Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis
Photo by Gary Fong, Used by Permission, All Rights Reserved

Wesley J. Smith

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little bald girl after chemotherapy session with her caring and supportive brother in a hospital room, supporting family, hope and recovery from cancer

A Compassionate Doctor Keeps Hope Alive

As this story shows, sometimes the hope is not for a cure so much as for assurance that the patient has not been abandoned
There are signs of a needed pushback against a bioethics-driven “just check all the boxes” approach to terminal care where the need for hope is brushed aside. Read More ›
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alien planet landscape, beautiful forest the surface of an exoplanet

Why Life Beyond Earth Would Prove Human Exceptionalism

A science writer thinks that finding life on other planets in our galaxy would somehow put a dent in our “self-importance”
Actually, human minds created sophisticated instruments that project our understanding light years away, using the scientific method that we created. Read More ›
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Beauty injection concept. Syringe with violet liquid for hypodermic injection.

New Jersey Program Aims to Prevent Suicide— Just Not All Suicides

In New Jersey, the self-terminations of people with a prognosis of six months or less ceases to be “suicide” when facilitated by a doctor
Yet terminally ill patients opt for assisted suicide typically because of issues such as fears of burdening family, losing dignity, not untreatable pain. Read More ›
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Aerial View of Coal Fired Power Plant on the Ohio River

Medical Journal Article Urges Mass Propaganda Against Fossil Fuel

Medical intellectuals may be clueless, but most people understand that modern society depends on the ubiquitous use of fossil fuels
Plastic, used in countless medical products, could not be manufactured including artificial heart valves. Irony: Plastic cells are used in solar panels Read More ›
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Surdose

Famed Ethics Prof Endorses Suicide for Old People in New York Times

Peter Singer supports suicide not just for those who are ill now but who fear that they might become so
Do the philosophers not understand how bigoted and anti-intrinsic dignity of life their relativistic assumptions are about when a life is worth continuing? Read More ›
Fetuses in Vials artificial grown, in vitro fertilization of babies, embryo growth future technologies, human cloning vials, fetuses test tubes, babies grown laboratories 3D illustration

How ‘Expedience Ethics’ Busts Through Moral Limits

Under the new definition, an embryo isn’t considered an embryo if it is to be used as research fodder rather than gestated. Read More ›
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Autumn River Tours in Canada illustrated in a clean infographic, showcasing river cruises and canoe trips through scenic waterways like the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa River

New York State: Bill of Rights Proposed for Lakes, Waterways

Imagine the disruption of normal life if waterways could not be used to make a living or be treated as property at all. But that’s the goal
This bill illustrates the expansive and anti-human goals of the nature-rights movement, which is gaining steam every day. Read More ›
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Close-up shot of microscope with metal lens at laboratory.

75% of Scientists in Nature Survey Thinking About Leaving U.S.

But there is less to this "trend" than meets the eye, when we look more closely at the survey
Respondents were self-selected and are probably more ideological or more personally impacted by the changes in approach. Read More ›
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Enteral feeding dropper and a old man patient in the hospital with oxygen mask in the background

Bioethicists Get Legacy of Terri Schiavo Death Wrong

Some bioethicists complain that her protracted starvation death has powered pro-life forces into political prominence
In reality, after the Schiavo case encouraged acceptance, majorities supported such deaths and people with severe brain injuries became a disposable caste. Read More ›
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Kids running up in the forest

Medical Support for “Gender-Affirming Care” Is Cracking

Amid stubborn denials, a new article in a prominent journal admits that the “science” is far from settled and recommends caution, not enthusiasm
States like California that treat parents who refuse to consent to radical procedures as abusers can no longer claim a scientific basis for their policies. Read More ›
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Abstract bacteria, probiotics, gram positive bacteria bacteria and viruses of various shapes against a light background. Concept of science, medicine. Microbiology background. 3d illustration.

In Moral Terms, Are Microbes More Important Than People?

Jeff Sebo advocates widening the moral circle to include, plants, microbes, and computers in a sort of radical equality
With all the talk of morality, I was particularly struck by a category of moral “patients” he fails to discuss: gestating human babies. Read More ›
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A monkey looking at a virus in a close-up shot

PETA Sues NIH: Claims First Amendment Right to Talk to Monkeys

The complaint alleges the animal rights advocates have a right to receive communications from “fellow primates” that are “willing speakers.”
Effective stroke treatment was almost prevented decades ago because animal rights fanatics nearly destroyed the researcher’s career. PETA still brags about it. Read More ›
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Woman yelling into a bullhorn

Stand Up for (Ideological) Science 2025 Day!

The protestors should have rallied against themselves
Trust in the science sector ebbed precisely because the establishment became intolerant of dissent and pushed ideology in the guise of pursuing knowledge. Read More ›
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A Hispanic male patient receives Chemotherapy from a African-American Nurse through a port that is placed in his chest area. A caucasian female nurse looks on. 2010

The Medical Establishment’s Persistent Zeal for DEI in Education

The article’s authors seem to believe that people can be good doctors only for patients who look like them or have similar sexual or identity preferences.
How can we trust a medical establishment bent on dismantling excellence as the primary goal of medical education and on ignoring data contrary to beliefs? Read More ›
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Child with measles symptoms

Steep Turn: RFK Jr. Endorses Measles Vaccine

He notes that measles was already in full retreat by 1960 — before the vaccine’s introduction — thanks to improvements in sanitation and nutrition
He also promoted Vitamin A and oft-neglected strategies like a balanced diet for reducing measles mortality. Is he making science matter again? Read More ›
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handcuffs on the red book of laws. close-up. Black background.

Science Blogger: Make Violating “Scientific Consensus” a Crime

Attitudes like those expressed by Ethan Siegel have cost the scientific sector much of the public’s trust and goodwill.
A properly balanced relationship with expertise won’t be restored by imposing autocratic consensus rules. “Science” really needs less hubris and more humility. Read More ›
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Mature doctor giving a speech on a stage at a conference in front of an audience

Claim: Only Doctors Can Prevent Global Warming

Becoming as political as one medical journal wants would corrode the medical sector’s “unique credibility.”
Few people who are not already fixated on global warming will care what doctors may think about it; most would rather their doctors stick to medicine. Read More ›
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Vials with Sodium pentobarbital used for euthanasia and lethal inyecion in a hospital, conceptual image

Swiss Canton Liberates Suicide Tourism from Police Investigation

Suicidal people are increasingly abandoned to lethal assistance, with steps continually taken to make death easier to access
Predictably, assisted suicides are provided under ever-lessening oversight, to ever-expanding cadres of the eligible, leading eventually to death on demand. Read More ›
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Four silhouettes of people looking at the night sky with a telescope.

Vice President Vance Defends Human Exceptionalism at Munich

The idea that humans are special is under increasing attack by some of society’s most powerful political and cultural forces
Oppression, genocide, discrimination, slavery, and other evils arise from refusing to see us all as equals based upon our common humanity. Read More ›
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Pharmacy Drugstore Checkout Cashier Counter: Mature Female Pharmacist and Young Woman Using Contactless Payment NFC Smartphone to Buy Prescription Medicine, Vitamins, Beauty, Health Care Products

Oregon Bill Would Allow Nondoctors to Prescribe Assisted Suicide

I suspect the categories of providers are expanding because most doctors have no interest in assisted suicide
Usefully, however, the Oregon bill also requires hospices to say whether they participate in assisted suicide, contrary to hospice founders’ intentions. Read More ›