Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

Denyse O'Leary

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Mini pig and dog on the field with dandelions

When Dogs and Pet Pigs Both Heard Humans Cry, What Happened?

Have humans changed dogs’ behavior over thousands of years of domestication?
Sensitivity is a two-way street. Dogs study us but we also extensively study and catalogue our dogs’ facial and body expressions as well. Pigs not so much. Read More ›
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Feigning Opossum

Once Again: Near-Death Experiences as Possum Tales

In the recent Scientific American article, we learn once again that NDEs evolved as a human way of “playing dead”
Hypotheses based on evolution sometimes proceed without establishing basic evidence, for example, whether thanatosis is even common in humans. Read More ›
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tunnel of light

Scientific American: Near-Death Experiences Compared To Drug Trip

Now that NDEs are accepted as a clinical fact, more effort is underway to account for them as part of physical nature, like hallucinogenic chemicals
There are significant differences between NDEs and drug trips, as psychologist Steve Taylor notes. Read More ›
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Neural landscape with densely packed neurons, selective focus on a synapse releasing neurotransmitters, vibrant blue and white colors, high-resolution digital illustration

Is Panpsychism Putting Francis Crick’s Pack of Neurons to Flight?

Science writer John Horgan remembers Crick in the ‘90s when reductionism was riding high in neuroscience. What’s happened since?
As the years wear on, consciousness will likely remain irreducible and the neuroscientists may end up having to address plausible claims for dualism soon too. Read More ›
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Censored book

View: Universities Should Not Speak Up Against Dissenting Profs!

Jay Bhattacharya and Wesley J. Smith respond to an article in a medical journal arguing that universities SHOULD censure dissenters on the faculty
How much good science would have seen the light in the last 600 years if “Institutional Voices” had been heard from even more often than they were? Read More ›
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white mouse

Sleeping Mice Show How the Brain Lays Down Memories

Studies of mice running mazes have shed light on the sharp waves of neurons that assist in forming memories
As we learn more about memory, it takes a while to even process what we are learning but the research may help treat memory-related disorders. Read More ›
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Fiery Apocalyptic Planet Earth Engulfed in Scorching Flames and Devastating Destruction

When Darwinism becomes a fashionable doomsday cult…

Like all cults, it can make otherwise intelligent people begin to sound rather strange, even precarious
One thing the dialogue makes quite clear is that Darwinism can underlie a classic fashionable cult that does not reflect well on its adherents' intelligence. Read More ›
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Dystopian wasteland with decaying machinery and industrial structures under a stormy sky. Concept art for science fiction, post-apocalyptic, and cyberpunk themes.

Hypothesis: Yes, ET Existed — But Mainly in the Past

A recent paper introduces the idea of cryptoterrestrials, technologically advanced civilizations on Earth, perhaps from earlier geological eras, as the source of the UAPs/UFOs
What never grows old is the belief that They are out there — one foot in faith, one in science, and a great future in the world of the imagination. Read More ›
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Three friendly happy playing dogs in summer park. German shepherd, american staffordshire terrier and french bulldog holding one stick. Different dog breeds have fun together.

Will AI Soon Help Animals Talk To Us?

Many animals have a natural tendency to hide their problems for self-protection. AI trained on massive animal datasets might suss them out
That doesn’t mean we can “talk to the animals.” AI can do a lot of things but it won’t give animals rational faculties that it does not have itself. Read More ›
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Ultra macro ant portrait shot, detailed close-up image of ant's face and trunk.

Why Panpsychism (Everything Is Conscious) Is Gaining Ground

Many life forms do unexpectedly remarkable things. It is simpler to broaden the circle of consciousness than to keep on trying to prove that human consciousness is just an illusion
Panpsychism will face a setback, however, when it tries to show that human consciousness is merely on a continuum with animal consciousness. It isn’t. Read More ›
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Empty cave looking out

Can We Really Study the Minds of Ancient Humans?

The design inference helps sort things out in human paleontology
It’s progress, perhaps, that researchers are defending the role of parsimonious inference. It’s possible to see too much in scattered beads — or too little. Read More ›
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Colorful wooden puzzle brain model. Neurodiversity concept, human mind complexity. Creativity, brainstorming and emotional intelligence.

Neuroscientist: The Mind Is Just the Brain

He cites studies using transcranial magnetic stimulation, which caused subjects to see flashing lights
The fatal flaw in identity theory, as his view is called, is that there is no point of contact between the laws of logic and those of electrochemistry. Read More ›
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Goldenrod plant

Evolutionary Biologist Defines Goldenrod Plant as “Intelligent”

The media release for the journal paper, sponsored by Cornell University, illustrates the growing comfort of science with panpsychist (everything is conscious) ideas
Andre Kessler is influenced by the idea that plant cells are like bees and the plant is like a colony, where the members think collectively. Read More ›
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AI generated view of the multiverse

What Is Pseudoscience? A Philosopher Tries To Sort It Out

Finding little to go on, Massimo Pigliucci suggests relying on popular skeptic sites and, er, … himself
Speaking of Skeptical Inquirers, perhaps we should be much more skeptical of the very concept of pseudoscience, at least as it plays out. Read More ›
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Bees in the meadow and apiary. Selective focus.

A Darwinian Biologist Winces at Bees That Have Feelings

The problem Jerry Coyne has with Lars Chittka’s evidence for emotions among bees points to a growing conflict between naturalism and panpsychism in science
For a naturalist, the problem with accepting consciousness as real is that it is also immaterial, even in an animal like a dog that has a minimal self. Read More ›
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Biology Manual

Wanted: A Theory of Everything Based Only on Science Findings

The philosopher who expressed that wish is probably still looking… he could not find a naturalist theory that worked that way
When science media sound like naturalist (materialist) sermons, that’s what they are. And that is a philosophical choice, not a necessity. Read More ›
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Diving, Wrecks, Caribbean, Windward Islands, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Martinique

Why Does a Brainless Sponge Have a Toolkit for a Nervous System?

A neuroscientist wrestles with the question of where the kit arose? From the one-celled life forms that preceded the sponge?
Kenneth Kosik, perhaps unwittingly, describes evolution as if it were an engineer. But then, the situation looks rather more like design than Darwinism. Read More ›
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Inside the brain. Concept of neurons and nervous system.

A Third Big Consciousness Theory: Each Neuron Is a Computer

Dendritic information theory (DIT) may not explain consciousness any better than other theories but it may shed light on how anesthesia produces LOSS of consciousness
What we are really learning is that even the individual cells that mediate consciousness are very complex — even in the lab rats used in the experiments. Read More ›
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man standing in front of various paths, needing to make a decision to move forward in life. Generative Ai.

Philosopher: Why Brain Science Does Not Eliminate Free Will

Tim Bayne looks at what we can logically deduce from the famous Libet experiments
The logical argument for free will coincides with recent neuroscience research findings. Read More ›
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3D rendering of a dark cell at night

New Pre-Crime Laws: Real-Life “Minority Report” Coming to Canada?

Americans should NOT assume that “It can’t happen here.” The First Amendment is a constitutional tool, not a magic talisman. It can be undermined
Canadian media that accept Trudeau’s handouts must please the regime more than inform the public. Indies are under heavy fire. Read More ›