^ArchiveArticles

Conceptual art, concept of problem mind psychology freedom and solution, surreal painting, jigsaw puzzle on human head.

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post

Author
Michael Egnor
Date
March 8, 2023

Categorized
Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Catholicism, Consciousness, Darwin, Evolution, free will, Materialism, Matter, Michael Egnor, mind, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind, reason}

Kenneth Miller on Consciousness and Evolution

_{Despite Miller's claims, neither human reason nor free will evolved because neither are generated by material processes} _{Michael Egnor

March 8, 2023

8

Philosophy of Mind}

Kenneth Miller is a biologist at Brown University who has been very active in his written and vocal support for Darwin’s theory of evolution. He’s neither a materialist nor an atheist – he is a Catholic, and in being one of the rare Darwinists who doesn’t subscribe wholeheartedly to the materialist/atheist paradigm, he allows himself to be used as a token theist by the Darwinists. It helps his career, no doubt, but doesn’t advance the truth. Not an admirable place to be. Miller’s New Book and What it Misses In his 2018 book The Human Instinct: How We Evolved To Have Reason, Consciousness, and Free Will, Miller manages a feat uncommon even for Darwinists – even the title of the Read More ›

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post

Author
Nathan Jacobson
Date
March 8, 2023

Categorized
Virtual Reality

Tagged
Alexa, Audrey, Cortana, Natural Language Processing, Siri, skeuomorphism, speech recognition software, speech synthesis, voice assistants}

Talking Boxes

_{Seductive Optics and Skeuomorphic Intelligence, Part III.} _{Nathan Jacobson

March 8, 2023

4

Virtual Reality}

There will be synthesized versions of gravelly voices, deep baritones, fast talkers, low talkers, high talkers, yada, yada, yada. Amazon has added functions to enable Alexa to whisper, emphasize a word, or mimic local slang. But as our talking boxes run their routines, they understand nothing. Read More ›

Mature woman having scones with orange jam

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post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
March 7, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness, Experience, non-algorithmic, Non-Computable You (book), qualia, Robert J. Marks, Salvo}

AI and “Qualia,” the Ability to Experience

_{Robert J. Marks writes on AI's limits in new article at Salvo} _{Peter Biles

March 7, 2023

3

Artificial Intelligence}

Robert J. Marks wrote an article for the Spring Issue of Salvo Magazine on AI, covering his ideas on its “non-computability” in the areas of love, empathy, and creativity. The Quality of Qualia I was particularly intrigued by Marks’s thoughts on qualia, a term used to describe the multifaceted realm of sensory experience. We often report on AI’s inability to be creative here at Mind Matters, but what about experiencing the world through touch, smell, and sight? Qualia is related to the mystery of consciousness, another non-computable feature of human life, and according to Marks, is far out of the purview of AI capabilities. Marks writes about the experience of biting into an orange as an example: If the experience Read More ›

Male mannequin covered with slices of a mirror on a black background

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post

Author
Nathan Jacobson
Date
March 7, 2023

Categorized
Virtual Reality

Tagged
computer animation, digital art, gaming (and AI characters), personification, programming, seductive optics}

Moving Pixels

_{Seductive Optics and Skeuomorphic Intelligence, Part II.} _{Nathan Jacobson

March 7, 2023

5

Virtual Reality}

Whatever emotions we bring to the movie or to the game ourselves, our digital allies and enemies breathe no breaths, make no sacrifices, feel no lonely deaths. Living, dying, or respawning, they are as dead as a dead pixel. Read More ›

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post

Author
Gary Smith
Date
March 6, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
Artificial Intelligence, chatbots, ChatGPT, Communication, Consciousness, education, Gary Smith, Gen-Z, LLMs, Students, Writing}

Learning to Communicate

_{Why writing skills are so important, especially in today's artificial world} _{Gary Smith

March 6, 2023

6

Artificial Intelligence}

Educators have been shaken by fears that students will use ChatGTP and other large language models (LLMs) to answer questions and write essays. LLMs are indeed astonishing good at finding facts and generating coherent essays — although the alleged facts are sometimes false and the essays are sometimes tedious BS supported by fake references. I am more optimistic than most. I am hopeful that LLMs will be a catalyst for a widespread discussion of our educational goals. What might students learn in schools that will be useful long after they graduate? There are many worthy goals, but critical thinking and communication skills should be high on any list. I’ve written elsewhere about how critical thinking abilities are important for students Read More ›

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post

Author
Michael Egnor
Date
March 6, 2023

Categorized
Free will

Tagged
Aristotle, brain, causation, free will, Materialism, Matter, mind, Sean Carroll}

Sean Carroll: “How Could an Immaterial Mind Affect the Body?”

_{The well known physicist thinks free will is nonsense. But has he investigated the classical understanding of causation?} _{Michael Egnor

March 6, 2023

5

Free will}

Sean Carroll is a theoretical physicist at Johns Hopkins University who takes an atheist and materialist philosophical perspective on nature and on science. I have disagreed with him often — I’m in no position to judge his scientific acumen, but his philosophical acumen leaves a lot to be desired. An example of this is a question he asks in a recent documentary about free will (which I haven’t watched yet). In the trailer for the movie, Carroll asks, How in the world does the immaterial mind affect the physical body? Carroll’s denial of libertarian free will is based on this question, and of course, he believes that the immaterial mind does not exist and, if it did exist, could not Read More ›

mannequin body parts piled up in a carton box outdoor

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post

Author
Nathan Jacobson
Date
March 6, 2023

Categorized
Virtual Reality

Tagged
appearances, Digital Assistants, hyperrealism, Portraiture, seductive optics, skeuomorphism, Sophia the Robot, Voice recognition software}

Seductive Optics and Skeuomorphic Intelligence

_{Appearance and reality in art and artificial intelligence} _{Nathan Jacobson

March 6, 2023

6

Virtual Reality}

Things are not always as they seem. Artificial intelligence is like that. Art may be visually indistinguishable from a man or woman, passing the art equivalent of a Turing Test, we know they're not in the least the same kind of thing as what they portray. Paint does not suffer. Stone does not breathe. Read More ›

Man and girl in post apocalyptic city. The last of us style. Generative AI.

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post

Author
Gary Varner
Date
March 4, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction

Tagged
Apocalypticism, Fantasy, Gary Varner, HBO Max, Sci-fi, Science fiction, The Last of Us, TV shows}

The Last of Us Review: Episode 2

_{A rather slow episode despite the sonar zombies} _{Gary Varner

March 4, 2023

6

Arts & Culture, Science Fiction}

Last time, we looked at the first episode of The Last of Us and talked about how it was well written, but if you are aware of the controversy surrounding this game and its sequel, then you know bad things are on the horizon. Once we reach episode two, the writing quality drops a little but not much. It’s still pretty good, at least, when it’s consistent with the source material. Ellie wakes up to find Joel and Tess staring at her with a loaded gun. Her guardians are having a hard time believing that she is not infected with the virus despite the fact that her wound has healed. There is a brief debate about whether or not to Read More ›

Earth at night from outer space with city lights on North America continent. 3D rendering illustration. Earth map texture provided by Nasa. Energy consumption, electricity, industry, ecology concepts.

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post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
March 3, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
Artificial Intelligence, Baylor, ChatGPT, Consciousness, GPT-3, higher education, LaMDA, Laura Ingraham, religion, Robert J. Marks}

Robert J. Marks on The Laura Ingraham Show

_{In response to those who believe AI will take over the world, Marks says, "Look at history."} _{Peter Biles

March 3, 2023

3

Artificial Intelligence}

Robert J. Marks, director of Discovery Institute’s Walter Bradley Center, recently appeared on a podcast episode with Fox News host Laura Ingraham to talk about artificial intelligence, tech, and Dr. Marks’s book Non-Computable You: What You Do That AI Never Will. Ingraham prefaced the conversation with some thoughts on the rapidly evolving technological world we find ourselves in, and the changes such developments are inflicting on society. In response to the futurism and unbounded optimism in AI systems like ChatGPT that many modern figures hold, Marks said that what computers do is strictly algorithmic, This leads us to the idea of whether or not there are non-computable characteristics of human beings, and I think there is growing evidence that there Read More ›

Man standing in a high place looking up in wonder to the Milky Way galaxy. Small silhouette of a man under the Milky Way and the magical starry sky. Concept of human smallness.

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post

Author
News
Date
March 2, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, Consciousness, Creativity, Emily Bender, OpenAI, Sam Altman}

Time for Artificial General Intelligence? Not So Fast, OpenAI

_{OpenAI CEO is ambitious about the company's direction, but are his hopes profoundly misguided?} _{News

March 2, 2023

2

Artificial Intelligence}

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is ambitious about his company’s future, promising the world that they are developing “artificial general intelligence” (AGI) that will supposedly compete with human intelligence, per a recent Futurism piece. However, the ambition is misguided. Or more than that, the ambition is simply delusional. AI is “not even close” to attaining the creativity and intelligence of human beings, and Altman shouldn’t be parading OpenAI products as if it is. Victor Tangermann writes, In reality, however, LLMs have a very long way to go until they’re able to compete with the intellect of a human being — which is why several experts are calling foul on Altman’s recent blog post, calling it meaningless and misleading. After all, AGI Read More ›

Cyber relationships on the Internet. Connected people. People and microchips. Cybernetic society. Alone in the net.

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post

Author
News
Date
March 2, 2023

Categorized
Technology

Tagged
Culture, Jacques Ellul, OBU, Salvo, Self, society, Technique, Technology, Western}

The Technological Society We Live In

_{In today's world, we think we can solve everything through technique. How's that going for us?} _{News

March 2, 2023

2

Technology}

In a blog post this week from Salvo, Joshua Pauling cites the influential thinker Jacques Ellul on the development of a “technological society” in Western culture. Pauling writes, Even in the mid-20th century, Ellul, a French philosopher and theologian, saw technique and efficiency coming to consume every aspect of life and society. As he defined it in The Technological Society (originally entitled La Technique in French), technique is the “totality of methods rationally arrived at and having absolute efficiency in every field of human activity” (xxv). Just as the factories of the industrial world were optimized according to new standards of efficiency, now everything is measured, recorded, analyzed through a lens of efficiency, and then submitted to a technique to maximize outcomes according to Read More ›

A holographic head representing modern technology / ai floats in a classroom setting. Created with generative ai

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post

Author
Gary Smith
Date
March 1, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Education

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, chatbots, ChatGPT, critical thinking, education, Learning, LLMs}

Text Generators, Education, and Critical Thinking: an Update

_{The fundamental problem remains that, not knowing what words mean, AI has no critical thinking abilities} _{Gary Smith

March 1, 2023

7

Artificial Intelligence, Education}

This past October, I wrote that educational testing was being shaken by the astonishing ability of GPT-3 and other large language models (LLMs) to answer test questions and write articulate essays. I argued that, while LLMs might mimic human conversation, they do not know what words mean. They consequently excel at rote memorization and BS conversation but struggle mightily with assignments that are intended to help students develop their critical thinking abilities, such as Lacking any understanding of semantics, LLMs can do none of this. To illustrate, I asked GPT-3 two questions from a midterm examination I had recently given in an introductory statistics class. Both questions tested students critical thinking skills and GPT-3 bombed both questions. I was hopeful Read More ›

Artificial intelligence - sentient AI thinking for itself using computational data and a human-like sense of consciousness and conscience. Generative AI

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post

Author
News
Date
March 1, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
Artificial Intelligence, Blake Lemoine and LaMDA, Blake Lemoine and sentient computers, ChatGPT, Consciousness, Google, GPT-3, LaMDA, Robots, Sentience}

Ex-Googler Blake Lemoine Still Thinks AI is Sentient

_{Lemoine posits that because AI can appear to act anxious and stressed, it can be assumed to be sentient} _{News

March 1, 2023

1

Artificial Intelligence}

Blake Lemoine, who formerly worked for Google, has doubled down on his claim that AI systems like LaMDA and Chat-GPT are “sentient.” Lemoine went public on his thoughts on sentience in The Washington Post last June with his bold claim, and since parting ways with Google, has not backed down on his beliefs. Lemoine posits that because AI can appear to act anxious and stressed, it can be assumed to be sentient. Maggie Harrison writes at Futurism, An interesting theory, but still not wholly convincing, considering that chatbots are designed to emulate human conversation — and thus, human stories. Breaking under stress is a common narrative arc; this particular aspect of machine behavior, while fascinating, seems less indicative of sentience, Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
March 1, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, Arts & Culture, Culture, Dean Koontz, fiction, Modernity, transhumanism, Wesley J. Smith}

Wesley J. Smith on Why You Should Read Dean Koontz

_{The bestselling novelist's work is both entertaining and profoundly insightful into our cultural moment} _{News

March 1, 2023

2

Arts & Culture}

Wesley J. Smith, Chair of Discovery Institute’s Center for Human Exceptionalism, wrote an article praising the prolific literature of his friend Dean Koontz, whose books have sold more than 500 million copies worldwide. Smith finds Koontz both a unique writer and a remarkable person with a powerful story of redemption. Born in poverty in Pennsylvania under the hand of an abusive father, Koontz persevered and pursued novel writing with the help of his wife’s encouragement. The rest is history. Through daily discipline, keen research, and profound imagination, Koontz has written dozens of bestsellers. First and foremost, his books entertain and delight. In addition, however, they deliver their fair share of social commentary and critique. Much of his work explores the Read More ›

Human android cyborg eye futuristic control protection personal internet security access.Concept robot dna system, future scientific technology innovation science. Blue polygonal vector

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post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
February 28, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Consciousness, Dystopian, Engineered Arts (robotics), fiction, Novel, Robert J. Marks}

Klara and the Sun: A Review

_{The sci-fi bestseller asks us: can machines become humans?} _{Peter Biles

February 28, 2023

5

Arts & Culture}

Klara and the Sun is novelist Kazuo Ishiguro’s latest novel, a dystopian story told through the lens of an “artificial friend” (AF) named Klara. Ishiguro is known for his provocative speculative fiction, including the novels Never Let Me Go and The Remains of the Day. Klara and the Sun similarly alludes to a dark, post-industrial, futuristic world, but it is told through the innocent lens of an artificial mind, highlighting the vestiges of human behavior and brokenness in ways that perhaps an “ordinary” narrator might not be able to manage. The novel starts out with Klara on display in a store waiting to be purchased. Eventually, she’s chosen by a girl named Josie and her mother, and thus begins her Read More ›

Armed super soldier with supersonic gun in the cyber city. cyberpunk city. cyborg. Robot. Generative AI

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post

Author
News
Date
February 28, 2023

Categorized
Robotics

Tagged
Artificial Intelligence, drones, Free speech, Military, Police, PTSD, Robert J. Marks, robotics, warfare}

“It All Comes Down to Ethics”

_{Robert J. Marks interviewed for recent article on "killer robots"} _{News

February 28, 2023

1

Robotics}

Robert J. Marks and his book The Case for Killer Robots: Why America’s Military Needs to Continue Development of Lethal AI were mentioned in a Fortune Magazine article by Jacob Carpenter, which discussed the issue of robotic and AI-controlled weapons in police and military forces. Marks was interviewed for the article and his phrase “in the end, it comes down to the ethics” was also featured in the article’s title. The article weighs different perspectives on weaponized AI and whether this is the direction the country is headed in the future. Marks notes the parallels with the gun rights issue in the debate over weaponized robots. The issue will inevitably extend to the question of AI deploying firearms, not just Read More ›

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post

Author
Gary Smith
Date
February 27, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, Consciousness, Gary Smith, intelligence, Large Language Models (LLMs), Understanding}

Let’s Take the “I” Out of AI

_{Large language models, though impressive, are not the solution. They may well be the catalyst for calamity.} _{Gary Smith

February 27, 2023

7

Artificial Intelligence}

When OpenAI’s text generator, ChatGPT, was released to the public this past November, the initial reaction was widespread astonishment. Marc Andreessen described it as, “Pure, absolute, indescribable magic.” Bill Gates said that the creation of ChatGPT was as important as the creation of the internet. Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, said that, “ChatGPT is one of the greatest things ever created in the computing industry.” Conversations with ChatGPT are, indeed, very much like conversations with a super-intelligent human. For many, it seems that the 70-year search for a computer program that could rival or surpass human intelligence has finally paid off. Perhaps we are close to the long-anticipated singularity where computers improve rapidly and autonomously, leaving humans far behind, Read More ›

portrait of a woman in a black hat on a black background black and white photo

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
February 27, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, ChatGPT, Dall-E, Image, Midjourney, OpenAI}

Photographer Who Used Midjourney Calls His Own Bluff

_{The lifelike portraits gained attention, but alas, weren't real} _{News

February 27, 2023

2

Artificial Intelligence}

Joe Avery started posting portraits on his Instagram page in 2022, getting attention and gaining followers at a surprising pace. His pictures were aesthetically pleasing, rendered in black and white, and given captions that assumed the faces in the pictures were legitimately human except, oops. Turns out, they were all AI-generated. Richard Whiddington writes at Artnet News, The problem, one Avery struggled to disclose to his 28,000 followers, was that he was creating the images using Midjourney, an A.I. image generator. Avery made the images by entering a text prompt into Midjourney and then fine-tuning them using Photoshop.” -Richard Whiddington, A Photographer Who Found Instagram Fame for His Striking Portraits Has Confessed His Images Were Actually A.I.-Generated (artnet.com) Avery claimed the images Read More ›

Flat design cartoon World Book Day illustration. Open book with stories coming out of the pages. AI generated

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
February 27, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Censorship

Tagged
Arts & Culture, Big Tech, censorship, Creativity, Literature, Publishing, Revision, Roald Dahl, tv}

Roald Dahl is Safe (For Now)

_{How long until making revisions turns into full-blown censorship, and what impact will that have on the creative arts?} _{News

February 27, 2023

2

Arts & Culture, Censorship}

Publishers decided last week to revise certain aspects of beloved author Roald Dahl’s books, like James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. They said the decision was intended to make Dahl’s books more inclusive. The decision sparked controversy and outrage in the literary community, and now, Penguin Random House has changed their minds and will preserve the original texts. ABC reported: The updates to Dahl’s works under Penguin had meant to be more inclusive, progressive and more acceptable to today’s readers. Phrases like ‘mothers and fathers’ in Dahl’s ‘Matilda,’ first published in 1988, could have been replaced with ‘parents’ while some descriptions of ‘fat’ characters could have been edited or removed entirely. Description of women’s jobs Read More ›

Dinosaur Fossil (Tyrannosaurus Rex) Found by Archaeologists

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post

Author
Gary Varner
Date
February 25, 2023

Categorized
Science Fiction

Tagged
Dinosaur, Gary Varner, Jurassic World, Science fiction}

Jurassic World: Dominion Part 4

_{A bad movie that makes an okay end to the franchise. But does it actually end here?} _{Gary Varner

February 25, 2023

7

Science Fiction}

After Owen and Kayla survive a plane crash, they begin their search for Claire, evading yet another hungry dinosaur without so much as a limp. What follows is a sequence of random dinosaur encounters, each scene driven by a series of coincidences because all our characters are scattered throughout the valley, and we need them to get together somehow. The most egregious of these coincidences comes when our entire main cast finally meets. Ellie, Alan, and Maisie are on an underground train to an airport, but the bad guy, Dodgson, discovers what they’ve done and turns the train off. This forces them to wander through a series of caves, but they eventually escape with the help of Ian. They drive Read More ›