Are Monkeys with Some Human Genes Partly Human?
If they are somewhat smarter than other macaques, do they have minds and souls?In my ongoing dialogue with Querius, I say no; a human is not reducible to a handful of genes.
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We See the Pattern! — But Is It Real?
It’s natural to imagine that a deep significance underlies coincidencesUnfortunately, patterns are not always a source of information. Often, they are a meaningless coincidence like the 7-11 babies this summer.
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Why Some Scientists Think Science Is an Illusion
It’s a useful illusion, they say, but our brains are not really wired to know the facts
Human-Ape Similarity Shows Humans Are Exceptional
If man is an animal biologically, but so unlike an animal cognitively, the obvious implication is that some aspect of the human mind is not biologicalIronically, if humans and apes were biologically more different, materialists could claim that the material biological differences rather than immaterial spiritual differences account for our powers of abstract thought. The biological similarity precludes such an argument.
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Why Some Scientists Believe the Universe Is Conscious
They’re not mystics. But materialism is not giving good answers so they are looking aroundThese prominent thinkers are driven to panpsychism because materialism about the mind doesn’t really work. So if panpsychism ends up seeming absurd, dualism—there really is an immaterial world—is also worth considering.
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No Materialist Theory of Consciousness Is Plausible
All such theories either deny the very thing they are trying to explain, result in absurd scenarios, or end up requiring an immaterial interventionConsciousness is the biggest problem for materialism. How is it possible that a bunch of particles that are devoid of consciousness get together and cause consciousness?
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Should Engineers Think Like Computers?
To limit ourselves to the symbolic logic that computers can do is to leave our humanity behind
A Materialist Neuroscientist Continues the Argument with Himself
On the topic of “intellectual seizures,” he seems committed to both points of viewI assert that intellectual seizures do not exist. Dr. Ali asserts that they do exist and that they do not. The difference between their existence and their non-existence seems to be Dr. Ali’s rhetorical needs of the moment.
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Is the Human Mind a Computer?
As a software engineer, I'd say we need to be clear what the question is before answering itOnce we understand clearly what a computer is, we will see why consciousness is not a form of computation.
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We went back to visit Gödel, Escher, and Bach…
Forty years after publication, how has a big explain-the-mind book withstood the test of time?Is there evidence that human minds function like computers and can soon be reproduced in software, as Hofstadter believed?
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Chinese Technocracy Surges Ahead with AI Surveillance
So what do the reservations expressed, about “the soul” and “love,” really mean?Both big tech entrepreneurs Kai-Fu Lee and Jack Ma seem to believe in souls but do not believe that souls can be trusted with freedom, the way governments can.
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Can Materialism Explain Abstract Thought? Part II
Now Dr. Ali argues with Dr. AliI know of no report in medical history of an abstract thought evoked by a seizure or by brain stimulation. Which is odd, if the brain causes abstract thought.
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If Thinking Can Heal, Why Do We Need Antidepressants?
J.P. Moreland, who struggles with anxiety disorders, likens medications to engine oil for the brain“If you’re driving your car and you’re low or don’t have any oil, parts of the engine are going to rub against one another and it’s going to cause a lot of friction and dysfunction.”
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Researchers: Apes Are Just Like Us!
And we’re not doing the right things to make them start behaving that way…In 2011, we were told in Smithsonian Magazine, “‘Talking’ apes are not just the stuff of science fiction; scientists have taught many apes to use some semblance of language.” Have they? If so, why has it all subsided? What happened?
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What Is Abstract Thought? A Reply to Dr. Ali
Abstract thoughts cannot arise from material things because a cause cannot give what it does not haveDr. Ali’s deeper fallacy—deeper than his misunderstanding of the research—is his belief that mere complexity of material processes is sufficient to explain immaterial processes.
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Up! Up! Up! Keep Those Hippocampi Up!
The lighter side of neurobabble about our brains and ourselvesNeurobabble is a full-employment campaign for neuroscientists. Recast obvious social or psychological facts as brain events and you’ll never be out of work.
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If the Mind Is Immaterial, Is Human Cloning Impossible?
I agree with Mike Egnor that the mind is immaterial but I don’t think human cloning is impossibleThere are, of course, empirical implications of both the materialist and non-materialist understanding of the human mind. But the success of human cloning won’t weigh on the question one way or the other.
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Can fitter brains help us fight depression?
Philosopher J. P. Moreland continues his account of working his way through a devastating anxiety disorder"Anxiety and depression are largely—not entirely but largely—habit. And those habits are ingrained in the different members of our body," Moreland explains.
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Three reasons why humans won’t be cloned
I am prepared to subject my belief that humans cannot be cloned like Dolly the sheep to the testBoth materialist and immaterialist theories of the mind should be subject to empirical testing—neither should be exempt.
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Are Lab-Grown Human Brains the Next Big Thing?
Neurosurgeon Michael Egnor thinks the hopes for humanly conscious lab-grown brains are faint indeed“Neural tissue grown in a lab cannot have intentionality unless it has sense organs,” Egnor says, “But such manufactured intentionality can only be about concrete things, not abstract things.”
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