^CategoryPhilosophy of Mind

Conceptual art, concept of problem mind psychology freedom and solution, surreal painting, jigsaw puzzle on human head.

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post

Author
Michael Egnor
Date
March 8, 2023

Categorized
Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Catholicism, Consciousness, Darwin, Evolution, free will, Materialism, Matter, Michael Egnor, mind, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind, reason}

Kenneth Miller on Consciousness and Evolution

_{Despite Miller's claims, neither human reason nor free will evolved because neither are generated by material processes} _{Michael Egnor

March 8, 2023

8

Philosophy of Mind}

Kenneth Miller is a biologist at Brown University who has been very active in his written and vocal support for Darwin’s theory of evolution. He’s neither a materialist nor an atheist – he is a Catholic, and in being one of the rare Darwinists who doesn’t subscribe wholeheartedly to the materialist/atheist paradigm, he allows himself to be used as a token theist by the Darwinists. It helps his career, no doubt, but doesn’t advance the truth. Not an admirable place to be. Miller’s New Book and What it Misses In his 2018 book The Human Instinct: How We Evolved To Have Reason, Consciousness, and Free Will, Miller manages a feat uncommon even for Darwinists – even the title of the Read More ›

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post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
January 22, 2023

Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Bruce Greyson, David San Filippo, Erin Heger, Julia A. Nicholson}

Near-Death Experience Research Is Slowly Filling In the Picture

_{When an 87-year-old man was having his brain scanned, he died — unexpectedly — of a heart attack. So, in a rare event, the scan recorded his unanticipated final brain activity} _{Denyse O'Leary

January 22, 2023

5

Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind}

In a survey article at Business Insider, Erin Heger points to several studies that shed light on what happens when we die. She starts by referencing Julia A. Nicholson’s recent account of her own NDE when she was eighteen, as a result of a near-fatal car crash: I didn’t feel any pain but I heard voices around me. I could then hear my sister screaming, “She’s dead, my sister is dead.” So I believed that I must have died. I remember my sister, Allan, and John saying, “If you can hear us, move, or touch something,” but I couldn’t move at all. After I started to regain consciousness, I remember seeing the faces of the people that I loved flashing Read More ›

Mousetrap with a piece of cheese on a dark vintage background. The concept -

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post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
January 18, 2023

Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Alessandra Buccella, Benjamin Libet (free will experiments), free will, readiness potential, Tomáš Dominik}

Finding From Recent Brain Research Supports Free Will

_{Researchers, altering Libet’s classical experiment, found that human brains show no “readiness potential” when a decision is important} _{Denyse O'Leary

January 18, 2023

6

Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind}

Philosopher Alessandra Buccella and experimental psychologist Tomáš Dominik, both at Chapman University, offer some interesting support for free will. Many commentators interpreted Benjamin Libet’s experiments that showed that the brain’s readiness to make a decision (readiness potential) often preceded the subject’s conscious awareness of the choice that had been made. There! they said, that proves that there is no free will: To many observers, these findings debunked the intuitive concept of free will. After all, if neuroscientists can infer the timing or choice of your movements long before you are consciously aware of your decision, perhaps people are merely puppets, pushed around by neural processes unfolding below the threshold of consciousness. Alessandra Buccella, Tomáš Dominik, “Free Will Is Only an Read More ›

Butterfly on a glass ball on the beach refecting the lake and sky

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post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
January 17, 2023

Categorized
Philosophy of Mind, Physics

Tagged
Adam Frank, Bernardo Kastrup, Bruce Greyson, Near-death experiences, Sean Carroll, Sean Carroll on the soul, soul, Standard Model (of physics)}

Physicist: Life After Death Is Incompatible With Physics

_{In 2011, Sean Carroll wrote an essay for Scientific American on why — from a science perspective — our minds must be extinguished at death} _{Denyse O'Leary

January 17, 2023

8

Philosophy of Mind, Physics}

Back in 2011, particle physicist Sean M. Carroll wrote a guest blog at Scientific American, dismissing the idea of life after death or the immortality of the soul. He began by responding to astrophysicist Adam Frank’s reflections at NPR: For myself I remain fully and firmly agnostic on the question. If ever there was a place where firm convictions seem misplaced this is it. There simply is no controlled, experimental verifiable information to support either the “you rot” vs. “you go on” positions. In the absence of said information we are all free to believe as we like but, I would argue, it behooves us to remember that truly “public” knowledge on the subject — the kind science exemplifies — Read More ›

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post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
January 17, 2023

Categorized
Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Consciousness in Asian philosophy, Edward Fitzgerald, Gino Yu, hard problem of consciousness, Heraclitus, PreSocratic philosophers, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, Thales}

A Game Developer Looks at Human Consciousness

_{Gino Yu tries to explain the Asian approach to consciousness to Robert Lawrence Kuhn at Closer to Truth} _{Denyse O'Leary

January 17, 2023

7

Philosophy of Mind}

A few years back, Robert Lawrence Kuhn interviewed game developer Gino Yu at Closer to Truth on the topic, “What is Consciousness?” Consciousness is what we can know best and explain least. It is the inner subjective experience of what it feels like to see red or smell garlic or hear Beethoven. (Jan 18, 2016, 8:34 min) The interview raises some interesting issues. Yu is the founding head of the Multimedia Innovation Center at Hong Kong Polytechnic University: “His main area of research focuses on the application of media technologies to cultivate creativity and promote enlightened consciousness.” (Closer to Truth) So how does he understand consciousness? Selections from the transcript and some notes follow: Robert Lawrence Kuhn: you know I’ve Read More ›

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post

Author
Eric Holloway
Date
January 16, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
ChatGPT, ChatGPT and humans in the loop, Featured, Microsoft, Microsoft and ChatGPT}

Found! ChatGPT’s Humans in the Loop!

_{I am the only writer I’ve been able to discover who is suggesting ChatGPT has humans in the loop. Here is a series of telling excerpts from our last conversation…} _{Eric Holloway

January 16, 2023

10

Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind}

The new ChatGPT chatbot has wowed the internet. While students revel in the autogenerated homework assignments, the truly marvelous property of ChatGPT is its very humanlike interactions. When you converse with ChatGPT you could swear there was a human on the other end, if you didn’t know better. For all intents and purposes, ChatGPT has achieved the holy grail of AI and passed the Turing test, on a global scale. Always quick to snatch a deal, Microsoft is currently in talks to spend a mere $10B to acquire half “the lightcone of all future value.” However, things are not always what they seem. Previously, I pointed out aspects of ChatGPT that implied humans were helping craft the chatbot’s responses. Now, Read More ›

Abstract digital human face. Artificial intelligence concept of big data or cyber security. 3D illustration

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post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
January 12, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Closer to Truth (video series), Consciousness as physical, Hubert Dreyfus (1929–2017), Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), Marvin Minsky (1927–2016), Marvin Minsky on AI capabilities, Physicalism, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Society of Mind (Simon and Schuster 1986), What computers can’t do. (HarperCollins 1978)}

If Consciousness Is Not Physical, How Can an AI Duplicate It?

_{Robert Lawrence Kuhn interviewed Berkeley philosopher Hubert Dreyfus on the question before his death in 2017} _{Denyse O'Leary

January 12, 2023

6

Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind}

At Closer to Truth, Robert Lawrence Kuhn interviewed the late philosopher Hubert Dreyfus (1929–2017) a couple of years back on the question “Is consciousness entirely physical.” The interview was released May 18, 2022 (10:03 min). Here’s the big question about consciousness, our inner experience of what things feel like. Is consciousness a product of the physical world alone? Because if consciousness is the output of the physical brain by itself, however complex, then consciousness as physicalism would defeat those who believe, or hope for, the existence of nonphysical realities. Some philosophers (physicalists) do maintain that consciousness is entirely physical or, more commonly, they dance around the point. For example, philosopher David Papineau said in 2020, “If only we could stop Read More ›

Screaming portrait of capuchin wild monkey

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
January 10, 2023

Categorized
Archeology, Natural Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Brazil, Capuchin monkeys, Ewen Callaway, paleontology, Pedra Furada, Sarah Cascone, Stone tools, Tool use by animals}

Study: Monkeys, Not Humans, Likely Made Ancient Brazilian Tools

_{The stone objects, dated from 50,000 years ago, look like the ones made by capuchin monkeys today} _{News

January 10, 2023

4

Archeology, Natural Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind}

There’s a danger in looking too hard for evidence of our ancient ancestors. Sometimes we could be seeing things that aren’t there. One group of stone tools from 50,000 years ago could, it is now suggested, have been made by monkeys: Excavations at Pedra Furada, a group of 800 archaeological sites in the state of Piauí, Brazil, have turned up stone shards believed to be examples of simple stone tools. Made from quartzite and quartz cobbles, the oldest ones appear to be up to 50,000 years old, which would put them among the earliest evidence of human habitation in the Western Hemisphere. However, the tools also bear a striking resemblance to the stone tools currently made by the capuchin monkeys Read More ›

the drawings from the ceiling of Altamira cave in Santillana Del Mar, Cantabria, Spain

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
January 9, 2023

Categorized
Archeology, Arts & Culture, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Becky Ferreira, Ben Bacon, Cave paintings, Kristina Killgrove, Lunar calendar, Melanie Chang, Paul Pettit}

Do Cave Paintings From 20,000 Years Ago Show Symbolic Writing?

_{In an article in the Cambridge Archeological Journal, researchers say they’ve deciphered the dots and Y’s among the animal paintings} _{Denyse O'Leary

January 9, 2023

5

Archeology, Arts & Culture, Philosophy of Mind}

London-based wood carving conservator Ben Bacon has, with academic colleagues, shaken up Ice Age paleontology by demonstrating that the marks on the 20,000-year-old cave paintings of animals found across Europe could be interpreted as a lunar calendar timing their reproductive cycles: Prof Paul Pettitt, of Durham University, said he was “glad he took it seriously” when Mr Bacon contacted him. “The results show that Ice Age hunter-gatherers were the first to use a systemic calendar and marks to record information about major ecological events within that calendar.” News, “Londoner solves 20,000-year Ice Age drawings mystery” at BBC (January 5, 2023) The paper is open access. Bacon had spent many hours both on the internet and in the British Library, studying Read More ›

Lost and confused man walks puzzled on a penrose triangle. Perplexed person looks disoriented ahead, don't know which way to choose. Surreal and conceptual scene, mental maze, optical illusion

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
January 8, 2023

Categorized
Mathematics, Philosophy of Mind, Physics

Tagged
Closer to Truth, Computationalism, Consciousness, Idealism (philosophy), Penrose Triangle, Physicalism, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Roger Penrose, Supervenience}

Nobelist Roger Penrose Talks About His Impossible Triangle

_{At Closer to Truth, the mathematical physicist explains to Robert Lawrence Kuhn how he understands the relationship between mathematics, the mind, and the physical world} _{Denyse O'Leary

January 8, 2023

8

Mathematics, Philosophy of Mind, Physics}

Last month, Robert Lawrence Kuhn interviewed eminent British mathematical physicist Sir Roger Penrose on the relationship between mathematics, the mind, and the physical universe (December 9, 2022/32:00 min). Penrose likes to illustrate the relationship between the three with an “impossible” triangle (see below). Here are a couple of transcribed selections from the first part of the discussion in Part 1*, concerning the Penrose Triangle, with some notes: Robert Lawrence Kuhn: Let’s start with your grand metaphysical framework, your three worlds — three mysteries: the physical world, the mental world, the platonic or mathematical world — each connected to the other two in your famous diagram of an equilateral triangle. What’s the origin of this vision of yours of foundational reality? Read More ›

photorealistic smoke sim in a sci-fi/knolling case - AI Generated

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
January 8, 2023

Categorized
Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Physics

Tagged
Computer Simulation, Dan Falk, free will, Infinite universe, Marcelo Gleiser, Matt Williams, Melvin Vopson, Nick Bostrom, Planetarium Hypothesis}

A Physicist Rejects the Idea That We Live in a Sim Universe

_{At IAI News, Marcelo Gleiser worries that the claim that we are simulated beings with no free will reduces our ability to tackle the problems humanity faces} _{News

January 8, 2023

5

Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Physics}

Dartmouth College physicist Marcelo Gleiser insists that the reality in which we live is not a simulation by advanced aliens or other intelligences — and that the fact that it isn’t is important. As the summary of his essay at IAI News explains, The idea that we are living in a simulation has become commonplace. Elon Musk, for example, thinks it is almost certain we are living in a simulation. But the simulation hypothesis comes up against insurmountable problems, and is, in the end, an excuse for us not to sort out our real moral failings… Marcelo Gleiser, “Reality is not a simulation and why it matters” at IAI News (January 4, 2023) The “simulation” idea may sound pretty far-fetched Read More ›

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post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
January 4, 2023

Categorized
Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Closer to Truth (video series), Conscious realism, Consciousness, Donald Hoffman, Evolution, Idealism, Objective reality, Robert Lawrence Kuhn}

Brain Scientist: Consciousness Didn’t Evolve. It Creates Evolution

_{With a tremor in his voice, Donald Hoffman tells Robert Lawrence Kuhn that even the Big Bang must be understood in a universe where consciousness is fundamental} _{Denyse O'Leary

January 4, 2023

10

Philosophy of Mind}

In a recent episode of Closer to Truth, Robert Lawrence Kuhn interviewed University of California cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman on a challenging topic, “Why did consciousness emerge? (7:41 min, December 10, 2022): There was a time when there was no consciousness in our universe. Now there is. What caused consciousness to emerge? Did consciousness develop in the same way that, say, the liver or the eye developed, by random mutation and fitness selection during evolution? Inner experience seems to be radically different from anything else. Are we fooling ourselves? Donald Hoffman is the author of Visual Intelligence: How We Create What We See and coauthor of Observer Mechanics: A Formal Theory Of Perception (Norton, 2000) A partial transcript and some Read More ›

zen garden meditation stone background with stone and lines in sand for relaxation balance and harmony spirituality or spa wellness

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post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
January 1, 2023

Categorized
Philosophy of Mind, Science

Tagged
Closer to Truth (video series), Consciousness, Consciousness as immaterial, David Chalmers, David Chalmers on dualism, Dualism, Panpsychism, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, soul, Soul in Chalmers' view}

Philosopher: I Accept Dualism But Don’t Believe in the Soul

_{David Chalmers, whose background is in physics, talks to Robert Lawrence Kuhn at Closer to Truth about his struggle to accept that the mind is immaterial} _{Denyse O'Leary

January 1, 2023

10

Philosophy of Mind, Science}

David Chalmers, the New York University philosopher who coined the term “Hard Problem of Consciousness” was willing to take the risk of openly identifying as a dualist — that is, he believes that, on evidence, the human mind is immaterial. On that view, widely accepted worldwide, the human being has a dual nature: a material body and an immaterial mind. But Chalmers draws the line at believing in the existence of a soul. Here is his discussion at Closer to Truth with Robert Lawrence Kuhn, “Is the ‘Soul’ Immortal?” (May 4, 2021, 9:06 min): The claim that human beings have or are an ‘immortal soul’ goes back to the ancient Greeks, if not further. In a pre-scientific world, it would Read More ›

Guilty dog and a destroyed teddy bear at home. Staffordshire terrier lies among a torn fluffy toy, funny guilty look

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
December 29, 2022

Categorized
Free will, Natural Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Alasdair Wilkins, Bjoern Brembs, Free will in animals, Fruit flies and free will, Helen Steward, Jason Palmer, Martin Heisenberg, Robert Doyle}

Do Animals, as Well as Humans, Have Free Will?

_{One can make a case for animal free will in the strict sense that no life form is bound by complete determinism because it doesn't exist} _{Denyse O'Leary

December 29, 2022

7

Free will, Natural Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind}

In 2009, University of Würzburg biology professor Martin Heisenberg wrote a defense of animal free will in Nature, basing his argument on the behavior of flies: For example, my lab has demonstrated that fruit flies, in situations they have never encountered, can modify their expectations about the consequences of their actions. They can solve problems that no individual fly in the evolutionary history of the species has solved before. Our experiments show that they actively initiate behaviour4. Like humans who can paint with their toes, we have found that flies can be made to use several different motor outputs to escape a life-threatening danger or to visually stabilize their orientation in space. Heisenberg, M. Is free will an illusion?. Nature Read More ›

Blue glowing 4 dimensional object in space abstract fractal background

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
December 28, 2022

Categorized
Mathematics, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Flatland (short novel), Modes of Sentience (book), Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes, Tesseract}

Hard Problem of Consciousness Solved?: A 4th Spatial Dimension?

_{Philosopher Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes argues that higher spatial dimensions might hold the key} _{News

December 28, 2022

2

Mathematics, Philosophy of Mind}

This story was #4 in 2022 at Mind Matters News in terms of reader numbers. As we approach the New Year, we are rerunning the top ten Mind Matters News stories of 2022, based on reader interest. In “Hard problem of consciousness solved?: A 4th spatial dimension?” (April 20, 2022), our News division looks at philosopher Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes’ view that higher spatial dimensions might hold the key to the uniqueness of human consciousness. In an abridged chapter of his recent book Modes of Sentience (2021), University of Exeter philosopher of mind, Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes, argues that higher spatial dimensions might hold the key to the hard problem of consciousness:” He is a fan of the More–Broad–Smithies theory of consciousness: The word tesseract was Read More ›

Ritual circle in the oldest temple of world - Gobeklitepe. October 2019.

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
December 28, 2022

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Evolution, Philosophy of Mind, Religion, Theism

Tagged
A Better Ape (Oxford University Press 2022), Early humans, Evolution and culture, Genetics and culture, Religion and culture, Richmond Campbell, Victor Kumar}

Philosophers: Religion, Not Nature, Made Us Human

_{Victor Kumar and Richmond Campbell argue that many very ancient human types had human minds; religion is the missing ingredient} _{Denyse O'Leary

December 28, 2022

5

Arts & Culture, Evolution, Philosophy of Mind, Religion, Theism}

The philosophers who make this claim are not evangelists. Victor Kumar is director of the Mind and Morality Lab at Boston University and Richmond Campbell is the George Munro professor of philosophy emeritus at Dalhousie University. In an essay at IAI News, adapted from their book, A Better Ape: The Evolution of the Moral Mind and How it Made Us Human (Oxford University Press 2022), they argue that “it was the cultural institution of religion, and its ability to create large tribes, that made us into modern humans.” Sometimes there is a story in titles. The official title of this piece is “Nature didn’t make us human, culture did.” The subtitle is “How religion made us a successful species.” But Read More ›

An extreme close up image of metal paper clips

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
December 27, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, Philosophy of Mind, Programming, Religion

Tagged
AI superintelligence, Artificial intelligence and ethics, Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans ( Farrar Straus and Giroux 2019), Intelligence theory, Melanie Mitchell, Nick Bostrom}

Santa Fe Prof Dissects End-of-World Super-AI Claims

_{There seems to be little communication, she notes, between people concerned about sci-fi AI risks and people concerned about predictable everyday risks} _{News

December 27, 2022

5

Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, Philosophy of Mind, Programming, Religion}

Santa Fe Institute professor of complexity Melanie Mitchell takes issue — in a gentle way — with those who warn about the dangers of superintelligent machines (AI alignment) destroying us all: In one scenario, for example, Oxford Future of Humanity Institute’s Nick Bostrom developed a scenario by which a super AI, told to make paper clips, might use up the world’s resources in doing so. Her comment: To many outside these specific communities, AI alignment looks something like a religion — one with revered leaders, unquestioned doctrine and devoted disciples fighting a potentially all-powerful enemy (unaligned superintelligent AI). Indeed, the computer scientist and blogger Scott Aaronson recently noted that there are now “Orthodox” and “Reform” branches of the AI alignment Read More ›

Chatbot conversation. Person using online customer service with chat bot to get support. Artificial intelligence and CRM software automation technology. Virtual assistant on internet.

^{Type
post

Author
Eric Holloway
Date
December 26, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind, Programming

Tagged
Artificial intelligence as sentient, ChatGPT, ChatGPT and humans in the loop, Connie Loizos, Featured, Humans in the loop, Kevin Roose, Sam Altman, Sentience}

Yes, ChatGPT Is Sentient — Because It’s Really Humans in the Loop

_{ChatGPT itself told me there could be humans crafting its input. My tests indicate that that’s likely true} _{Eric Holloway

December 26, 2022

12

Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind, Programming}

OpenAI, recently released a new AI program called ChatGPT. It left the internet gobsmacked, though some were skeptical, and concerned about its abilities. Particularly about ChatGPT writing students’ homework for them! [ChatGPT] also appears to be ominously good at answering the types of open-ended analytical questions that frequently appear on school assignments. (Many educators have predicted that ChatGPT, and tools like it, will spell the end of homework and take-home exams.) Kevin Roose, “The Brilliance and Weirdness of ChatGPT” at New York Times (December 5, 2022) The really amazing thing is ChatGPT’s humanlike responses. They gives an observer an unnerving suspicion that the AI is actually sentient. Maybe it is actually sentient. Wait, what? You heard me. The AI is Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
December 25, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Artificial intelligence as sentient, Clsoer to Truth, Darwin Devolves, Developmental anatomy, Evolution as goal directed, Evolution theory, Max Tegmark, Max Tegmark on transhumanism, Michael Behe, Michael Levin, Robert Lawrence Kuhn}

Physicist Max Tegmark Worries About Intelligent AI’s “Suffering”

_{What strikes me about Tegmark’s approach to the question is its fundamental lack of seriousness} _{Denyse O'Leary

December 25, 2022

8

Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind}

In a recent interview, MIT theoretical physicist Max Tegmark talked to Robert Lawrence Kuhn at Closer to Truth about “transhuman brains” (Dec 20, 2022, 8:43 min): Transhuman brains are the melding of hyper-advanced electronics and super-artificial intelligence (AI) with neurobiological tissue. The goal is not only to repair injury and mitigate disease, but also to enhance brain capacity and boost mental function. What is the big vision, the end goal — how far can transhuman brains go? What does it mean for individual consciousness and personal identity? Is virtual immortality possible? What are the ethics, the morality, of transhuman brains? What are the dangers? Here’s a partial transcript and comments: Max Tegmark: I think it’s pretty clear that artificial intelligence Read More ›

4D Hypercube Tesseract Array Matrix with Trippy Visual Neon Colors - Abstract Background Texture

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
December 25, 2022

Categorized
Philosophy of Mind, Physics

Tagged
Dimensions, Dimensions in mathematics, Dimensions in space, Edwin Abbott (1838-1926)), Fifth dimension, Flatland (short novel), Margaret Wertheim, Physics on the Fringe (Walker 2011), Sixth dimension, String theory, Strong nuclear force, Tesseract, Weak nuclear force}

Are Extra Dimensions of the Universe Real or Imaginary?

_{The human mind can imagine and work with a world that we cannot physically apprehend, that follows the rules of mathematics} _{News

December 25, 2022

6

Philosophy of Mind, Physics}

In a classic 2018 essay, republished recently at Aeon, science writer and artist Margaret Wertheim, author of a number of books, including Physics on the Fringe (Walker Books, 2011), asks us to think about what “extra dimensions” really means: While on the local level we are trained to think of space as having three dimensions, general relativity paints a picture of a four-dimensional universe, and string theory says it has 10 dimensions – or 11 if you take an extended version known as M-Theory. There are variations of the theory in 26 dimensions, and recently pure mathematicians have been electrified by a version describing spaces of 24 dimensions. But what are these ‘dimensions’? And what does it mean to talk Read More ›