Author: News

A trio of woolly mammoths trudges over snow covered hills. Behind them, mountains with snow covered peaks rise above dark green forests of fir trees. 3D Rendering

^{Type
brief

News
Date
February 21, 2025

Tagged
Brian Handwerk, Kostenki site, Mammoth bone circles, Tibi Puiu}

Mammoth bone structure of 24,000 years ago illuminates Stone Age

_{News
February 21, 2025

3

Uncategorized}

One of about 70 such structures, it is, in one science writer's view, "one of the most surreal ancient structures ever built." Read More ›

generative ai overview for project managers fund invetment and data analysis.

^{Type
post

News
Date
February 21, 2025

Categorized
Artificial general intelligence (AGI), Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Featured, halting problem, Pat Flynn, Roger Penrose (on consciousness), Singularity, Winston Ewert}

AGI, the Halting Problem and the Human Mind

_{Pat Flynn continues the conversation with Dr. Winston Ewert} _{News
February 21, 2025

3

Artificial general intelligence (AGI), Philosophy of Mind}

According to Ewert, Ray Kurzweil’s famed Singularity is not possible because AI cannot create an intelligence greater than itself. Read More ›

Chatbot in a modern GPU card 3D rendering

^{Type
brief

News
Date
February 21, 2025

Categorized
Artificial general intelligence (AGI), Large Language Models (LLMs)

Tagged
Anil Ananthaswamy, Chatbots and AGI}

Programmers admit fundamental limits to chatbot thinking

_{News
February 21, 2025

3

Artificial general intelligence (AGI), Large Language Models (LLMs)}

Curiously, that’s not what the AI celebs are saying. They're promising the moon. We can believe the celebs or the hands-on programmers. Read More ›

The Spread of Misinformation on Social Media, Examining the role of social media in the dissemination of false information and its consequences on society

^{Type
brief

News
Date
February 21, 2025

Categorized
Censorship, Disinformation, Large Language Models (LLMs)

Tagged
Andrew Torrance, Hallucination (AI), Jeff Hancock, misinformation, Morgan Kromer}

Misinformation scholar becomes a star example of the problem

_{News
February 21, 2025

2

Censorship, Disinformation, Large Language Models (LLMs)}

Starting the day with a bit of natural irony: A misinformation expert was found to be inadvertently using fake citations in a court case. Read More ›

^{Type
brief

News
Date
February 20, 2025

Categorized
Ethics, Peer Review

Tagged
Retractions (by nation), Richard Van Noorden}

Which universities have the most science papers retracted?

_{News
February 20, 2025

2

Ethics, Peer Review}

Chatbots may make the problem harder to spot but one outcome of attempts to address the problem is a spike in new research integrity tools. Read More ›

Servers data center room with bright bokeh light going through the corridor 3D rendering

^{Type
brief

News
Date
February 20, 2025

Categorized
Business and Finance, Data Privacy

Tagged
Dell Cameron, Dhruv Mehrotra, Google selling data}

Wired: Google ads target sensitive user info, despite rules

_{News
February 20, 2025

3

Business and Finance, Data Privacy}

The more a data set can pinpoint specific users, the more profitable it will be to acquire and sell. Read More ›

Studio office house the laptop Camera and drone gear for editor man or freelance Vlogger

^{Type
brief

News
Date
February 18, 2025

Categorized
Social Media

Tagged
Ethan Zuckerman, Ryan McGrady et al., Thomas Germain, YouTube statistics}

Researchers reveal some closely guarded YouTube secrets

_{News
February 18, 2025

3

Social Media}

The median number of views for one of YouTube’s nearly 15 million videos is only 41 and only 0.21% are monetized. It’s mostly Amateur Hour. Read More ›

A pile of research journals and books on a desk, with sticky notes marking important studies

^{Type
brief

News
Date
February 17, 2025

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models (LLMs), Peer Review, Science

Tagged
Cyril Labbé, Frederik Joelving, Guillaume Cabanac, Model collapse (science papers), Problematic Paper Screener}

Are fake science papers becoming a danger, not just a nuisance?

_{News
February 17, 2025

3

Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models (LLMs), Peer Review, Science}

AI automates frauds that would have taken much longer to perpetrate using traditional methods — but researchers are developing screening tools to combat fakery. Read More ›

^{Type
brief

News
Date
February 16, 2025

Categorized
Religion, Science

Tagged
Barry Arrington, Eratosthenes, Flat earth claims}

Did people really think Earth was flat centuries ago?

_{News
February 16, 2025

4

Religion, Science}

Lawyer Barry Arrington shows that fashionable supporters of Darwin were attempting to weaken the influence of Christianity by constructing such myths. Read More ›

Artificial intelligence and mind backdrop

^{Type
post

News
Date
February 14, 2025

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Computational theory of mind (CTM), Goldbach Conjecture, halting problem, Intelligent design of human mind, Pat Flynn, Robert J. Marks, Winston Ewert}

The Human Mind’s Sophisticated Algorithm and Its Implications

_{Winston Ewert argues that if some human cognition is algorithmic, that fact does not necessarily support a purely naturalistic view of intelligence} _{News
February 14, 2025

4

Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind}

Ewert also notes that recognizing human cognition as, in part, an algorithm raises deeper questions about the origin and sophistication of that algorithm. Read More ›

Side view close-up, apple on laptop, healthy snack based on fruit.

^{Type
brief

News
Date
February 14, 2025

Categorized
Education

Tagged
Charter schools, Keri Ingraham, National test scores, School choice}

U.S. educational test scores remain low, despite public funding

_{News
February 14, 2025

2

Education}

Ingraham thinks competition among education options will help improve schools. but parent oversight is still needed. Charter schools, for example, may fail. Read More ›

^{Type
brief

News
Date
February 13, 2025

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Tagged
Brutalist (2024), De-aging and AI, Featured, Irishman (2019), Model collapse (films), Oscars and AI}

Film Academy ponders mandatory disclosure of AI use in films

_{News
February 13, 2025

3

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

Will de-aging venerable stars and giving them AI "foreign" accents spur model collapse in films by constantly recycling old stuff instead of finding fresh stuff? Read More ›

^{Type
brief

News
Date
February 13, 2025

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance

Tagged
AI bubble, Dot.com bubble, Gary Smith, Jeffrey Funk}

Funk and Smith at MarketWatch: AI is staring at another bubble…

_{News
February 13, 2025

2

Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance}

AI companies have far less revenue than did dot-com companies before the burst; their revenue is 50 times smaller. Read More ›

Media Interview - journalists with microphones interviewing formal dressed politician

^{Type
brief

News
Date
February 13, 2025

Categorized
Media, Politics

Tagged
Associated Press as government-funded, Politico as government funded}

Politico strikes back against US government funding charge

_{News
February 13, 2025

2

Media, Politics}

Despite the angry denials, government data shows that key media outfits found a huge new source of income when Joe Biden took power in January 2021. Why? Read More ›

Team of scientists working in a laboratory, carefully conducting experiments and analyzing data. Generative AI

^{Type
post

News
Date
February 12, 2025

Categorized
Peer Review

Tagged
Catherine Offord, Gatekeeping in journals, Greg Piper, Journal of the Academy of Public Health, Martin Kulldorff}

New Science Journal Strives for Openness, Fairness, In Peer Review

_{Skeptics worry that the new journal "will be used to sow doubt about scientific consensus"} _{News
February 12, 2025

5

Peer Review}

We are told that a dozen of the scientists involved are in the top 1% of their fields in terms of citations so qualifications don’t seem to be an issue. Read More ›

Man hand using digital chatbot for provide access to information and data in online network.Artificial intelligence.

^{Type
brief

News
Date
February 11, 2025

Categorized
Large Language Models (LLMs), Work

Tagged
AI and critical thinking skills}

Microsoft study: Use of chatbots reduces critical thinking skills

_{News
February 11, 2025

3

Large Language Models (LLMs), Work}

By definition, we can’t allow chatbots to do our thinking for us and still offer an original take on a topic. For some, that’s a solution, not a problem. Read More ›

^{Type
brief

News
Date
February 11, 2025

Categorized
Ethics, Logic

Tagged
Bill Dembski, Monkey's Paw (1902), MrBeast}

Bill Dembski on MrBeast, ethics, and small probabilities

_{News
February 11, 2025

3

Ethics, Logic}

He reflects on MrBeast's 2022 question, would you take $10,000 provided a random person dies. Nearly 45% of the audience said yes… Read More ›

2 UAPS / Ufos in the night sky at a beach. UFO UAP Sighting at night

^{Type
brief

News
Date
February 8, 2025

Categorized
Cosmology, Politics

Tagged
Daniel Lippman, FBI and UFOs/UAPs, Marco Rubio, Mike Waltz, Politico as government funded}

The FBI has its own UFO tracking bureau…

_{News
February 8, 2025

2

Cosmology, Politics}

Presumably, to avoid layoffs, the FBI’s challenge will be to demonstrate that it can do things about UFOs/UAPs that the Pentagon can’t. Read More ›

^{Type
brief

News
Date
February 8, 2025

Categorized
Cosmology

Tagged
Barry Arrington, Goldilocks planet arguments, Ptolemy vs. Copernicus}

Now welcoming you to the Big Universe, Goldilocks Planet section…

_{News
February 8, 2025

5

Cosmology}

Barry Arrington looks at claims that Earth cannot be very special or important because we have only just discovered that the universe is very big. Not so. Read More ›

^{Type
brief

News
Date
February 7, 2025

Categorized
Archeology, Artificial Intelligence, Language

Tagged
AI scroll decipherment, Eli Wizevich, Indus Valley civilization mystery script, Min Chen, Nisha Yadav, PHerc. 172, Rajesh P.N. Rao, Regina Sienra, Tibi Puiu}

Million-dollar prize offered to decode elusive ancient script

_{News
February 7, 2025

3

Archeology, Artificial Intelligence, Language}

It is a perplexing script because the symbols occur in short strings and there is no Rosetta Stone available for comparison with other languages. Read More ›