Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

Denyse O'Leary

two-chimpanzees-on-a-large-rock-in-the-zoo-stockpack-adobe-s-731743623-stockpack-adobe_stock
Two chimpanzees on a large rock in the zoo.

Study: Great Apes Point to How Human Language May Have Evolved

What’s revealing in these types of studies is not what the researchers find but what the science media choose to make of them
In reality, where language is concerned, there is a vast gulf fixed. It is not between primates and other mammals but between humans and all other life forms. Read More ›
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Female robot face, Artificial intelligence concept. Generative AI

Philosopher warns of social conflict over AI consciousness

London School of Economics philosophy professor Jonathan Birch thinks many will oppose the exploitation of conscious AI. Read More ›
brain-mind-way-soul-and-hope-concept-art-illustration-surrea-425584966-stockpack-adobe_stock
Brain mind way soul and hope concept art, illustration, surreal mystery artwork, imagination painting, conceptual idea of success

Is Physicalism Dead? And Is Psychology Today Here to Bury It?

Physicalism argues that the mind is simply the activities of neurons in the brain and consciousness is an illusion that they generate
A sense is growing that no matter what stunning neuroscience discoveries we make, we cannot in principle explain E = MC^2 by what Einstein had for breakfast. Read More ›
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Social media and digital online concept, woman using smart phone. The concept of living on vacation and playing social media. Social Distancing ,Working From Home concept.

We are all the media now, whether we like it or not

It’s not even clear that relying on legacy media is a better way to be well-informed any more than citizen journalism is. Read More ›
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close up portrait of a neanderthal child caveman child

Researchers: Did Neanderthal Children Collect “Stuff”?

The items that raise the question are small marine shells found in caves. They were carefully preserved but have no known function. A baby tooth was found in the same area
The study, along with recent studies of Neanderthal tools and stone circles, is making the idea that they were intellectually inferior increasingly untenable. Read More ›
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Colonisation of Mars. Mars base colony in open space. Digitally generated AI image

Why Do Science and Tech Writers Hate Elon Musk?

It's partly because he encourages bottom-up media but also he encourages a sort of vision that is now largely lost
Musk's philosophy of the future: I believe it should be curiosity about the Universe – expand humanity to become a multiplanet, then interstellar, species. Read More ›
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Tide going out on beach in Mexico at sunset with mountains behind

Woke SciAm Editor Resigns in Post-US Election Uproar

Michael Shermer, founding publisher of Skeptic Magazine and former Scientific American columnist, offers a thoughtful response
Shermer writes, "the people promulgating these woke ideas are mostly true believers" and their fervor makes it easier to convince themselves, not others. Read More ›
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Social distance concept. keep spaced between each chairs make separate for social distancing, increasing physical space between people to avoid spreading illness during transmission of COVID-19. 3D

Post-COVID, trust in science said to be on the rise

The article doesn’t really get into the question of why public trust fell so much during the COVID years. Perhaps an anecdote will help. Read More ›
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MRI scan of the brain

At Nature: What Is So Special About the Human Brain?

None of the features identified by neuroscientists explain why humans think about things that other animal life forms don't
While the article is most interesting, somehow, it doesn’t seem like we have learned more about human nature. Human nature isn’t entirely in our brains. Read More ›

Why science is not good evidence for atheism

Fr. Patrick Gorevan (St. Patrick’s Maynooth) offers some thoughts on God and science at Australia’s MercatorNet. He is discussing a recent book, Science at the Doorstep to God (Ignatius 2023) by Fr. Robert Spitzer: How about the extraordinary and unlikely fine-tuning which was needed for life to emerge? Sir Fred Hoyle, an adamant atheist, after discovering the need for exceedingly Read More ›

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A macro shot reveals a bee's intricate legs clinging to a flower's pollen, nature's delicate dance unfolds.

Possible Breakthrough: Bee Gene Specifies Complex Hive Behavior

The researchers used CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors to modify or switch off the dsx gene in selected bees
If the universe is the product of intelligence, in principle, insects could have access to it? But the question is, how, exactly? Read More ›
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Prehistoric hand paintings at the Cave of the Hands (Spanish: Cueva de Las Manos ) in Santa Cruz Province, Patagonia, Argentina. The art in the cave dates from 13,000 to 9,000 years ago.

Do We Need Language To Think? Some Researchers Say No

At one time, it was strictly a philosophical issue but then neuroscientists got involved

A controversy about whether we need language to think pits two MIT scholars against each other: Noam Chomsky (yes) vs. Evelina Fedorenko (no). For a long time, it was only a philosophical issue: Plato saw thinking as a conversation with oneself. If you don’t form concepts into words are you really thinking? Chomsky agreed. But later, neuroscientists like Fedorenko got involved, offering some research findings. Last summer at the New York Times, science writer Carl Zimmer reported, When Dr. Fedorenko began this work in 2009, studies had found that the same brain regions required for language were also active when people reasoned or carried out arithmetic. But Dr. Fedorenko and other researchers discovered that this overlap was a mirage. Part Read More ›

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Two adult young cats black-white and tabby lie together in the green cat's bed

Researchers: Cats can eavesdrop on human conversations — sort of

The researchers were surprised that cats could learn speech sounds without any reward but then knowing what is going on is generally its own reward for the cat. Read More ›
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Flint sparking matchstick for authentic ignition. Concept Fire starting, Survival gear, Camping essentials, Emergency preparedness

Neuroscientist Seeks the First Spark of Human Consciousness

It's a challenge. Human consciousness is very hard to define for the purposes of this kind of research
If we have “prior models of how things ought to be” at birth, aren’t we already conscious? Read More ›
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Two chimpanzees have a fun.

Can Brain Structure Alone Explain Why We Have Language?

How human languages came to exist is an unsolved mystery within science
This recent find in evolution studies is strikingly negative. There is no physical limitation to chimpanzee speech; rather, the limitation is a mental one. Read More ›
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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

Burials from 120,000 years ago: Was it Neanderthals vs. others?

Did ancient peoples believe that the spirits of the dead were protecting the caves they were buried in? Read More ›