Author: Denyse O’Leary | Page 22

Once more unto the breach / 3D illustration of science fiction scene with robot general holding battle hammer rallying his android troops under a stormy dark sky

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 24, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Business and Finance, Censorship, Surveillance

Tagged
Michael K. Cohen}

Oh, Not This Again: “AI Will Rise Up and Destroy Mankind”

_{The advances of AI raise a number of issues, yes. But the intelligences behind these advances are not artificial at all} _{Denyse O'Leary
September 24, 2022

4

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Business and Finance, Censorship, Surveillance}

A new paper from researchers at Oxford University and Google’s Deepmind prophesies that “the threat of AI is greater than previously believed. It’s so great, in fact, that artificial intelligence is likely to one day rise up and annihilate humankind … Cohen says the conditions the researchers identified show that the possibility of a threatening conclusion is stronger than in any previous publication.” (MSN, September 15, 2022) How? Why? The research paper predicted life on Earth turning into a zero-sum game between humans and the super-advanced machinery. Michael K. Cohen, a co-author of the study, spoke about their paper during an interview. In a world with infinite resources, I would be extremely uncertain about what would happen. In a world Read More ›

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 21, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Tagged
__has-video, Featured, Jay Richards, John Lennox, Nick Bostrom, Robert J. Marks, Selmer Bringsjord, Sophia the Robot, video}

Science Uprising 10: Asking the Impolite Questions About AI

_{Specifically about the big AI Takeover. Let's get past the TED talks} _{Denyse O'Leary
September 21, 2022

6

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

In Episode 10 of Science Uprising (September 21, 2022 10:35 min), we get a look at why — despite ultra-fashionable TED Talk-style doomsday claims — computers are not taking over. The short film starts with Sophia the Robot, that some hope will play a big role in health care for seniors: “Hello, world.” (0:13) “What emotion do you feel being awake in life?” “Curious.” Great. (Yikes…!) The film then cuts to the Oxford Future of Humanity Institute’s Nick Bostrom who announces to an enthralled gathering, “Machine intelligence is the last invention that humanity will ever need to make. Machines will then be better at inventing than we are now, as superintelligence with such technological maturity would be extremely powerful and Read More ›

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 18, 2022

Categorized
Philosophy, Physics, Theism

Tagged
Laszlo Bencze, Quentin Persifor Smith}

Why Philosopher Quentin Smith Saw Belief in God as Unscientific

_{Reader Laszlo Bencze looks at his list of reasons for thinking so and offers some thoughtful comments} _{Denyse O'Leary
September 18, 2022

5

Philosophy, Physics, Theism}

In the first part of the discussion between Robert Lawrence Kuhn and Western Michigan University philosopher Quentin Persifor Smith (1952–2020) at Closer to Truth, “What Does a Fine-Tuned Universe Mean?” (Aug 31, 2022), Dr. Smith asserted that — while physicists may write about the fine-tuning of our universe in books aimed at the public — they do not discuss it in peer reviewed journals. Jonathan Bartlett supplied a number of references to such discussions in journals. In this second part of the discussion, Kuhn gave the floor to Dr. Smith to explain why he thought that belief in God is unscientific. A partial transcript follows, with some notes and comments interspersed: Quentin Persifor Smith: (7:20) But I think the real Read More ›

Portrait of paparazzi in a row with cameras and microphone

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 16, 2022

Categorized
Media

Tagged
Mainstream media decline, Pierre Poilievre}

Tales From Why Mainstream Media Don’t Matter Like They Used To

_{Two incidents highlight their declining ability to just plain report. That’s BECOME the news story in many situations} _{Denyse O'Leary
September 16, 2022

5

Media}

Recently, I wrote about the way mainstream media (MSM), facing a steep and steady decline in profitability, public interest, and public trust, have reached the point where politicians can ignore them with impunity. The politicians haven’t changed; rather, the voters have. MSM probably don’t play nearly as big a role in how voters (and consumers) make up their minds today as do social media — after all, social media is where the advertising dollars have gone, and it’s probably no accident… No longer needed for basic information, MSM now mainly advertise the views of a social elite to the public. A longtime newsman recently mourned the loss of objectivity, but the transition to upscale soapbox has made that loss inevitable Read More ›

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 8, 2022

Categorized
Philosophy of Mind, Physics, Science

Tagged
God (nature of God), Julian Baggini, Origin of life hypotheses, qualia, Robert Lawrence Kuhn}

Philosophy: Can Red Have “Redness” If No Self Perceives It?

_{As Closer to Truth’s Robert Kuhn interviews philosopher Julian Baggini, they now tackle the question of “qualia” — part of the nature of conscious experiences} _{Denyse O'Leary
September 8, 2022

9

Philosophy of Mind, Physics, Science}

Yesterday, we looked at philosopher Julian Baggini’s argument that the unified self is an illusion. He spoke about this in the context of a discussion with Closer to Truth’s Robert Lawrence Kuhn. Kuhn, nearly midway through, steers the conversation toward qualia, that is, the inner experience we have of things. Red, an often-used example, is a color in the spectrum but it is also, for many, an experience. Serious and influential books have been written (2005 and 2017) about the history of the color and the experiences it evokes. Questions are interspersed between exchanges in the transcribed dialogue: Robert Lawrence Kuhn: (3:23) Let’s distinguish two factors that are flying around here. One is the concept of self — what it Read More ›

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 7, 2022

Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Julian Baggini, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Self as concept}

Another Philosopher Argues That the Unified Self Is an Illusion

_{At Closer to Truth, Lawrence Kuhn interviews Julian Baggini, who claims, in terms reminiscent of Thomas Metzinger, that a unified self is an illusion} _{Denyse O'Leary
September 7, 2022

7

Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind}

University of Kent philosopher Julian Baggini, author of The Great Guide: What David Hume can teach us about being human and living well (2021), was interviewed recently by Robert Lawrence Kuhn at Closer to Truth (September 1, 2022). In the interview, Dr. Baggini asserted that, while consciousness is not an illusion, a unified self that persists through time is: Here is a partial transcript, interspersed with questions that arise from the discussion: Robert Lawrence Kuhn: Julian, my own internal feeling of awareness my consciousness seems like the most obvious fundamental thing in the world. You tell me it’s an illusion Why? Julian Baggini: (0:11) To be honest, consciousness isn’t an illusion. I mean clearly there’s awareness of the world. I Read More ›

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 5, 2022

Categorized
Panpsychism, Religion, Spirituality

Tagged
Apophatic theology, Philip Goff}

Can Religion Without Belief “Make Perfect Sense”?

_{Philosopher Philip Goff, a prominent voice in panpsychism, also defends the idea of finding meaning in a religion we don’t really believe} _{Denyse O'Leary
September 5, 2022

5

Panpsychism, Religion, Spirituality}

Durham University philosopher Philip Goff, co-editor of Is Consciousness Everywhere? Essays on Panpsychism (November 1, 2022), has an interesting take on religion. While it’s common to assume that religious people are “believers,” he thinks that people can meaningfully be part of a religion without actually believing in it: But there is more to a religion than a cold set of doctrines. Religions involve spiritual practices, traditions that bind a community together across space and time, and rituals that mark the seasons and the big moments of life: birth, coming of age, marriage, death. This is not to deny that there are specific metaphysical views associated with each religion, nor that there is a place for assessing how plausible those views Read More ›

Man atheist throws all religions in the trash

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 4, 2022

Categorized
Philosophy, Religion, Spirituality

Tagged
Atheism, New Atheism, Scott Alexander}

Analysis: Can “Communitarian Atheism” Really Work?

_{Ex-Muslim journalist Zeeshan Aleem, fearing that we are caught between theocracy and social breakdown, sees it as a possible answer} _{Denyse O'Leary
September 4, 2022

6

Philosophy, Religion, Spirituality}

Zeeshan Aleem, an American journalist raised as a Muslim — but now an atheist — views his country as caught between “the twin crises of creeping theocracy and the death of conventional religion.” He seeks a new kind of atheism — communitarian atheism — as part of a solution: A rapidly increasing share of Americans are detaching from religious communities that provide purpose and forums for moral contemplation, and not necessarily finding anything in their stead. They’re dropping out of church and survey data suggests they’re disproportionately like to be checked out from civic life. Their trajectory tracks with a broader decades-long trend of secular life defined by plunging social trust, faith in institutions, and participation in civil society. My Read More ›

press and media camera ,video photographer on duty in public new

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 31, 2022

Categorized
Media

Tagged
News aggregators, search engines}

Longtime Newsman Mourns the Loss of Objectivity in Media

_{Peter Menzies notes that news media today are “overflowing with agenda-driven employees intent on publicizing their own opinions”} _{Denyse O'Leary
August 31, 2022

4

Media}

Reporter and editor Peter Menzies reflects on mainstream news media journalists’ revolt against objectivity in recent years. It’s not a pretty picture: News organizations overflowing with agenda-driven employees intent on publicizing their own opinions while suppressing or ejecting anyone guilty, in [Bari] Weiss’s words, of “Wrongthink,” have proliferated across North America. The Washington Post, for example, has had to battle its own reporters over their social media activism. Staff at National Public Radio, the U.S.’s federally funded, not-for-profit network, demanded and last year received the right to participate in demonstrations and voice political opinions in public. Peter Menzies, “Objectivity: What Journalists Hate but the Public Still Craves” at C2C Journal (August 31, 2022) Menzies, a Canadian, cites similar examples from Canada, where the overall situation Read More ›

Woman in bedroom terrified by big spider crawling over her bed

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 31, 2022

Categorized
Ethics, Human exceptionalism, Natural Intelligence

Tagged
David M. Peña-Guzmán, When Animals Dream (book)}

Should Spider Dreaming Really Give Us “Ethical Pause”?

_{The incidental discovery of REM sleep in spiders is morphing into vast claims that we have “urgent and inexorable ethical obligations” to them and other life forms} _{Denyse O'Leary
August 31, 2022

4

Ethics, Human exceptionalism, Natural Intelligence}

Anyone familiar with the current “animal consciousness” scene might have seen this one coming. At The Scientist, we learned earlier this month that animals dream, according to researcher David M. Peña-Guzmán. Recently, it was spiders that were found to dream. Therefore, it is now implied, human and animal consciousness do not differ very much: In When Animals Dream, I argue that the mere fact that animals dream poses a formidable challenge to that bastion of traditionalism that is the human-animal divide, raising provocative ethical questions about the status of animals as moral subjects toward whom we have urgent and inexorable ethical obligations. This fact also frustrates the common view that only humans are “cognitively free” because only we can liberate Read More ›

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 29, 2022

Categorized
Human exceptionalism, Panpsychism

Tagged
Paco Calvo, Plants (consciousness issue)}

Yes, Plants May Be Conscious Too, Says Researcher

_{Paco Calvo has authored many papers in respected journals; his view is another instance of panpsychism overtaking materialism in science} _{Denyse O'Leary
August 29, 2022

4

Human exceptionalism, Panpsychism}

At one time, claims for animal consciousness and/or intelligence focused on, say, chimpanzees and dolphins, where the animals were enough like humans that what is meant by intelligence or consciousness was clear. Maybe not clear enough for a philosopher but clear enough for practical purposes. The octopus’s intelligence came as a bit of a surprise because it is an invertebrate. But these comparisons with mammals and birds showed that we were still talking about the same thing. We are now told in science publications that bees feel and think and that spiders dream. As science edges slowly toward panpsychism (all life forms participate in consciousness), we even learn — in science journals — that viruses are intelligent and cells are Read More ›

A man's hand separates people from the Internet. The concept of blocking access to the World Wide Web, self-isolation and traffic filtering. the great firewall. Control over the Internet.

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 25, 2022

Categorized
Censorship, Politics, Social Media

Tagged
Big Tech censorship, Clarence Thomas, John Daniel Davidson, Sam Harris}

Atheist Philosopher Sam Harris Supports Online Political Censors

_{Denyse O'Leary
August 25, 2022

5

Censorship, Politics, Social Media}

Recently, neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris came out in favor of Big Social Media censorship in a Triggernometry YouTube podcast. His comments, as reported in a partial transcript, supported acknowledged BSM efforts to stifle public awareness of of compromising material found on the laptop of Present Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden just prior to the U.S. 2020 election: ‘At that point, Hunter Biden literally could have had the corpses of children in his basement – I would not have cared,’ began the best selling author, who specialises in religion, rationality, and ethics… ‘Now, that doesn’t answer the people who say that it is still completely unfair to not have looked at the laptop in a timely way or to shut Read More ›

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 23, 2022

Categorized
Natural Intelligence, Relationships

Tagged
Dogs}

Study: Dogs Cry for Joy as Well as Pain

_{Recent research has focused on how dogs respond to the world they share with us} _{Denyse O'Leary
August 23, 2022

3

Natural Intelligence, Relationships}

A recent study looked at dogs reuniting with their human friends: When a person is overcome with emotion, their feelings stream down their cheeks. Even positive emotions can turn on the waterworks, as people bawl when they win awards, express love for their partners, or are reunited with a long-lost friend. But these feelings-driven tears may not be a wholly human experience. Dogs can also cry happy tears, according to a study published today (August 22) in Current Biology. Although the animals’ eyes don’t overflow, they well up when they’re reunited with their owners after spending even just hours apart, the researchers found. And they have hunch as to why: a sudden increase in oxytocin, the so-called love hormone, named Read More ›

A brazilian wandering spider (Phoneutria sp.) waits in ambush on a leaf at night in Costa Rica.

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 19, 2022

Categorized
Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience

Tagged
Featured, Günter Bechly, Michael Egnor, Spiders and dreaming, When Animals Dream (book)}

Can Life Forms Like Spiders, That Lack a Neocortex, Really Dream?

_{Paleontologist Günter Bechly argues that it’s highly unlikely. Michael Egnor sides with Aristotle; they dream about what they can perceive} _{Denyse O'Leary
August 19, 2022

5

Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience}

Recently, paleontologist Günter Bechly took issue with neurosurgeon Michael Egnor on the question of whether spiders dream. Egnor was willing to accept the possibility, noting that spiders can dream only about things they can think about: “If spiders and bacteria dream, they dream of flies or chemical gradients, but not of philosophy.” Bechly, on the other hand, thinks it’s a filament too far for the spider (never mind the bacteria) to dream at all: … I tend to concur with those neuroscientists who doubt any organisms possess phenomenal consciousness that lack a neocortex (found only in mammals) or a comparable structure (in birds and maybe cephalopods). Rapid eye movement may indicate neural activity, but the concept of dreaming for me Read More ›

coconut octopus underwater macro portrait on sand

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 18, 2022

Categorized
Natural Intelligence

Tagged
Evolution of intelligence}

Octopuses Create an “Origin of Intelligence” Conundrum

_{Outstandingly bright — with eyes that strikingly resemble ours — yet their ancestors split from mammals and birds 600 million years ago…} _{Denyse O'Leary
August 18, 2022

5

Natural Intelligence}

In a recent book excerpt at Nautilus, James Bridle, author of Ways of Being: Beyond Human Intelligence (2022), reflects on the fact that “Octopus brains are nothing like ours—yet we have much in common.” Like many authors, he reflects on the cephalopod’s extraordinary intelligence, for example, Otto, an octopus living in the Sea-Star Aquarium in Coburg, Germany, first attracted media attention when he was caught juggling hermit crabs. Another time he smashed rocks against the side of his tank, and from time to time would completely rearrange the contents of his tank “to make it suit his own taste better,” according to the aquarium’s director. One time, the electricity in the aquarium kept shorting out, which threatened the lives of Read More ›

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 16, 2022

Categorized
Ethics, Natural Intelligence

Tagged
Michael Egnor}

Animal Mind — Can You Clone Your Beloved Pet’s Personality?

_{People who can charge a great deal for cloning insist that the personality is not cloned… so why do it?} _{Denyse O'Leary
August 16, 2022

5

Ethics, Natural Intelligence}

Michael Egnor has noted that the famous philosopher René Descartes (1596–1650) thought that animals were biological machines that did not have minds at all. Many arguments can be mustered against that view but the recent development of animal cloning may prove a new one. Barbra Streisand brought attention to the business of cloning deceased pets when she had her dog Samantha cloned in 2018 (though the process had been available for more than a decade). The cost? US$35,000 for a cat, $50,000 for a dog, and $85,000 for a horse. That’s hardly spare change yet, we are told, some less well-heeled folk will put off a new car or down payment to bring back a deceased companion: Kelly Anderson never Read More ›

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 11, 2022

Categorized
Human exceptionalism, Natural Intelligence, Panpsychism, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Animal Algorithms (book), Anthropomorphism (and bees), Catherine WIlson, Eric Cassell, Lars Chittka}

What Does It Mean To Say Bees “Feel and Think”?

_{The New Scientist reviewer is unsure that we are ready for such a radical message. Unsure? At one time, it would have been branded “NOT science!”} _{Denyse O'Leary
August 11, 2022

5

Human exceptionalism, Natural Intelligence, Panpsychism, Philosophy of Mind}

Behavioral ecologist Lars Chittka’s book, The Mind of a Bee (Princeton University Press, 2022), is a fascinating detailed description of bee behavior that will cure us of believing that the insect world is devoid of intelligence or sensation. Indeed, in a 2018 essay with Catherine Wilson, Chittka offers many research findings in a shorter format. It’s only in Chapter 11, toward the book’s end, that he makes a controversial claim: From the very start, early in evolution, nervous systems were inseparable from movable bodies with sensors, and developed in order to integrate perception and action. The challenges of survival and self-replication (reproduction) that a moving organism faces are most efficiently met when brain and body are intimately connected, enabling the Read More ›

Macro of a bumblebee collecting nectar on flower

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 5, 2022

Categorized
Ethics, Natural Intelligence

Tagged
Bee sentience, Eric Cassell, Insect sentience}

Bees Feel Pain. And Therefore… Insect Rights?

_{As we learn more from research about how various life forms respond to experiences, a more complex picture may raise political issues} _{Denyse O'Leary
August 5, 2022

5

Ethics, Natural Intelligence}

From an online newsletter from Vox writer Kenny Torrella, we learn of a research study confirming that bumblebees feel pain: In a study published last week in the journal PNAS, researchers in the United Kingdom found that bees make trade-offs about how much pain they’re willing to tolerate in order to get better food. The finding suggests bees aren’t just mindless automata responding to stimuli but rather conscious, feeling creatures that can experience pain and engage in complex decision-making. Kenny Torrella, “Can a bee feel,” Vox (August 5, 2022) The paper is open access. Essentially, the researchers offered bumblebees sugar water in color-cued unheated containers, at solutions of 10%, 20%, 30%, or 40%. Then they introduced a catch: They heated Read More ›

Senior woman with dog on a walk in an autumn nature.

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 3, 2022

Categorized
Natural Intelligence}

Can Old Dogs Learn New Tricks? Scientists Aim To Find Out

_{Not much is known for sure about how dogs age. The Dog Aging Project aims to change that through systematic research programs} _{Denyse O'Leary
August 3, 2022

5

Natural Intelligence}

Founded in 2014, the Dog Aging Project has enrolled 40,000 pet dogs in an effort to understand, among other things, when dogs’ mental functioning reaches its peak and how it declines with age. Researchers at the University of Washington and Texas A&M are tackling the question via veterinary records, DNA samples, health questionnaires and cognitive tests on the dogs. Better understanding and care for aged pets is a key goal, of course: “There’s a lot we just don’t know about how dog cognition changes with age,” says comparative psychologist Evan MacLean, director of the Arizona Canine Cognition Center at the University of Arizona in Tucson and a collaborator on the Dog Aging Project. What is normal cognitive aging? Do early Read More ›

DIGITAL MARKETING new startup project MILLENNIALS Business team hands at work with financial reports and a laptop

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
July 29, 2022

Categorized
Media

Tagged
Matt Taibbi, Media (traditional media)}

The Role Mainstream News Media Really Play in Our Society Today

_{Why, exactly, traditional news media are increasingly out of touch with the public} _{Denyse O'Leary
July 29, 2022

5

Media}

Yesterday, we looked at why politicians can now get away with ignoring news media: The mainstream media are much less influential than they used to be. One reason is that news consumers use the internet to create their own channels. Once-mighty media are reduced to competing with their own readers for mind space and relevance now. The highlighted politicians were Republicans. But their Democrat opponents are surely in the same position. Whether their base turns out to vote for them in sufficient numbers or not, traditional news media are much less likely to influence the decision than in the past. So, if traditional mainstream news media are not as directly influential as they used to be, what role do they Read More ›