. We must accept responsibility for the streams we create. Read More ›
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illustration of blue water surface with rough wave with glitter glow light, theme of

When ChatGPT Talks Science

Can AI ever transcend its trained biases?
Left to its own devices, ChatGPT is heavily biased toward methodological naturalism and will not say that intelligent design is a theory of biological origins Read More ›
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Chimpanzee

Is Neuralink Safe?

Musk says it is, but the evidence suggests otherwise.

Over the years, the company “Neuralink” has conducted a number of brain implant tests on monkeys, and according to a report from Futurism, a majority of those went south. The implants are supposed to aid cognitive abilities and perhaps even alleviate or offset certain mental disabilities. Now, an ethics group called Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is calling for an investigation. Elon Musk, who founded the biotechnology company in 2016, claimed that the affected animals had terminal illnesses that were unrelated to the implant tests, but others cry foul. Frank Landymore writes, Documents viewed as part of a new investigation by Wired, however, as well as testimony from a former employee, contradict Musk’s claims entirely — and the details are as upsetting Read More ›

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AGV (Automated guided vehicle) in warehouse logistic and transport.

U.S. Federal Trade Commission Sues Amazon

The lawsuit convicts Amazon of suppressing competition and stifling innovation from potential rivals

In a long-awaited lawsuit, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is suing Amazon for seeking to monopolize the online market, according to Reuters. The lawsuit convicts Amazon of suppressing competition and stifling innovation from potential rivals, arriving after years of complaints. From the Reuters article: he lawsuit, which was joined by 17 state attorneys general, follows a four-year investigation and federal lawsuits filed against Alphabet’s Google and Meta Platforms’ Facebook. “The FTC and its state partners say Amazon’s actions allow it to stop rivals and sellers from lowering prices, degrade quality for shoppers, overcharge sellers, stifle innovation, and prevent rivals from fairly competing against Amazon,” the agency said in a statement. The FTC said that it was asking the court Read More ›

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3d rendered medically accurate illustration of a fetus at week 17

Attack on Top Consciousness Theory Springs From Abortion Politics

If that sounds surprising and unscientific, read on. Pro and con, they make it clear
What’s really interesting is that all these neuroscientists see panpsychism as just as much of a threat to easy abortion as traditional monotheistic ethics is. Read More ›
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modern full wall full-length bookshelf filled with colorful paper books, smart book background, generative ai

Novelists Against AI

17 authors are suing OpenAI for copyright infringement

17 prominent authors including George R.R. Martin and John Grisham are suing OpenAI, the company responsible for ChatGPT, for copyright infringement and “theft,” according to the Associated Press (AP). The authors are among many in the creative field who are expressing concern over the ethics of AI use. A spokesperson for the Authors Guild said that it’s imperative to stop AI’s theft to preserve America’s “incredible literary culture,” according to the AP. Hillel Italie reports, The lawsuit cites specific ChatGPT searches for each author, such as one for Martin that alleges the program generated “an infringing, unauthorized, and detailed outline for a prequel” to “A Game of Thrones” that was titled “A Dawn of Direwolves” and used “the same characters Read More ›

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Security camera on modern building. Professional surveillance cameras. CCTV on the wall in the city. Security system, technology. Video equipment for safety system area control outdoor. AI generated.

When Video Surveillance Gets It Wrong

An incident in Argentina calls the country's facial recognition tech into serious question

A new in-depth report from Wired recounts the story of an Argentinian man, Guillermo Ibarrola, who was falsely accused of a crime and pinpointed via video surveillance. According to Wired, Ibarrola spent nearly a week in custody before the “mixup” was spotted and authorities realized they had nabbed the wrong Guillermo Ibarrola. It was a data entry mistake. The case is only one of many others in Argentina’s mishaps with video surveillance, and how data mistakes can end up impacting innocent lives significantly. Karen Naundorf writes, When speaking of South America, mass surveillance technology is likely not the first thing that comes to mind. But a study by the data protection organization Access Now shows Argentina is one of the most surveilled Read More ›

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Cropped photo of businessman analyzing business diagram, marketing statistics and finance market graphs on laptop monitor in the office.

Confusing Correlation with Causation

Computers are amazing. But they can't distinguish between correlation and causation.

Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms are terrific at discovering statistical correlations but terrible at distinguishing between correlation and causation. A computer algorithm might find a correlation between how often a person has been in an automobile accident and the words they post on Facebook, being a good software engineer and visiting certain websites, and making loan payments on time and keeping one’s phone fully charged. However, computer algorithms do not know what any of these things are and consequently have no way of determining whether these are causal relationships (and therefore useful predictors) or fleeting coincidences (that are useless predictors). If the program is black box, then humans cannot intervene and declare that these are almost certainly irrelevant coincidences. Even if Read More ›

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Stump of tree felled - section of the trunk with annual rings. Slice wood.

An Introduction to Minding the Brain

Is your mind the same thing as your brain? Or are there aspects of mind that are external to the biology of the brain?

Editor’s note: We are delighted to welcome the new book from Discovery Institute Press, Minding the Brain: Models of the Mind, Information, and Empirical Science, edited by Angus J. Menuge, Brian R. Krouse, and Robert J. Marks. Below is an excerpt from the Introduction. Look for more information at MindingtheBrain.org. Is your mind the same thing as your brain? Or are there aspects of mind that are external to the biology of the brain? This question, referred to as the mind-body problem or the mind-brain problem, has been debated for centuries and has captivated curious minds since the dawn of human contemplation. What is the relationship between our mental life and physical body? Intuition suggests our subjective experience of the world is tightly Read More ›

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Wooden chess pawn with king shadow

Inferring the Best Explanation Using Artificial Intelligence

With its wealth of information at hand, how well can AI make accurate inferences?
Perhaps ChatGPT’s prowess at IBE is, in some way, no more impressive than the prowess of Stockfish, the world’s best current chess program. Read More ›
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Bone Cell Structure: Unveiling the Building Blocks of Bones - Generative AI

Can Cells Learn? Can Molecules Communicate? What We Are Learning…

We are learning that the world of life is full of intelligence that we just did not know about
These discoveries fuel panpsychism at the expense of materialism. But panpsychism’s downfall is that it cannot address an intelligence that is beyond nature. Read More ›