CategoryPhilosophy of Mind
The Nature of Mind, Free Will, and Human Uniqueness: A Deep Dive
The book Minding the Brain sparks some interesting discussions about what is really unique about the human mind
How Do Individual Cells Make Decisions?
They have no brains but they solve problems for a purpose and make decisions. Claiming they “evolved” to do so doesn’t answer the question
Scientists Dare To Hint That the Mind Can’t Just Be the Brain
They start with astonishing facts about the brains of caterpillars and worms and end up discussing human near-death experiences
Is the Human Race Evolving Toward a Final Spiritual Unity? Part 2
Teilhard thought that evolution needed to be seen from the inside, viewing humans not only as observers of evolution but also as its products
Is the Human Race Evolving Toward a Final Spiritual Unity? Part 1
Philosopher and paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin thought so but many other thinkers have found his Omega point too simplistic
Did the Enlargement of the Human Brain Depend on Two Genes?
The genes, unique to humans, spurred brain growth when introduced in mice and chimpanzee stem cells
Can One Person Really Have Two Different Consciousnesses?
The idea that split-brain surgery can create two separate minds is immortal — in science fiction
How a Neurosurgeon Showed That Abstract Thought Is Immaterial
Wilder Penfield, one of the first neurosurgeons to split human brains in half to relieve epilepsy, found much more than a treatment
What Damaged Brains Tell Us About the Mind
They often provide mute evidence that the human mind is not simply the output of the brain
Why Did Our Very Ancient Ancestors Collect Ball-Shaped Stones?
Over a million years ago, it seems that some of our ancestors hiked through valleys in East Africa, searching for volcanic spheres
Can Christianity Just Abandon the Idea of the Soul?
Theologian Nancey Murphy thinks that the Christian tradition can do without the idea of a soul, by relying only on faith in a bodily resurrection
Abstract Reasoning in Human Ancestors: Earlier Than Thought?
Researchers say, bone tools were being mass produced 1.5 million years ago in the in Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania
Researchers Ask: When Are Children Conscious Before Birth?
Human consciousness in general is acknowledged to be a Hard Problem and prenatal consciousness is a subset of that
Consciousness: Reductionism’s Final Hill — the One To Die On?
The reductionist has no more information than anyone else about the origin of human consciousness and isn’t making any better sense of the evidence we do have
Looking for Consciousness in All the Wrong Places
Reductionism is nonsense, and “consciousness” is not nestled in clusters of neurons
Beyond Materialism: Exploring the Mind-Brain Relationship
Neurosurgeon Michael Egnor and philosopher Angus Menuge probe the relationship through philosophy, neuroscience, and information theory
How Can We Know If Patients With Split Brains Have a Single Mind?
Just ask themReaders have brought to my attention a review article on the effect of split-brain surgery on consciousness. “Split-Brain: What We Know Now and Why This is Important for Understanding Consciousness” (2020) by Yair Pinto and his colleagues is an interesting open-access article, well worth reading for anyone interested in the topic. From the abstract: [Split-brain surgery] leads to a broad breakdown of functional integration ranging from perception to attention. However, the breakdown is not absolute as several processes, such as action control, seem to remain unified. Disagreement exists about the responsible mechanisms for this remaining unity. The main issue concerns the first-person perspective of a split-brain patient. Does a split-brain harbor a split consciousness or is consciousness unified? The current Read More ›
AGI, the Halting Problem and the Human Mind
Pat Flynn continues the conversation with Dr. Winston Ewert