^ArchiveArticles

brain wave on electroencephalogram, EEG for epilepsy, illustration

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post

Author
News
Date
February 23, 2022

Categorized
Medicine and Health, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
After (book), Ajmal Zemmar, Bruce Greyson (on life review), Live review (in near-death experience), Near-death experiences (neural correlates), Raul Vicente}

Will Your Life Flash Before Your Eyes When You Die?

_{Sophisticated neuroscience equipment accidentally captured the complex brain states of the final moments of a dying patient.} _{News

February 23, 2022

4

Medicine and Health, Philosophy of Mind}

Recently, researchers were able to study the brain of an 87-year-old patient while administering treatment for epilepsy. Dr Raul Vicente of the University of Tartu, Estonia and colleagues were using continuous electroencephalography (EEG) to detect the seizures but during the recordings, the patient had a heart attack and passed away. Thus they were abled to record the activity of adying human brain: “We measured 900 seconds of brain activity around the time of death and set a specific focus to investigate what happened in the 30 seconds before and after the heart stopped beating,” said Dr Ajmal Zemmar, a neurosurgeon at the University of Louisville, US, who organised the study. “Just before and after the heart stopped working, we saw Read More ›

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post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
February 23, 2022

Categorized
Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
After (book), Bruce Greyson, Near-death experiences (Greyson's perspective)}

Agnostic Psychiatrist Says Near-Death Experiences Are Real

_{They change lives but he is unsure what they mean} _{Denyse O'Leary

February 23, 2022

8

Philosophy of Mind}

Psychiatrist Bruce Greyson, emeritus at the University of Virginia, tells us that he first started thinking about near-death experiences many decades ago when a young woman, rescued from suicide, asserted that she had seen a spaghetti stain on his tie during an out-of-body experience. She could not have known that he had gone to considerable pains to conceal the embarrassing mark from colleagues. Nothing in his background had prepared him, as a young psychiatrist, for taking seriously the possibility that the mind could be detached from the brain. He grew up with a chemist father who had a great love for science but no metaphysical convictions. But he just could not forget the spaghetti stain episode and that background prompted Read More ›

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post

Author
Gary Smith
Date
February 23, 2022

Categorized
Peer Review, Science

Tagged
bradycardia, nominative determinism, Statistical significance}

The Brady Bunch – Why Research Should Be Guided By Common Sense

_{Do our names really influence our choice in profession or the way our lives play out?} _{Gary Smith

February 23, 2022

5

Peer Review, Science}

The credibility of scientific research is undermined by scientists torturing and mining data in a tenacious search for media-friendly results. Media-friendly findings tend to be entertaining, provocative, and surprising, and there is a good reason why they are surprising – they are wrong. Here is an example from BMJ, a top-tier medical journal. A paper with the alluring title, “The Brady Bunch?,” investigated “nominative determinism,” the idea that our surnames influence our choice of professions. With my name being Smith, I might have been predestined to choose to be a blacksmith or silversmith. That didn’t happen, but a newspaper article did find “a dermatologist called Rash, a rheumatologist named Knee, and a psychiatrist named Couch.” The authors of the BMJ Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
February 22, 2022

Categorized
Business and Finance, Censorship, Economics, Law

Tagged
Canada (social credit system), David Sacks, Jonathan Bartlett (on debanking), PayPal (and no-buy lists), Social credit system (Canada)}

No-Buy Lists Are the Next Big Thing After Debanking

_{When a big online financial service like PayPal works closely with government to monitor citizens, it is violating its founding ideals} _{News

February 22, 2022

5

Business and Finance, Censorship, Economics, Law}

Yesterday, Jonathan Bartlett was writing about the way banks were becoming political in terms of who they are choosing to do business with, otherwise known as debanking. Another trend to watch for is no-buy lists, according to former PayPal COO David Sacks: When I helped create PayPal in 1999, it was in furtherance of a revolutionary idea. No longer would ordinary people be dependent on large financial institutions to start a business. Our democratized payment system caught fire and grew exponentially with millions of users who appreciated its ease and simplicity. Traditional banks were too slow and bureaucratic to adapt. Instead, the revolution we spawned two decades ago inspired new startups like Ally, Chime, Square, and Stripe, which have further Read More ›

Friends group having addicted fun using mobile smart phone - Close up of people hands sharing content on social media network with smartphone - Technology concept with millenials online with cellphone

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
February 22, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Abstractions (as real), Consciousness (non-reductive approach), David Chalmers (panpsychism), Extended mind concept (Chalmers), metaverse, Panpsychism (David Chalmers), Reality+ (book), Rizwan Virk, Tom Chatfield, Virtual worlds (as real)}

Do Our Minds Really Extend Into Our Smartphones?

_{An Australian philosopher proposes a startling view — that our minds start to inhabit our environment via our technology} _{News

February 22, 2022

8

Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind}

British tech philosopher Tom Chatfield offers a profile of the work of Australian philosopher of mind David Chalmers, who is known for iconic concepts such as the Hard Problem of consciousness and the Philosopher’s Zombie, both pointing to the fact that there is no “easy explain” for human consciousness. Chalmers had started out in math but drifted to the study of consciousness at a propitious time; in the early 1990s, information theory was reinvigorating the field. At a time when some were looking for the consciousness switch in the brain or proclaiming consciousness to be an illusion, Chalmers suggested an alternative “non-reductive” approach to consciousness, a form of panpsychism: … every form of information processing entails an irreducible component constituting Read More ›

Female vocal recording. Young girl with microphone and headphones in recording studio. Recording of vocal, blogger, reading text, voice acting.

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post

Author
News
Date
February 22, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Crime

Tagged
Chloe Beltman, Deepfakes (and fraud), Deepfakes (detecting deepfakes), John DeFeo}

Deepfakes Can Replicate Human Voices Now — Maybe Yours

_{Digitally faked voice tech has already been used to perpetrate a big bank fraud} _{News

February 22, 2022

7

Artificial Intelligence, Crime}

It’s not just your face that can be convincingly replicated by a deepfake. It’s also your voice — quite easily as journalist Chloe Beltman found: Given the complexities of speech synthesis, it’s quite a shock to find out just how easy it is to order one up. For a basic conversational build, all a customer has to do is record themselves saying a bunch of scripted lines for roughly an hour. And that’s about it. “We extract 10 to 15 minutes of net recordings for a basic build,” says Speech Morphing founder and CEO Fathy Yassa. The hundreds of phrases I record so that Speech Morphing can build my digital voice double seem very random: “Here the explosion of mirth Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
February 21, 2022

Categorized
Philosophy, Physics

Tagged
Neutrinos (and Standard Model), Quantum Mechanics, Quantum mechanics (as observer-dependent), Quantum Physics, Sabine Hossenfelder (on quantum mechanics), Wigner's Friend (thought experiment)}

Theoretical Physicist: Quantum Theory Must Be Replaced

_{Impatient with the results of recent experiments, she seeks a better theory that is not observer-dependent} _{News

February 21, 2022

6

Philosophy, Physics}

Recently, we ran a piece featuring the views of well-known science writer John Horgan who talked about a truly strange element of quantum physics confirmed by recent experiments — that it seems as if there is no knowledge apart from observers’ minds. Theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder is decidedly unhappy with that approach: Physicists have shown that objective reality doesn’t exist. This is allegedly an insight derived from quantum mechanics. And not only this, it’s been experimentally confirmed. Really? How do you prove that reality doesn’t exist? Has it really been done? And do we have to stop saying “really” now? That’s what we’ll talk about today. Many of you’ve asked me to comment on those headlines claiming that reality doesn’t Read More ›

Young disabled man playing on piano electronic synthesizer with artificial prosthetic hand in music shop

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post

Author
News
Date
February 21, 2022

Categorized
Medicine and Health, Robotics

Tagged
Amputees (and robotic prostheses), Hugh Herr, Keven Walgamott, Prostheses (and sensation), Robotic prostheses}

What If a Prosthetic Limb Could Feel Like the Real Thing?

_{No, this isn’t some Uncanny Valley; the human nervous system responds to electrical signals from machines} _{News

February 21, 2022

4

Medicine and Health, Robotics}

A NOVA special premiering February 23, looks at a remarkable new development in prostheses that “allows prosthetic legs to move and feel like the real thing.” Here’s the trailer: Follow the dramatic personal journey of Hugh Herr, a biophysicist working to create brain-controlled robotic limbs. At age 17, Herr’s legs were amputated after a climbing accident. Frustrated by the crude prosthetic limbs he was given, Herr set out to remedy their design, leading him to a career as an inventor of innovative prosthetic devices. Now, Herr is teaming up with an injured climber and a surgeon at a leading Boston hospital to test a new approach to surgical amputation that allows prosthetic limbs to move and feel like the real Read More ›

Big red semi tractor trailer room for copy

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post

Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
February 21, 2022

Categorized
Business and Finance, Cryptocurrency

Tagged
Bank of America, banks, bitcoin, Canada, Canadian truckers, Candace Owens, Christian bakeries, Citi, cryptocurrency, GiveSendGo, GoFundMe, Justin Trudeau, Patriot Act}

Trudeau’s Truckers Reveal Problems with Banking Infrastructure

_{And crypto isn't the solution you might think it is} _{Jonathan Bartlett

February 21, 2022

6

Business and Finance, Cryptocurrency}

On February 14th, Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada, invoked the Emergencies Act in order to stop the flow of funding to the truckers who were protesting vaccine mandates in Canada. This order allows and encourages banks to freeze the accounts of anyone suspected of involvement with the protest. The Canadian use of the Emergencies Act in this way has been widely criticized for its draconian and expansive overreach of governmental authority. However, that hasn’t stopped the Canadian government from moving forward with the plan, and they have said that they have already begun freezing accounts. Even before this, though, a Canadian judge had halted access to funds donated to the truckers through the GiveSendGo website. Additionally, GoFundMe, of Read More ›

AI, Machine learning, Hands of robot and human touching on big data network connection background, Science and artificial intelligence technology, innovation and futuristic.

^{Type
post

Author
Eric Holloway
Date
February 20, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Artificial intelligence (implications of consciousness), Daniel Dennett (on conscious AI), Featured, GPT-2, Ilya Sutskever, Linguistic neural networks, Mathematics (consciousness), Uncanny Valley effect}

“Slightly” Conscious Computers Could Doom Atheism

_{That might sound surprising but let’s follow the logic of the “consciousness” claim through to its inevitable conclusion} _{Eric Holloway

February 20, 2022

4

Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind}

Recently, Ilya Sutskever, co-founder of OpenAI, proposed that artificial intelligence (AI) may currently be “slightly” conscious. His claim was probably in reference to the GPT-3 AI that can generate text from a prompt. I’ve played with a couple of the linguistic neural networks a bit, and you can try them out here. Some of the output is quirky, which could be mistaken for personality and make the algorithm appear conscious. The algorithm also generates emotional statements, that can generate empathy in a human user of the system. Just as kids make believe their dolls are alive when they develop an emotional bond with their toy, the algorithm text generates empathy in the human user. It can make us feel a Read More ›

Atheism. Torn sheet of paper with the inscription.

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post

Author
Michael Egnor
Date
February 20, 2022

Categorized
Philosophy, Religion

Tagged
Atheism (and coherence), Faith (justifying trust in reason), Faith vs. Fact (book), Featured, Jerry Coyne, Non-contradiction principle, Reason (justified faith in reason), Thomas Aquinas (radical skepticism)}

Faith in God Is the Only Coherent Basis for Reason

_{Access to truth is always a matter of faith — the validity of reason cannot be validated by reason itself} _{Michael Egnor

February 20, 2022

4

Philosophy, Religion}

Atheists commonly assert that there is a profound dichotomy between faith and reason. This is exemplified by atheist evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne ’s book Faith vs. Fact. He implies that we can have faith in the truth of something or we can have factual knowledge of the truth but we cannot have both. Faith and fact are, in his view, mutually exclusive. But that is not true. Faith in God provides an indispensable foundation for the power of human reason. In the perspective proposed by medieval philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), we must accept radical skepticism about the veracity of our perceptions and our concepts. One may ask: how do we know that what we perceive or what we Read More ›

Asian woman doctor in personal protective suit or PPE wearing mask and goggles pray for covid-19 outbreak to improve. Medical, coronavirus, covid-19 and healthcare concept.

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post

Author
News
Date
February 20, 2022

Categorized
Philosophy, Religion, Science

Tagged
___longform, Bruce Hood, Extra-natural causes, Featured, Herman Dooyeweerd, Jerry Coyne (on free will), Joshua Farris (on God and science), Methodological naturalism (as bad science), Michael Egnor (on God and science), Minority Report (film), ontological proof, Prime Mover, Science (defined), Science and extra-natural causes, Self Illusion (book), Singularities, Theism (and science), This Idea Must Die (book), Thomistic philosophy (and science)}

Excluding All Reference to God From Science Is A Form of Theology

_{It’s negative theology, to be sure, Michael Egnor and his guest Joshua Farris agree, but still a theology — and one with implications} _{News

February 20, 2022

21

Philosophy, Religion, Science}

In this third podcast discussion, “Don’t Blame Me, I’m a Meat Robot,” neurosurgeon Michael Egnor and theology professor Joshua Farris discuss how a belief in God is compatible with science. Egnor argues that belief in God is a necessity, to prevent science going off the rails: https://mindmatters.ai/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/MInd-Matters-Episode-174-Joshua-Farris-Episode-3-rev1.mp3 A partial transcript, notes, and links follow: Michael Egnor: I wanted to talk just a little bit about philosophy of science and its relation to theology. First question is, is a belief in God compatible with the practice of science? It seems like a silly question, but it’s actually a pretty hot question nowadays… Joshua Farris: There’s this common idea that when we proceed utilizing the method of methodological naturalism — as methodological Read More ›

Most of the energy of a collapsing supernova is radiated in the form of neutrinos, produced when protons and electrons in the nucleus combine to form neutrons

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
February 19, 2022

Categorized
Physics

Tagged
Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector, MiniBooNE (Mini Booster Neutrino Experiment), Neutrinos (characteristics), Sabine Hossenfelder (on neutrinos)}

Some Elements of Our Universe Do Not Make Scientific Sense

_{Well-attested observations of neutrinos are not compatible with the Standard Model of our universe that most physicists accept} _{News

February 19, 2022

4

Physics}

Theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder offers a look at a burgeoning genuine mystery in physics that involves the “outsider” particle, the neutrino. According to Fermi National Accelerator Lab, the neutrino is: one of the so-called fundamental particles, which means it isn’t made of any smaller pieces, at least that we know of. Neutrinos are members of the same group as the most famous fundamental particle, the electron (which is powering the device you’re reading this on right now). But while electrons have a negative charge, neutrinos have no charge at all. Neutrinos are also incredibly small and light. They have some mass, but not much. They are the lightest of all the subatomic particles that have mass. They’re also extremely common—in Read More ›

Science and research of the universe, spiral galaxy and physical formulas, concept of knowledge and education

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
February 19, 2022

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Physics

Tagged
Cosmic horizon, End of Everything (book), Katie Mack, Space (expansion), Time (and relativity theory), Universe (as too perfect)}

Why a Science Fiction View of the Universe Makes Sense

_{Our universe is very difficult to understand, as a theoretical cosmologist explains} _{News

February 19, 2022

4

Arts & Culture, Physics}

Theoretical cosmologist Katie Mack, author of The End of Everything: (Astrophysically Speaking) (2020) lists, in an essay based on her book, a number of facts about our universe that make it hard for us to even fathom it. Even astronomers, she says, have a hard time: Here in the Solar System, space and time are both more or less well-behaved, but when you have to deal with the cosmos as a whole, you have to factor in the fact that it refuses to sit still for its fitting… If you look at a galaxy far, far away, not only do you have to factor in that the image you’re looking at is old, you have to account for the fact Read More ›

Fencer with fencing sword. Fencers duel concept.

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post

Author
Gary Varner
Date
February 19, 2022

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Ambassador (character in Firefly), Badger (character in Firefly), Firefly Series Episode 4, KayLee (character in Firefly), Malcolm Reynolds (character in Firefly), Science fiction, Science fiction (Wild West theme)}

Firefly Episode 4: Mal Ends Up in a Swordfight Amid Outer Planets

_{It all starts when ship’s engineer Kaylee decides she wants to dress like a Southern belle…} _{Gary Varner

February 19, 2022

10

Arts & Culture}

In Episode 4 we open with the crew returning to the planet Persephone where the series began. While in the Market, Kaylee, the ship’s engineer, finds a dress that she particularly likes and Mal, who is growing impatient because he’s carrying something heavy, says there’s no way she could use such a dress because she’d look silly working on the ship in such a thing. Of course, this infuriates everyone, and they all leave in a huff. Now, what’s interesting about this scene is the world-building. The show really commits to the whole Western genre because the dresses remind one of the southern belle’s style or even something out of the Victorian Era — vintage garments that high society might Read More ›

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post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
February 18, 2022

Categorized
Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience

Tagged
Animal Algorithms (book), Brain (insect brain), Gnat ogre, Natural algorithms (insect brains)}

When a Tiny Brain Is Actually an Advantage

_{Small size — which includes having a small brain — hones the gnat ogre’s remarkable neurological abilities} _{Denyse O'Leary

February 18, 2022

5

Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience}

The University of Minnesota, pointing to a just-published research paper, asks us to contemplate a remarkable piece of flight engineering on the part of a rather frightening fly: For those of us who occasionally trip over a curb or bump into a door frame, it’s hard to imagine an organism with a brain smaller than the period at the end of this sentence deftly maneuvering around obstacles while chasing fast-moving prey on the wing… The research, carried out by Paloma Gonzalez-Bellido, Mary Sumner, and Trevor Wardill of the University of Minnesota’s College of Biological Sciences, and Sam Fabian of the Imperial College London Department of Bioengineering, focuses on the aerial feats of a miniature robber fly known as a gnat Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Stephen Berger
Date
February 18, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
Artificial Intelligence, Materialism, Miracle on 34th Street, Samuel Strauss}

What Is AI Doing To Me? AI’s Manufactured World Lacks Value

_{The best way to defend ourselves from AI's influence is to return to the abstract ideas of virtue, value, and goodness} _{Stephen Berger

February 18, 2022

6

Artificial Intelligence}

During the Christmas season I watched that wonderful classic, “Miracle on 34th Street,” starring Maureen O’Hara, Edmund Gwenn, John Payne, and Natalie Wood. About the same time, I had learned of the writings of Samuel Strauss in The Atlantic. I realized that both “Miracle on 34th Street” and Strauss were dealing with issues similar to those we are wrestling with today related to artificial intelligence (AI). Perhaps the most famous lines from “Miracle on 34th Street” are: Susan Walker: I believe, I believe, I believe. Fred Gailey: Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to. Kris Kringle: Oh, Christmas isn’t just a day. It’s a frame of mind. The point made is that what is most Read More ›

Art director checking the photos on a monitor

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
February 17, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Business and Finance

Tagged
Advertising (and decentralization), Ari Emanuel, Content creators (in digital era), Endeavor (talent agency), Featured, George Gilder, Media (and decentralization), Social media (and content creators)}

How the Digital Age Is Transforming the Entertainment World

_{Principally by creating many new opportunities that, as Ari Emanuel puts it, are Not Showing at a Theater Near You} _{News

February 17, 2022

6

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Business and Finance}

Philosopher of technology George Gilder interviews Ari Emanuel, CEO of entertainment and media agency Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc., about the new decentralized media landscape powered by dramatic advances in technology. Endeavor, which was founded in 1898 and has 6500 employees, represents “talent across entertainment, sports, and fashion, such as actors, directors, writers, athletes, models, musicians, and other artists in various mediums comprising film, television, art, books, and live events.” (Yahoo Finance) A partial transcript of the talk Emanuel gave at COSM 2021 (November 10, 1:00 pm), on navigating the new media landscape, follows: George Gilder: What did you see in the early nineties that led you to leave your comfortable position and then move out and create a new force Read More ›

A chariot wheel at the sun temple at Konark.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
February 17, 2022

Categorized
Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Axial period, Existentialism (in ancient India), Jessica Frazier, Philosophy (ancient India), Upanishads}

Ancient Indian Philosophy Sounds Surprisingly Modern

_{A period of expansion of horizons from about 800 BC – 200 BC encouraged people in India to ask thoughtful questions about reality} _{News

February 17, 2022

5

Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind}

Jessica Frazier, a fellow of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, offered some thoughts about a remarkable period in human history, the Axial Period (roughly 800 BC – 200 BC) when a number of today’s major thought traditions got started or were amplified. One of these traditions was philosophy of mind in India. Frazier, author of Hindu Worldviews (Bloomsbury, 2017), offers a look at one of the drivers of the trend: The answer lay in the public’s growing worry about existential problems. Mortal life seemed little more than a flame struck over the open ocean at night; our minds shine but a brief, faint spotlight on the immensity of the world before sputtering into darkness again. As their frustration grew, Read More ›