Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

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terraforming-stockpack-adobe-stock
Terraforming
Type
post
Author
Gary Varner
Date
January 29, 2022
Categorized
Arts & Culture, Environment
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Firefly: Can Science Fiction Reimagined As The Wild West Work?

I strongly recommend the original 2002–2003 series for its careful development of the culture that grows up around world-building (terraforming)
Gary Varner
January 29, 2022
10
Arts & Culture, Environment

I recently read an article in Screen Rant which claimed that Disney+ was planning a Firefly series remake. A trailer for the original: Five hundred years in the future, a renegade crew aboard a small spacecraft tries to survive as they travel the unknown parts of the galaxy and evade warring factions as well as authority agents out to get them. (2002-2003) When I heard this rumor, I felt like Darth Vader screaming No! into the void and wanting to choke something. Since Disney+ has a reputation for producing films which are nothing short of family-friendly abominations, it isn’t surprising that the fandom mobbed Twitter, demanding that the Mouse stay away from their beloved sci-fi franchise. So far, there has Read More ›

3d-rendering-of-an-android-robot-cyborg-woman-humanoid-side-view-and-isolated-in-an-empty-background-stockpack-adobe-stock
3d rendering of an android robot cyborg woman humanoid - side view and isolated in an empty background
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post
Author
News
Date
January 28, 2022
Categorized
Relationships, Robotics
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Watch a Robot Try To Replicate Human Emotions

We wouldn’t know there was such a thing as human emotions if this were our only source
News
January 28, 2022
2
Relationships, Robotics

A robot by BilTek trying to replicate human emotions The reactions have been pretty much what we might expect: The clip, posted by EHA News, shows the head of the robot, which has been designed to look so life-like that its eyes, mouth and facial expressions are detailed enough to be able to mimic human expressions. One Twitter user commented that the robot was showing ‘The UK emotions of being absolutely off ya bonk’. Simon Catling, “Scientists Create Robot Trying To Replicate Human Emotions And Everyone’s Saying The Same Thing” at UNILAD (January 14, 2022) Catling notes that a video of another, much creepier, robot by Engineered Arts surfaced last month: The robot in question – called the Ameca – Read More ›

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Closeup of a red wood ant. Concept useful insects.
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post
Author
News
Date
January 28, 2022
Categorized
Biology, Natural Intelligence
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Neuroscience Mystery: How Do Tiny Brains Enable Complex Behavior?

Eric Cassell notes that insects with brains of only a million neurons exhibit principles found only in the most advanced man-made navigation systems. How?
News
January 28, 2022
13
Biology, Natural Intelligence

Recently, geologist Casey Luskin interviewed Eric Cassell, author of Animal Algorithms: Evolution and the Mysterious Origin of Ingenious Instincts (2021) on one of the central mysteries: How do animals “know” things that they can’t have figured out on their own? Consider, for example, butterflies migrating over several generations from Canada to Mexico and back. No single butterfly makes the whole trip there or back. How can animals do math they know nothing about? How can a great deal of information be packed into a brain with comparatively few neurons? We are slowly learning about some of that. Eric Cassell is an expert in navigation systems, including GPS, whose experience includes more than four decades in systems engineering related to aircraft, Read More ›

Blurred. Live broadcast blogger or journalist using a mobile phone in the auditorium. Pink background. Vertical photo or video mode. Soft focus. Copy space.
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post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
January 28, 2022
Categorized
Global Technology, Sports
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2022 Winter Olympics: Security Vulnerabilities in the MY2022 App

All Olympics attendees are required to download the MY2022 app to track their health and other personal data, despite security concerns
Heather Zeiger
January 28, 2022
7
Global Technology, Sports

This February should be a time of celebration in China. The opening ceremonies of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games is the day after the beginning of Lunar New Year. The Olympic Games commence two days later on February 4th. However, the Chinese government has put a damper on celebrations by continuing to pursue its “zero-Covid” strategy even though every other country has eased restrictions and begun transitioning from a “pandemic” to “endemic” mentality.  People in Beijing along with surrounding regions have become exasperated over the daily testing protocols and harsh measures that are in place to ensure the Chinese Communist Party can save face over its prior claims of having defeated the virus. Among many of the issues plaguing the Read More ›

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Young mechanic repairing the robot in his workshop
Type
post
Author
Caitlin Cory
Date
January 27, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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AI Should Be Less Perfect, More Human

Authors Angus Fletcher and Erik J. Larson point us toward a more sustainable future working alongside artificial intelligence
Caitlin Cory
January 27, 2022
5
Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is fragile. When faced with the ambiguity of the world, it breaks. And when it breaks, our untenable solution is to erase ambiguity. This means erasing our humanness, which in turn breaks us. That’s the problem Angus Fletcher and Erik J. Larson address in their piece published this week in Wired. AI can malfunction at the mildest hint of data slip, so its architects are doing all they can to dampen ambiguity and volatility. And since the world’s primary source of ambiguity and volatility is humans, we have found ourselves aggressively stifled. We’ve been forced into metric assessments at school, standard flow patterns at work, and regularized sets at hospitals, gyms, and social-media hangouts. In the process, we’ve lost Read More ›

puppy-pressing-his-paw-against-a-girl-hand-stockpack-adobe-stock
Puppy pressing his paw against a Girl hand
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
January 27, 2022
Categorized
Natural Intelligence, Relationships
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Dogs Understand Many More Words Than We Think

They also pick up very readily on human emotions, researchers have found
Denyse O'Leary
January 27, 2022
5
Natural Intelligence, Relationships

Sophie Jacques, Associate Professor, Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, came up with some interesting figures on dogs recognizing words. Starting in 2015, she and a colleague developed a list of 172 words organized in different categories (for example, toys, food, commands, outdoor places) and gave it to an online sample of 165 owners of family and professional dogs. We asked them to select words that their dogs responded to consistently. We found that, on average, service dogs respond to about 120 words, whereas family pets respond to about 80 words, ranging between 15 to 215 words across all dogs. We also found that certain breed groups, such as herding dogs like border collies and toy dogs like chihuahuas, respond to Read More ›

surreal-3d-illustration-of-multiple-faces-in-a-wall-concept-of-post-human-and-transhumanism-ideas-stockpack-adobe-stock
Surreal 3d illustration of multiple faces in a wall. Concept of post-human and transhumanism ideas.
Type
post
Author
News
Date
January 27, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Biology, Ethics, Philosophy of Mind, Transhumanism
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Is Transhumanism Really a Form of Liberation?

The central transhumanist doctrine is that the body can be dispensed with. What are the consequences?
News
January 27, 2022
4
Artificial Intelligence, Biology, Ethics, Philosophy of Mind, Transhumanism

Libby Emmons, editor-in-chief at The Post Millennial, Canada’s non-Woke “young” media outlet, offered some unexpected thoughts on transhumanism, the idea that we must take charge of the evolution of our species — sometimes expressed in the idea that we can upload ourselves as digital entities and live forever. Emmons is not sure that transhumanism is really a form of liberation. She acknowledges the value of, for example, prostheses controlled by thoughts alone. But she asks us to consider what full-blown transhumanism entails: With the widespread acceptance of human augmentation, bio-tech, AI, and transgenderism, we are removing agency from the human body, and granting it entirely to the mind. But our humanity lies not in our consciousness, but in the biological Read More ›

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Black Chimpanzee Mammal Ape
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
January 26, 2022
Categorized
Natural Intelligence
Tagged
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Chimps Who Can’t Crack Nuts Prove They Are More Like Humans? Huh?

The lengths to which some researchers will go to attempt to discredit human exceptionalism are an assault on reason and common sense
Denyse O'Leary
January 26, 2022
2
Natural Intelligence

In a recent experiment, researchers determined that chimpanzees need to be taught how to use stones to crack nuts; individuals don’t grasp the idea for themselves. In a series of four experiments, 35 parties of chimps were given oil palm nuts and stones but “on no occasion did the chimpanzees crack or eat either oil palm or Coula nuts,” presumably because they did not know how. Then the primatologists go on to draw an amazing conclusion: Their culture is therefore more similar to human culture than often assumed… “Our findings suggest that chimpanzees acquire cultural behaviors more like humans and do not simply invent a complex tool use behavior like nut cracking on their own,” says Koops. The presence of Read More ›

censored guy
Portrait of guy on blue neon light digital interface background. Young man with beard. Censored concept.
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
January 25, 2022
Categorized
Censorship, Media, Medicine and Health, Social Media
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Royal Society: Don’t Censor Misinformation; It Makes Things Worse

While others demand crackdowns on “fake news,” the Society reminds us that the history of science is one of error correction
Denyse O'Leary
January 25, 2022
8
Censorship, Media, Medicine and Health, Social Media

A leading science organization, the Royal Society (Britain’s equivalent of the National Academy of Sciences), has put out a report discouraging social media censorship, with special reference to the COVID-19 pandemic: The Royal Society, the U.K.’s academy of sciences, published a study of online scientific and health misinformation Wednesday, investigating its root causes and brainstorming possible solutions. The scientists concluded that censoring content deemed to be misinformation is often harmful and antithetical to the principles of scientific inquiry… The report found that online censorship risked pushing misinformation underground and off of major social media platforms, where it is less likely to be exposed to countervailing opinions. Censorship also risks removing or suppressing content that may be true or helpful to Read More ›

portrait-of-a-beautiful-lion-lion-in-the-dark-stockpack-adobe-stock
Portrait of a Beautiful lion, lion in the dark
Type
post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
January 25, 2022
Categorized
Peer Review, Science
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Will the Real “Predatory Journal” Please Stand Up?

Large publishers serve themselves by painting "predatory journals" with a broad brush
Jonathan Bartlett
January 25, 2022
5
Peer Review, Science

The scientific publishing industry has been on a hunt for what it calls “predatory journals.” They want to make sure that all scientific publications occur in “legitimate” and “reputable” journals. Additionally, they encourage scholars to avoid “predatory” journals which are there merely to enrich themselves by having you pay for access. While I agree with these ideas in principle, I’ve noticed more and more that the way that these principles are applied has been, well, incredibly self-serving for the journals. To begin with, let’s look at a commentary on predatory journals published in 2019 in the journal Nature: Predatory journals are a global threat. They accept articles for publication — along with authors’ fees — without performing promised quality checks for issues such Read More ›

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Close up of top important cryptocurrencies which dollar bank note in background. which including of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dash, Zcash and Ripple coin. Business and financial as concept.
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post
Author
News
Date
January 24, 2022
Categorized
Business and Finance, Economics
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Why Cryptocurrencies Like Bitcoin Are Not Ready for Prime Time

Bernard Fickser at Expensivity — friendly to cryptos in principle — offers an unsparing look at the current problems
News
January 24, 2022
21
Business and Finance, Economics

At Expensivity, Bernard Fickser, who has explained how to sell non-fungible tokens (NFTs) now offers “The Truth About Cryptocurrencies: A Clearheaded Guide to the Crypto World.” (January 15, 2022) For your convenience, we are serializing his work, which can be read in whole here. Here’s Part 6 (of 6): 6 Conclusion: Is Crypto a Mature Technology? So far, this article’s approach to crypto has been a balancing act, weighing pros against cons. Thus, we’ve seen much to commend crypto, but also much to raise doubts about it. In this closing section, I’m going negative. My concluding thesis is this: peer-to-peer distributed blockchain-based cryptocurrencies as they exist now represent an immature technology and miss much of what we would like to see Read More ›

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3d rendered medically accurate illustration of twin fetuses - week 17
Type
post
Author
News
Date
January 24, 2022
Categorized
Ethics, Science
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There’s No Science Argument on Whether Unborn Children Are Human

Neurosurgeon Michael Egnor notes that abortion activists argue that the embryo is a different species, some unclassified thing, or part of the mother — that’s politics, not science
News
January 24, 2022
6
Ethics, Science

The recent March for Life in Washington featured signs like “Save the baby humans” (featuring a whale), “Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love” – Mother Theresa” and “One heart stops; many hearts break.” Neurosurgeon Michael Egnor has a message for people who wonder whether the preborn child is a human being: Ever ask #Why we should believe that a human embryo is a human life? There is no question about it—from the moment of conception, a unique human being exists. Pro-abortion activists will try to say that the embryo is a different species, some unclassified thing, or part of the mother, but none of these are true. The science of sexual reproduction is as Read More ›

unicorn-on-gold-cube-mountain-start-up-illustration-concept-of-leader-on-a-market3d-rendering-3d-illustration-stockpack-adobe-stock
unicorn on gold cube mountain . start up, illustration concept of leader on a market.3d rendering. 3d illustration.
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post
Author
Jeffrey Funk
Date
January 24, 2022
Categorized
Business and Finance
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Is Rationality Finally Emerging for Unicorn Share Prices?

Share prices are falling as losses continue to mount
Jeffrey Funk
January 24, 2022
6
Business and Finance

2021 was a great year globally for venture capital and startups. Initial public offerings (IPOs) raised a record $594 billion in 2021 globally while VC funding is on track to hit a record $454 billion invested through the first three quarters of 2021.This is up from $332 billion for the first three quarters of 2020, which was the previous record for three quarters. U.S. startups also did well with big increases in both VC funding and IPOs in 2021. Almost $100 billion of funding was given to startups in the first three quarters while for the full year, there were 416 IPOs, of which 128 were from the tech section. The total amount raised was $156 billion, of which $69 billion was for the tech sector. Read More ›

hands brain model
Hands shaping brain model
Type
post
Author
Eric Holloway
Date
January 23, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind
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Chalmers and Penrose Clash Over “Conscious Computers”

Philosopher Chalmers thinks computers could be conscious but physicist Penrose says no
Eric Holloway
January 23, 2022
4
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind

Two authors I’ve been reading recently are Roger Penrose and David Chalmers. Penrose is a physics Nobel laureate who has stoked controversy by claiming in The Emperor’s New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds and The Laws of Physics (1989) that the mind can do things beyond the ability of computers. Chalmers is a philosopher of science who claims in The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory (1997) that consciousness cannot be reduced to physical processes. Both thinkers are well respected in their fields, even though they articulate positions that imply that the mind’s operation is beyond current science. At the same time, they believe that there is a way to see the mind as part of nature (that is, Read More ›

alien-stockpack-adobe-stock
alien
Type
post
Author
News
Date
January 22, 2022
Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science
Tagged
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Physicist: Why Extraterrestrials Couldn’t Look Much Like Us

Except in films. They follow the same natural laws but conditions differ on each planet
News
January 22, 2022
2
Arts & Culture, Science

Physicist Marcelo Gleiser, author of The Island of Knowledge (2014), points out that the fact that there are trillions and trillions of worlds in our universe does not mean that anything we imagine can somehow exist: While the laws of physics and chemistry allow for similar processes to unfold across the Universe, they also act to limit what is possible or viable. Even if science doesn’t allow us to completely rule out what cannot exist, we can use the laws of physics and chemistry to infer what might. Marcelo Gleiser, “What is life like elsewhere in the Universe?” at Big Think (December 22, 2021) There is limit to diversity. While it may be possible for life to be based on Read More ›

logging-aerial-drone-view-of-deforestation-environmental-problem-stockpack-adobe-stock
Logging. Aerial drone view of deforestation environmental problem.
Type
post
Author
Gary Varner
Date
January 22, 2022
Categorized
Arts & Culture, Environment, Ethics
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Aliens as Both Angels — and Bugs? Superior But Sociopathic?

A look at the puzzling 2008 remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) - environment doom replaces the Cold War
Gary Varner
January 22, 2022
5
Arts & Culture, Environment, Ethics

Last week I reviewed the 1951 classic The Day the Earth Stood Still. Before watching the original, I had decided to watch the 2008 remake. I now regret my decision. Let’s talk about the 2008 movie featuring Keanu Reeves. The 2008 movie opens with essentially the same beats as the original. The spaceship lands, but it is not metal; it’s a bizarre space orb, made of different kinds of luminescent biological material. This change gives the aliens an ethereal quality. They are entities that have reached demi-god status. The writers even go to the trouble of showing the ship hovering over a cathedral, illuminating the building. The movie is practically screaming, “They’re Angels! Get it!” The alien, Klaatu, steps out Read More ›

thirty silver coins
sack with the thirty silver coins biblical symbol of the betrayal of judas
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post
Author
News
Date
January 21, 2022
Categorized
Business and Finance, Economics
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Is Cryptocurrency Selling Out to Centralization?

Compared to more conventional forms of money, crypto wealth is radically centralized in the hands of a few
News
January 21, 2022
16
Business and Finance, Economics

At Expensivity, Bernard Fickser, who has explained how to sell non-fungible tokens (NFTs) now offers “The Truth About Cryptocurrencies: A Clearheaded Guide to the Crypto World.” (January 15, 2022) For your convenience, we are serializing his work, which can be read in whole here. Here’s Part 5 (of 5): 5 The Centralization of Crypto Wealth Decentralization is a watchword of crypto. One of the things said to commend cryptocurrencies is that the blockchain-based peer-to-peer networks that run them are decentralized, residing outside the control of any single authority. This claim that cryptocurrencies are decentralized in their organizational structure is overstated because the peer-to-peer networks that run them can themselves act as central authorities. True, these peer-to-peer networks feel freer and Read More ›

cyborg-head-with-red-eyes-surronded-by-wires-and-lights-in-a-futuristic-and-ciberpunk-enviroment-stockpack-adobe-stock
Cyborg head with red eyes, surronded by wires and lights in a futuristic and ciberpunk enviroment
Type
post
Author
News
Date
January 21, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Creativity
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When the Terminator Ran Into Skynet at the Unemployment Office…

In an ID the Future podcast, computer engineering prof Robert J. Marks explores with Casey Luskin the limits of algorithms
News
January 21, 2022
2
Artificial Intelligence, Creativity

In a podcast at ID The Future, Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks talked with host Casey Luskin about claims, games, and realities around artificial intelligence: In the course of the fast-paced interview, Marks touches on dystopian AI and the limits of computer algorithms (they can never do anything that is inherently non-computable, Marks argues), and discuss celebrity thinkers and entrepreneurs who’ve weighed in on the promises and perils of AI, such as Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Stephen Hawking. Marks calls on Nobel Laureate Roger Penrose to second one of Marks’s central arguments. The occasion for the conversation is Marks’s chapter in the recent Harvest House anthology, The Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith. (2021) Marks Read More ›

closeup keyboard laptop and Google Ads AdWords app icon on smart
closeup keyboard laptop and Google Ads AdWords app icon on smartphone screen. Google is the biggest Internet search engine in the world. Moscow, Russia - April 27, 2019
Type
post
Author
Caitlin Cory
Date
January 21, 2022
Categorized
Law, Social Media
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Facebook and Google Face Big Legal Challenges

The FTC, dozens of states, and private citizens are coming after the big tech companies for antitrust violations
Caitlin Cory
January 21, 2022
7
Law, Social Media

How has 2022 begun for our favorite Big Tech companies? With a good chunk of lawsuits. As technology companies grow bigger, they face bigger legal challenges. Here’s a brief rundown of a few such challenges Facebook and Google face in the courts in this new year: FTC Antitrust Lawsuit Against Facebook Moves Forward Let’s begin at the federal level. Last June, Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia tossed out a lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) challenging Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp. According to Boasberg, the FTC failed to adequately show that Facebook holds a monopoly. Not to be dissuaded, the FTC re-filed with an amended complaint in August. Last Read More ›

The flag of Beijing 2022 waving in the wind with the national fl
Type
post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
January 20, 2022
Categorized
Global Technology
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Xi’an Lockdown: Beijing Continues to Pursue “Zero-Covid”

With the Winter Olympics quickly approaching, China faces great internal stress for its strict COVID response
Heather Zeiger
January 20, 2022
8
Global Technology

First, I hoped to escape lockdownLater, I hoped to get out to buy foodNow, I only hope I’m not hauled off a poem widely shared on Weibo about Xi’an; translated and reported by China Digital Times Rather than shifting gears, as much of the world has, Beijing continues to chase its zero-covid agenda. But the Chinese government’s heavy-handed measures to control the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and its messaging to the public to justify those measures, may have backfired. China is beholden to its “zero-Covid” strategy as the February 2nd opening ceremonies for the Beijing Winter Olympics nears and the Omicron variant spreads across the world.  The Chinese Communist Party constructed a narrative early in the pandemic claiming that China Read More ›