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The Media Still Can’t Get Facts about Terri Schiavo Right
The Terri Schiavo case tipped this country’s morality. Before her death, people couldn’t believe we dehydrate cognitively disabled people to death. Afterward, a majority supported it
Monday Micro Softy 2: The Dead Presidents’ Club
The answer to Monday Micro Softy 1: The Round Trip is here too
Want to Talk to Jesus? Consult a Bot
Is AI changing the way people pray?
Researchers: Did Neanderthal Children Collect “Stuff”?
The items that raise the question are small marine shells found in caves. They were carefully preserved but have no known function. A baby tooth was found in the same area
New Zealand Study: ‘Dearth’ of Evidence for Puberty Blockers
Studies claiming that puberty blockers helped ease depression were found to be of very poor quality
Why Do Science and Tech Writers Hate Elon Musk?
It's partly because he encourages bottom-up media but also he encourages a sort of vision that is now largely lost
Terminator 2: The Terminator Becomes the Protector
The transition is uneven and there are hints that James Cameron was subtly mocking his 1984 film
Machine Intelligence and Reasoning: We Are Not on a Path to AGI
AI guru François Chollet’s Abstraction and Reasoning Corpus (ARC) proves we’re not on a path to AGI
In Memoriam: Two Prophets and a President Died This Day
The prophetic artists of the past still speak
Woke SciAm Editor Resigns in Post-US Election Uproar
Michael Shermer, founding publisher of Skeptic Magazine and former Scientific American columnist, offers a thoughtful response
From Data to Thoughts: Why Language Models Hallucinate
The limits of today’s language models and paths to real cognition
Why Do We Have So Many Live-Action Remakes?
Whether a cartoon or live-action, what we really want is a good storyA couple of days ago, I chanced upon a trailer for the live-action version of How to Train Your Dragon. The original film, based on the book of the same name, premiered in 2010 and follows the heartfelt adventure story of a young Nordic lad, Hiccup, and his friendly dragon Toothless (who does, in fact, have teeth). The original movie got great reviews and remains one of my personal favorite animated films. It has memorable and funny characters, a good storyline, and is well animated. So why do we need a live-action version of the movie? A Loss of Originality Disney led the charge with its realistic remakes with live-action representations of Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, and Cinderella, Read More ›
David Foster Wallace’s American Dream
We don’t need a grand revolution to achieve something meaningful — living a compassionate life is as American as it gets.In 2005, writer David Foster Wallace captured the ethos of a fragile America while talking to college students. The speech warrants rereading today, given the current state of free speech and thought on college campuses nationwide. Wallace delivered This is Water as a commencement speech to Kenyon College seniors seeking to inspire the next generation of thinkers, builders, and servers. It tackled cynicism and forgiveness through simple examples, like swimming fish. Yet, its enduring spirit lies in how perfectly Wallace addresses the American identity crisis. In his words, “the really significant education… isn’t really about the capacity to think, but rather about the choice of what to think about.” Wallace’s advice is a rebuke against selfishness. The ability to think is useless if you refuse to learn Read More ›
Microsoft: What Did You Need To Work There in the Early Days?
They asked questions that were not about the details of computer technology. The questions made you think. Hard.
Fighting the Algorithms of Social Media: When Engagement Overrides Ethics
No one is safe from harmful internet content anymore, especially not on algorithm-driven social media sitesNo one is safe from harmful internet content anymore, especially not on algorithm-driven social media sites. It’s no secret that the internet is stuffed with smut, pornography, and other graphic media, but the algorithms that prize engagement over the quality of the content takes the danger to a whole new level. Anthony Bradley, a scholar at the Acton Institute who writes often on fatherhood, masculinity, and religion, warns about the dangers of social media in his latest Substack post. He urges fathers to intervene on behalf of their sons and train them to literally war against these algorithms feeding them total garbage. Bradley writes, While girls are generally recommended content about makeup, music, or social topics, boys are funneled toward Read More ›
What Computers Can’t Know: The Unknown Unknowns
Mirror Neurons and Consciousness: A Philosophical Perspective
Dr. Miretu Guta criticized the overblown claims about mirror neuronsIn the most recent episode of the Mind Matters News podcast, hosts Brian Krouse and Robert J. Marks chatted with philosopher Dr. Mihretu Guta about the role of mirror neurons in understanding consciousness. Dr. Guta’s chapter in the book Minding the Brain critiques the popular interpretation of these specialized brain cells, which activate both when performing an action and observing others perform it. Mirror neurons, discovered in macaque monkeys, have been linked to empathy, learning, and imitation. However, Dr. Guta emphasized the distinction between correlation and causation. While these neurons activate during certain behaviors, this does not prove they cause those behaviors. He also noted the limits of extending findings from monkey studies to human cognition. Dr. Guta introduced three Read More ›
Terminator 2: A Good Movie That Hates Itself
Why do the screenwriters appear to want to avoid creating fear of the mechanical monster?