CategoryPhilosophy of Mind
Near Death: Why Corroborated NDEs Can’t Just Be Explained Away
In some cases, Gary Habermas recounts, patients who had NDEs while in a state of clinical death report dates and numbers that are later found to be accurate
Why Can’t Our Memories Be “Stored” in the Brain?
The image of storing and erasing memories is popular due to computer technology but it is not relevant to how the human mind works
Near-Death: What People Learn When They Are (Briefly) Dead
In this excerpt, Prof Gary Habermas reports that sometimes the returned experiencer says that someone else has died — but the official news only comes later
Prof: There’s a Growing Number of Verified Near-Death Experiences
Gary Habermas notes more than 110 NDEs where experiencers’ detailed reports of what they saw when they were flatlined have been corroborated later
Why, Despite All the Hype We Hear, AI Is Not “One of Us”
It takes an imaginative computer scientist to believe that the neural network knows what it’s classifying or identifying. It’s a bunch of relatively simple math
Prehistoric Children with Down Syndrome Were Valued, Burials Show
The six found so far from one culture, identified by DNA evidence, did not live long but they were buried with grave goods
Philosopher: Non-Materialism Is Fashionable Orthodoxy Now
Non-reductionism, which means that the mind is not simply reducible to the brain, is now well accepted, she argues
A Philosopher Explains: How the Soul Relates to the Body
James Madden explains a philosophical approach to the soul called hylomorphism which, he argues, can benefit neuroscience
What If We Lost the Power to Think Abstractly?
Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges depicts a character whose total recall prevents him from using abstractions, though he recognizes their existence
Palliative Care Doctor: What Dying Feels Like
Although a dying person tends to spend more and more time asleep or unconscious, there may be a surge of brain activity just before death
Hall of Mirrors: The Many Ways Consciousness Baffles Researchers
Does consciousness have a seat at the table? Wait a minute. Isn’t consciousness the table? Or is it?
Is Your Mind Bigger Than the Universe? Well, Look At It This Way…
Surprisingly, there is a way to measure the mind that shows it IS bigger than the universe — informationImagine you’re sitting at home, relaxing in your favorite easy chair. Go on, kick your legs up. Feel your limbs releasing the stress of the day, starting from the extremities, and progressing up your core to your head. Now, let your mind expand. Let go of what is holding your mind down. Feel it become free, outside of everything around it. Let the feeling continue until your mind is bigger than the universe. Now consider the question: if your mind is bigger than the universe, can it be within the universe? If a ball is bigger than a bag, can it be contained by the bag? Of course not. If the mind is bigger than the universe, then it must Read More ›
Belief in the Soul Is Found in Every Time and Place
Substance dualism holds clearly that the soul and the body are two different types of entities
Could Human Consciousness Be a Recent Historical Development?
Julian Jaynes’s bicameral mind theory, popular in the 1970s, stated that until about 3000 years ago, humans were not really conscious
Asked at Psychology Today: Were Neanderthals Religious?
We can’t poll long-dead Neanderthals on life, death, and the hereafter but the evidence we’ve dug up suggests they were thinking about that kind of thing
Philosopher Tweets on Consciousness — and Gets Feedback
Tulane U’s Kevin Morris tweeted that “the brain/ nervous system IS consciousness,” and started a broad discussion with many views represented
When a Brilliant Man Has a Very Confused Perspective …
Astrophysicist Avi Loeb simply doesn’t seem to see that human beings are more valuable than advanced machines
Researchers: Goats Can Read Basic Human Emotions
The research team hopes to improve care of livestock by establishing what they do and don’t feel about the way they are treated