Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

Denyse O'Leary

bearded-neanderthal-man-sits-by-fire-in-cave-at-night-caveman-and-bonfire-on-dark-background-concept-of-homo-sapiens-prehistoric-era-primitive-ancient-stone-age-stockpack-adobe-stock
Bearded neanderthal man sits by fire in cave at night, caveman and bonfire on dark background. Concept of Homo sapiens, prehistoric era, primitive, ancient, Stone Age

Did humans first start using fire to smoke, not cook, meat?

Bringing down an elephant meant food for families for months but that food needed to be protected both from predators and from spoiling. Read More ›
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Nature Within.

Science Writer: The Self Is Part of a Conscious Universe

Annaka Harris seems to be fleeing eliminative materialism — the snake that eats its own tail
Harris is the wife of well-known New Atheist neuroscientist Sam Harris, at one time one of the Four Horsemen of the New Atheist apocalypse. Read More ›
a-man-practicing-mindfulness-and-meditation-or-yoga-in-a-pea-623218874-stockpack-adobestock
A man practicing mindfulness and meditation or yoga in a peaceful natural environment realistic image, ultra hd, high design very detailed

A Physicist Ponders the Nature of Consciousness

Ethan Siegel fears that we abandon science when we think that consciousness is not a material thing
If science, as interpreted by some, can’t address immaterial realities like our ability to reason and thus do science, so much the worse for that interpretation Read More ›
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Cave entrance with sunlit stone steps, man ascending stairs towards bright light at end of tunnel. Symbolizing afterlife, near-death experience, inspiration, or hope beyond darkness.

Near-Death Experiences Are Taken More Seriously Now

After reading a recent news article on NDEs, I revisited a book published in 2007 to get some sense of the change
Many researchers would still like to explain them away via a purely physical cause but the last thirty years of research are an argument for caution. Read More ›
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pour ou contre l'euthanasie ?

Wesley J. Smith: Why Is Assisted Suicide So Popular So Suddenly?

Smith argues that the purpose of society itself is shifting for many people
In Canada, many stories attest that euthanasia is now routinely offered to those requesting medical care. Read More ›
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Multiracial team of professional medical surgeons performs the surgical operation in a modern hospital. Doctors are working to save the patient. Medicine, health and neurosurgery.

Two Neurosurgeons on Life, Death, Eternity and What Truly Matters

Lee Warren interviews Michael Egnor on the just-released book, The Immortal Mind
The two doctors turned out to share a bond of personal pain as well as immortal hope. Read More ›
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Gelbe Narzissen im Frühling

Pew: Rate of Decline in Christian Belief in U.S. Is Slowing

The decline may be in the process of reversing itself. News items tell the story
Perhaps many people no longer see the triumph of hardcore materialism as inevitable — or even possible. Read More ›
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cooper's hawk observes neighborhood from the top of the poll

Hawk learns to monitor traffic signals to catch urban prey

Urban environments created by humans may bring out many unexpected adaptations in other life forms, taking advantage of the regularity that humans build in. Read More ›
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Supernova Galaxy 8k hype realistic. spiral galaxy in space background. background of supernova nebula and stars, glowing mysterious universe. Space texture illustration. Generative ai

Physicist: “Bad Philosophy” May Spur Search for New Physics

Carlo Rovelli points out that revolutions’ in the history of fundamental physics are more conservative than they are often depicted
It may not just be bad philosophy. It may also be a determination to believe in a universe that the evidence does not support. Read More ›
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Tabby cat yowling by window, garden view

AI developer wants to try to translate animal languages

Caution: If we assume that cats have a language that needs translation the way human languages do, we will likely find instead that his behavior IS his language Read More ›
multiracial-team-of-professional-medical-surgeons-performs-t-476716155-stockpack-adobestock
Multiracial team of professional medical surgeons performs the surgical operation in a modern hospital. Doctors are working to save the patient. Medicine, health and neurosurgery.

How a Split Brain Enables a Unified Mind Still Baffles Us

In the comments following Sean McDowell’s interview with neurosurgeon Michael Egnor, a viewer asked, are the parts of a split brain still really connected?
We are learning new things about the mind–brain complex every day and not everything is what we expected to find. Read More ›
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Spaceship flies near the amazing blue planet earth, view from the window. Travel and tourists in space, concept. Beautiful space view of the Earth with cloud formation. Hotel in space

A Challenge to Pale Blue Dot-ology: Earth Is Significant

The “pale blue dot lost in space” view of Earth seems to brand science as an intellectual property of materialist atheism. And evidence isn’t what keeps it going
Perhaps more of us should start calling out these assumptions that arise not from observing nature but from the intellectual commitments of those who make them. Read More ›
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Blue glowing quantum correlation

Has Physics Pounded a New Nail in the Coffin of Materialism?

Cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman says that matter is now known not to be fundamental but that fact is taking a while to catch on
Continued failure to materialize the mind could be the beginning of a serious reckoning with the problems that physicalism and materialism represent. Read More ›
bearded-neanderthal-man-sits-by-fire-in-cave-at-night-caveman-and-bonfire-on-dark-background-concept-of-homo-sapiens-prehistoric-era-primitive-ancient-stone-age-stockpack-adobe-stock
Bearded neanderthal man sits by fire in cave at night, caveman and bonfire on dark background. Concept of Homo sapiens, prehistoric era, primitive, ancient, Stone Age

Study: Neanderthals invented their own tech, didn’t copy others

The team suggests that their find shows that Neanderthals were able to plan ahead, not only in making the tool, but in the way it was used. Read More ›
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Pathways of the prefrontal cortex controlling decision-making shown in a nervous system diagram.

What Did the Multi-Year Consciousness Study Really Find?

Surprisingly, the joint research teams found that the prefrontal cortex, the “personality center,” may not be as important for consciousness as we think
The demotion of the prefrontal cortex in consciousness is remarkable in the light of other researchers’ view that it is practically what makes us human. Read More ›
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Common two-banded seabream (Diplodus vulgaris)

Fish Can Recognize Individual Humans — But What Does That Imply?

Wild fish told the divers apart by their diving gear when they could gain a food reward for doing so
Now that we better appreciate the clever ways fish find food, we should not lurch into a relentless search for human mental and emotional qualities in them. Read More ›
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journalist, reporter, dedicated storytellers of world, news and information, era of rapid media evolution, well-informed, microphone TV television press communication role online.

Old-fashioned journalists aren’t dead; they’re on Substack

There is no turning back. The historically Democrat-leaning legacy media are losing voters even among young Democrats. Read More ›
mushroom-growing-in-a-landscape-of-a-strange-exoplanet-stock-770687529-stockpack-adobestock
Mushroom growing in a landscape of a strange exoplanet

ET Doesn’t Need to Exist in Order to Do His Real Job

His real job seems to be to support a lame argument about why humans are not exceptional. But the very idea of his existence works just as well
The search for ET itself does the philosophical work of attempting to deflate human “self-importance.” Finding anything is a bonus. Read More ›