An Atheist Argues Against Reason
And thinks it is the reasonable thing to doJustin Smith is leading the way to the abandonment of rationality. There’s not a shred of reason in his essay.
Read More ›Michael Egnor
Can Physics Prove There Is No Free Will?
No, but it can make physicists incoherent when they write about free willIt’s hilarious. Sabine Hossenfelder misses the irony that she insists that people “change their minds” by accepting her assertion that they… can’t change their minds.
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Computers Are No Smarter Than Tinkertoys
Philosopher: You may as well believe that Penn and Teller really do magicPhilosopher Ed Feser wrote a great post recently on why it is irrational to believe that artificial intelligence is really intelligent. He begins with Arthur C. Clarke’s famous observation that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Clarke’s assertion, he points out, can be taken two ways: people can be fooled into thinking that advanced technology is magic and, as a metaphysical assertion, that advanced technology really is magic. He defends the first assertion and, of course, denies the second: There are, however, many people who believe a claim that is analogous to, and as silly as, the metaphysical thesis that sufficiently advanced technology really is magic — namely the claim that a machine running a sufficiently advanced computer Read More ›
Why Apes Are Not Spiritual Beings
Apes do not have language, which enables humans to think about abstract ideasEvery thought has an object, and without language, the only possible object is a physical one, not a spiritual one. Thus, abstract thought presupposes language.
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Does “Alien Hand Syndrome” Show That We Don’t Really Have Free Will?
One woman’s left hand seemed to have a mind of its own. Did it?Alien hand syndrome doesn’t mean that free will is not real. In fact, it clarifies exactly what free will is and what it isn’t.
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Are Electrons Conscious?
A classical philosopher can explain why the belief that everything is conscious is wrongIn response to the utter inadequacy of materialism to account for the mind, several philosophers have suggested panpsychism as a solution to the mind–body problem. Here's why not.
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Scientism is not a cure for stupidity
But never mind, quite a few science savants have rushed in fearlesslyA science writer tackled a big issue recently: stupidity. Who does he ask? Why, scientists of course. Surprisingly enough, it’s a question few scientists have grappled with, perhaps out of a desire not to wade into a subject that could so easily offend. After all, the field of intelligence studies is rife with controversy. Ross Pomeroy “What is Stupidity?” at Real Clear Science But never mind, quite a few science savants, unafraid to offend, have rushed in: Evolutionary biologist David Krakauer, President of the Santa Fe Institute,told Nautilus, “Stupidity is using a rule where adding more data doesn’t improve your chances of getting [a problem] right. In fact, it makes it more likely you’ll get it wrong.” I won’t contradict Read More ›
The Real Reason Why Only Human Beings Speak
Language is a tool for abstract thinking—a necessary tool for abstraction—and humans are the only animals who think abstractlyIn his discussion of why only humans have language, science writer Tom Siegfried gets a lot right, but he misses the crucial reason.
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But Is Determinism True?
Does science show that we fated to want whatever we want?Modern science—both theoretical and experimental—strongly supports the reality of free will.
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How Can Mere Products of Nature Have Free Will?
Materialists don’t like the outcome of their philosophy but twisting logic won’t change itAlthough most compatibilists have a more or less materialist view of nature, they find it impossible to shake the conviction that free will is real.
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Could Your Computer Be Transgender?
A shift in basic philosophy can account for the new dogma that biological sex is a matter of culture and choice
How the Internet Turns Coffee Klatches into Mobs
A philosopher sheds light on how the Covington high school kids became America's Most Hated
The Junk Science of the Abortion Lobby
Fetuses not only experience pain but experience it more intensely than do adults
In One Sense, Consciousness IS an Illusion…
We have no knowledge of the processes of our consciousness, only of the objects of its attention, whether they are physical, emotional, or abstract
How is Human Language Different from Animal Signals?
What do we need from language that we cannot get from signals alone?
Hamlet: Did his perplexing neurotransmitters cause the tragedy?
The neuroscientist working from a mechanical perspective would study the material and efficient causes of Hamlet’s act of revenge.
Yes, your brain is a machine—if you choose to see it that way
As a Nobel Prize physicist pointed out, our method of study determines what we learnAnil Seth, a Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, gave a TED talk recently (linked below) in which he asserted that “the combined activity of many billions of neurons—each one a tiny biological machine—is generating our conscious experience…” So, is your brain really a biological “machine”? Or is that just an analogy, like saying that a restaurant kitchen is a “hive” of activity? If so, how good is the analogy? Why do we select the analogy of a “machine” rather than a different one? It’s an important question, as we will see, because the questions we ask of nature constrain the answers we obtain. A machine is an artifact. It is a human-built assembly of Read More ›
Does brain stimulation research challenge free will?
If we can be forced to want something, is the will still free?
Does your brain construct your conscious reality? Part II
In a word, no. Your brain doesn't "think"; YOU think, using your brain