Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

CategoryPhilosophy of Mind

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African American teacher writing codes on blackboard, she teaching IT lesson at school

Why the Human Mind Cannot Be Reduced to A Mathematical System

Philosophers Roger Penrose and J.R. Lucas walk us through an argument based on Gödel’s incompleteness theorem

Gödel’s theorem started by upending mathematics nearly a century ago by showing that it is impossible to create a mathematical Theory of Everything.

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view form medical partition taiwanese female in vegetative state resting alone on bed in bright hospital.

Are People in a Persistent Vegetative State Mindless? Maybe Not

They often can and do think. Research in the area helps us understand the relationship between the mind and the brain better

While none of this research is decisive, the materialist paradigm is challenged by awareness in PVS. The dualist perspective better fits the evidence.

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Neuron cell close-up 3D rendering illustration with nervous impulses along dendrites, axon, soma and nucleus. Neuronal brain activity, neuroscience, neurology, anatomy, medicine concepts.

Does Our Humanity Really Depend on “Concept Cells”?

A recently discovered type of brain cell, thought to be unique to humans, codes for a variety of types of information around a single concept

It’s a lot to ask of one type of cell, however unique, that it be what makes humans more intelligent than chimpanzees and that it create language.

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A detailed image of a laboratory white mouse on a structure that mimics neural pathways, highlighting the role of DNA sequencing and genetic research in neuroscience 8K , high-resolution, ultra HD,up3

The Nearly Unfathomable Complexity of Even a Mouse’s Brain

Mapping a small part of a mouse's brain required 1.6 petabytes of data, which is equivalent to 22 years of nonstop high-definition video

If it takes a hundred scientists to map a cubic millimetre of a mouse’s brain, even the material world — never mind the immaterial world of the mind — is not likely to have a simple explanation.

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A human head with glowing neurons in the brain. Generative AI

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

Many philosophers have concluded both from experience and careful consideration that mental phenomena cannot be reduced to neural mechanisms.

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human cells in a blue background, 3d illustration

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

Material cells can only make decisions if specifically structured to follow a blueprint with rules of engagement. Where is the blueprint?

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Mix Media 3D Render - Brain blue fire smoke effect on the black background

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

Whether they continue to push the boundary, or someone else does, they can only bring up so many unaccounted-for facts before it’s time for a revolution.

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Glowing blue and white nebula with stars in deep space.

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

Teilhard noted the same weakness in evolution theory as Thomas Nagel does today: Excluding the origin of mind and consciousness makes it at best half a theory.

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Omega Centuri the largest star cluster in the Earth's sky

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

His writings caught the imagination of many religiously minded people but they seemed more profound than they really were.

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3d rendered illustration of the human brain anatomy

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

While it is quite true that the human brain is very large by animal standards, there is no simple one-on-one relationship between brain size and intelligence.

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Exploring the intricacies of human cognition a dual brain representation in artistic form

Can One Person Really Have Two Different Consciousnesses?

The idea that split-brain surgery can create two separate minds is immortal — in science fiction

Real-world research shows the remarkable resilience of damaged brains housing single minds. Our brains are full of complexities and exceptions to rules.

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Thoughtful female blogger looking away and feeling pondering on ideas for new article at own web page, pensive woman sitting in cafeteria with textbook in hand and thinking about plan for future trip

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

Of his 55,000 brain stimulations that “activated complex networks,” not one generated abstract thought — implying that it is not a “product” of the brain.

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An abstract representation of the human brain with sound waves, symbolizing mind and sound interaction.

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

A recent research paper looks at the way minds work with what’s available, something I often encounter in my practice as a neurosurgeon.

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Dark sphere rests on volcanic rocks, Iceland landscape

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

Darwinian evolution theory allows any state of affairs that dates to eons ago to be called “evolution” even when, as in this case, the facts imply the opposite.

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Brain psychology mind soul and hope concept art, 3d illustration, surreal artwork, imagination painting, conceptual idea

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

The view Murphy outlines at Closer to Truth has more in common with modern materialism than with a traditional Christian understanding of the human soul.

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View on Olduvai gorge in Tanzania

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

The question naturally arises, was the normally developed human mind ever incapable of abstract thought? That’s a challenge to accepted evolution theories.

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Twin embryos inside female uterus, 3D illustration

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

If examples of terminal and paradoxical lucidity in old age are any guide, we should not conclude that children must lack consciousness before a given stage.

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Ability.

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

Is science about following the evidence or about confirming a materialist ideology about science? This is the big neuroscience question of our century.

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A detailed visualization of a human brain with glowing nodes representing neural connections and brain activity, symbolizing neurological science, cognitive function, and advanced biological research

Looking for Consciousness in All the Wrong Places

Reductionism is nonsense, and “consciousness” is not nestled in clusters of neurons

The higher human ability to think abstractly — to reason and will freely — are not physical abilities and do not come from the brain.

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Brain psychology mind soul and hope concept art, 3d illustration, surreal artwork, imagination painting, conceptual idea

Beyond Materialism: Exploring the Mind-Brain Relationship

Neurosurgeon Michael Egnor and philosopher Angus Menuge probe the relationship through philosophy, neuroscience, and information theory

Understanding the mind in terms of information processing, rather than as a byproduct of brain activity, could reshape the debate.

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