Denyse O'Leary
Babies learn much language in the first six months post-birth
Wild baboons flunk the mirror self-awareness test
At LinkedIn, Covid myths still rule. Here’s a post they removed
The Subtle Ways That Science Writing Erases Human Exceptionalism
Stone tool use among animals versus the Stone Age provides a useful illustration of the tendency
AI Specialist Explains Why AI Can’t Replicate Human Experience
A profound recent experience crystallized the difference for him between brain and machine
Scientists Wrestling With Human Consciousness Are In For the Win
Yet they can’t win because what they are doing amounts to a form of shadow boxing
Daniel Dennett Made Atheism Easy to Understand
In the process, he somehow also made it less believable
Will a White House press shakeup change how news is delivered?
In December, we asked, “Can the White House ‘Mean Girl’” media be reformed?” We were looking at at journalist Mike Cernovich’s comments on the way that the White House press corps controls national political news in the United States: The White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) has the power to control seat assignments and credentialing. When you walk inside the briefing Read More ›
Is Science in Our Frame of Reality Inevitably Incomplete?
It’s becoming increasingly obvious that human consciousness isn’t a material phenomenon like any other; it has one foot in time and another in eternity
Are Churches Becoming Victims of Stockholm Syndrome?
In a new book, John West looks at the problem of evangelical church leaders adopting the belief systems of their opponents, perhaps to stay safe
Trudeau Resigns: Canada’s Media Control Bills Are Stymied For Now
Is the Woke war on reality beginning to stall? In Canada, it is a war not only on math, science, and biology, but also history
How touchy were Zuck’s Facebook censors? This touchy…
Facebook Fact-checkers, Facing Doom, Call Urgent Meeting
One possible interpretation is that Zuckerberg was as afraid of these freelance censors as anyone else and saw a chance to neutralize the threat
Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook To Lighten Up on Censorship
He wants to move away from moderation and more towards a Community Notes approach
Scientific American goes Woke on cats and water
The tech mag staff vs the online agents of chaos?
Edge of Sentience Summarizes Research on Animals’, AIs’ Feelings
And animal rights laws as well. But there is a dark side to Jonathan Birch’s approach too…Philosophy prof Jonathan Birch, principal investigator of the Animal Sentience Project at the London School of Economics, has written a book on whether and how animals feel things: The Edge of Sentience (Oxford University Press 2024). It’s not as arcane a topic as it might at first appear. It shows up in new legislation and think tanks. At Amazon, we learn, for example, “In 2021, he led a review for the UK government that shaped the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022. In 2022-23, he was part of a working group that investigated the question of sentience in AI.” And as Birch told Marc Bekoff at Psychology Today, I’m probably best-known for my work on invertebrate sentience, which is one part Read More ›
Wokeness Poisons Atheism Too: The Tale of Jerry Coyne
When evolutionary biologist Coyne questioned Woke “gender” claims, the Freedom From Religion Foundation removed his article, citing the “distress” he caused