_{Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis}

^CategoryPhilosophy of Mind

Industry

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post

John G. West
Date
December 21, 2024

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind}

In Machines We Trust

_{In an age of AI, who stands up for humans?} _{John G. West
December 21, 2024

3

Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind}

If you believe the media, AI has made both of us obsolete. We need to resign ourselves to an age of “thinking machines” in which human guidance and creativity are superfluous. This kind of thinking is false — and dangerous. AI will never become conscious. It will never truly be autonomous. It will always require human input and control. But if we treat AI as if it can be autonomous, we will open the door to the kind of manipulation and tyranny warned about by C.S. Lewis in his classic book The Abolition of Man. Unfortunately, there are few voices in the public square right now offering a sane assessment of both the capabilities and limits of AI. As a Read More ›

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

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post

Michael Egnor
Date
December 16, 2024

Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Mystery of the Mind (Princeton 1975), Wilder Penfield (on abstract thought and epilepsy), Wilder Penfield (on free will)}

What, Exactly, Does Your Brain Do? What Can’t It Do?

_{A surprising result of pioneering neurosurgery was the discovery that some mental processes could be stimulated in the brain but others could not be} _{Michael Egnor
December 16, 2024

5

Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind}

Brain stimulation could cause movement or memories but no part of the brain, when stimulated, caused patients to think abstractly or exercise free will.

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post

Eric Holloway
Date
December 16, 2024

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models (LLMs), Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Featured, Neurons vs. artificial neural networks}

A Thought Experiment on the Mind, the Brain — and AI

_{In a crowded AI marketplace, a nerd confronts a philosopher on subject of the human mind} _{Eric Holloway
December 16, 2024

9

Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models (LLMs), Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind}

Question: If thoughts can only be copied — and copied badly — by AI, which is quite unlike the brain. then how can they be generated by the brain?

Illustration of synapse and neuron on a blue background.

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
December 13, 2024

Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Michael Egnor}

Brain Imaging Study Shows That Intelligence Uses the Whole Brain

_{A focus on specific regions like the prefrontal cortex can mislead. When we are thinking, we use brain-wide connections between many parts of the brain at once} _{Denyse O'Leary
December 13, 2024

5

Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind}

It’s not that the textbooks are wrong; they are just not telling the whole story.

prehistoric caveman standing by a fire inside a cave, holding a spear, wearing fur clothing, and gazing into the flames with intensity.

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
December 4, 2024

Categorized
Human exceptionalism, Paleontology, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Clive Finlayson, Featured, Gunter Bechly, Michelle Starr, Patrick Schmidt}

Neanderthals Used a “High Tech” Method for Making Glue

_{High tech for the times they lived in, that is. They had to figure out why the lower tech method got poor results and develop a more sophisticated one} _{Denyse O'Leary
December 4, 2024

5

Human exceptionalism, Paleontology, Philosophy of Mind}

Neanderthals cannot be the missing link that many paleontologists are looking for. But if the human mind has no history, there is no missing link.

Prehistoric Stone Tools

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
December 3, 2024

Categorized
Animal mind, Evolution, Human exceptionalism, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Tool use (human vs. animal)}

At SciAm: When did human ancestors start using stone tools?

_{Setting aside the question of whether the various groups mentioned in the article are in fact our ancestors, stone tool use is not even confined to primates} _{Denyse O'Leary
December 3, 2024

5

Animal mind, Evolution, Human exceptionalism, Philosophy of Mind}

It’s not stone tool use that is exclusive to humans; vultures can do that. It’s the ability to form abstract ideas — like the study of tool use among animals.

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

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
December 1, 2024

Categorized
Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Featured, Robert Lawrence Kuhn}

Can the Soul Be Defined Out of Existence?

_{Berkeley cognitive linguist George Lakoff argues that the soul could not really amount to much without a physical brain} _{Denyse O'Leary
December 1, 2024

7

Philosophy of Mind}

The physicalist wants to assert that the mind (soul) is simply what the brain does while escaping the contradictions that follow if we think about it seriously.

Brain mind way soul and hope concept art, illustration, surreal mystery artwork, imagination painting, conceptual idea of success

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
November 26, 2024

Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind, Physics

Tagged
Altered States of Consciousness (MIT Press 2018), Galen Strawson, Marc Wittmann}

Is Physicalism Dead? And Is Psychology Today Here to Bury It?

_{Physicalism argues that the mind is simply the activities of neurons in the brain and consciousness is an illusion that they generate} _{Denyse O'Leary
November 26, 2024

5

Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind, Physics}

A sense is growing that no matter what stunning neuroscience discoveries we make, we cannot in principle explain E = MC^2 by what Einstein had for breakfast.

Prehistoric hand paintings at the Cave of the Hands (Spanish: Cueva de Las Manos ) in Santa Cruz Province, Patagonia, Argentina. The art in the cave dates from 13,000 to 9,000 years ago.

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
November 8, 2024

Categorized
Evolution, Language, Mathematics, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Evelina Fedorenko, Noam Chomsky}

Do We Need Language To Think? Some Researchers Say No

_{At one time, it was strictly a philosophical issue but then neuroscientists got involved} _{Denyse O'Leary
November 8, 2024

5

Evolution, Language, Mathematics, Philosophy of Mind}

A controversy about whether we need language to think pits two MIT scholars against each other: Noam Chomsky (yes) vs. Evelina Fedorenko (no). For a long time, it was only a philosophical issue: Plato saw thinking as a conversation with oneself. If you don’t form concepts into words are you really thinking? Chomsky agreed. But later, neuroscientists like Fedorenko got involved, offering some research findings. Last summer at the New York Times, science writer Carl Zimmer reported, When Dr. Fedorenko began this work in 2009, studies had found that the same brain regions required for language were also active when people reasoned or carried out arithmetic. But Dr. Fedorenko and other researchers discovered that this overlap was a mirage. Part Read More ›

Flint sparking matchstick for authentic ignition. Concept Fire starting, Survival gear, Camping essentials, Emergency preparedness

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
November 6, 2024

Categorized
Medicine and Health, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Joel Frohlich}

Neuroscientist Seeks the First Spark of Human Consciousness

_{It's a challenge. Human consciousness is very hard to define for the purposes of this kind of research} _{Denyse O'Leary
November 6, 2024

5

Medicine and Health, Philosophy of Mind}

If we have “prior models of how things ought to be” at birth, aren’t we already conscious?

Hyper-realistic figure standing at a forked road, with incredible detail in the environment, representing free will in a realistic scene

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 30, 2024

Categorized
Free will, Philosophy of Mind, Science

Tagged
Featured, Ralph Lewis}

Free Will: A Materialist Thinks It Might Somehow Be Real

_{Psychiatrist Ralph Lewis thinks that Darwinian evolution can explain human consciousness but now hesitates to debunk free will} _{Denyse O'Leary
October 30, 2024

5

Free will, Philosophy of Mind, Science}

Earlier this year, University of Toronto psychiatrist Ralph Lewis wrote a two-part series at Psychology Today titled “The Strongest Neuroscience Arguments in the Free Will Debate” (here and here). He looked at Mitchell (yes) and Sapolsky (no), both of whom published serious books on the topic in 2023. And he concluded, For now, for practical purposes, given our current level of incomplete understanding of the complexities of the brain’s decision-making processes, and our inability to predict human behaviors in most situations, we might as well regard ourselves as having free will—or rather, degrees of freedom. We do know that our brain has highly evolved systems for self-control—even for those of us who struggle with this relatively more than others, and Read More ›

whole psilocybin mushroom inside a clear medicine capsule.on wood surface; low angle view horizontal

^{Type
post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 26, 2024

Categorized
Evolution, Human exceptionalism, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Bobby Azarian, Psilocybin}

At Big Think: Getting Stoned Shaped the Modern Mind

_{Cognitive neuroscientist Bobby Azarian sees human civilization forming something like “the brain of Gaia” in a cosmos that is becoming increasingly conscious} _{Denyse O'Leary
October 26, 2024

6

Evolution, Human exceptionalism, Philosophy of Mind}

We learn nothing specific here about how our remote ancestors thought but we have learned something useful: Big Think sees this as cutting edge science.

starry sky and calm sea surface at night background

^{Type
post

Joshua R. Farris
Date
October 20, 2024

Categorized
Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Featured}

Why Creationism Isn’t So Crazy After All

_{A case for the soul’s design} _{Joshua R. Farris
October 20, 2024

8

Philosophy of Mind}

If materialism fails to account for the origin of the soul, then creationism—not as a fringe theory, but as a viable explanation—deserves serious consideration.

Brain mind way soul and hope concept art, illustration, surreal mystery artwork, imagination painting, conceptual idea of success

^{Type
post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 16, 2024

Categorized
Medicine and Health, Near-Death Experiences, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Featured, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Sam Parnia}

Soul Survives Death? ER Doc Sam Parnia Faces Skeptical Questions

_{In discussion with Closer to Truth host Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Parnia stuck to his clearly defined evidence, avoiding religious digressions} _{Denyse O'Leary
October 16, 2024

5

Medicine and Health, Near-Death Experiences, Philosophy of Mind}

Confirmation of post-death consciousness during trauma might seem a little thing. But in science persistent little discrepancies are often the ones that matter.

Smart robotic farmers concept, robot farmers, Agriculture technology, Farm automation.

^{Type
post

News
Date
October 5, 2024

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Creativity, Philosophy of Mind, Robotics

Tagged
2001: A Space Odyssey, AI and creativity, David (Prometheus 2012), HAL 9000's limitations, Mark Davis, Non-Computable You (Discovery Institute Press 2022), Prometheus (2012), Robert J. Marks, Three Laws of Robotics, Zeroth Law of Robotics}

Computer Prof: Handing Off Risky Operations to AI Would Be Stupid

_{When everything went wrong in Space Odyssey 2001, the cause was faulty programming, not the computer deciding to take over, he says.} _{News
October 5, 2024

4

Artificial Intelligence, Creativity, Philosophy of Mind, Robotics}

When everything went wrong in Space Odyssey 2001, the cause was faulty programming, not the computer deciding to take over, he says.

Beautiful sunrise over the sea

^{Type
post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 29, 2024

Categorized
Medicine and Health, Near-Death Experiences, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Sean Carroll on the soul}

Does Science Show That the Soul Persists After Death?

_{Gradually, medical findings about what happens to the mind around the time of death are undermining the assumption that the soul dies with the body} _{Denyse O'Leary
September 29, 2024

5

Medicine and Health, Near-Death Experiences, Philosophy of Mind}

Life after death: A gap is growing between “no way” and “impossible to disclaim.” That gap is probably going to get bigger rather than smaller.

Digital brain connected to data center. Artificial intelligence concept. Based on Generative AI

^{Type
post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 13, 2024

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Closer to Truth, Computational theory of mind (CTM), Computer functionalism, Robert Lawrence Kuhn}

When the Computer Tried Being a Mind, It Almost…

_{Philosopher Andy Clark offered to explain the popular computational theory of mind to Robert Lawrence Kuhn — but then a gap appeared} _{Denyse O'Leary
September 13, 2024

5

Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind}

The weakness of mind-as-computer theories is that the steps by which a computer motors through a problem involve nothing that would generate mental states.

A stunning visual of a brain split into two halves, showcasing electric energy in contrasting colors, symbolizing creativity and logic.

^{Type
post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 10, 2024

Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Roger Sperry, Split brain research (and unity of mind)}

Do all of us really have two minds inside our brains?

_{The truth is even more remarkable. When the brain is split in half, the mind remains a unity} _{Denyse O'Leary
September 10, 2024

4

Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind}

Unity of the mind underlines the actual existence of the mind, a concept that many fashionable neuroscientists would very much like to refute.

Comatose male patient in hospital.

^{Type
post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 6, 2024

Categorized
Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Charles Camosy, Covert consciousness}

Covert Consciousness: When “Brain Dead” Doesn’t Mean Unconscious

_{Now that brain scan studies have established that at least 25% of people classed as brain dead can respond, doctors ask what to do for them?} _{Denyse O'Leary
September 6, 2024

4

Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind}

New brain implant technology may help covertly conscious people make contact because neurons can interface with electrical systems.

Abstract golden particles flowing on dark background

^{Type
post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 1, 2024

Categorized
Panpsychism, Philosophy of Mind, Physics

Tagged
Daniel Dennett on mind as user illusion, Galen Strawson on consciousness}

Does a “Spiritual Particle” Explain Human Consciousness?

_{Denyse O'Leary
September 1, 2024

5

Panpsychism, Philosophy of Mind, Physics}

Before dismissing the idea as untestable, we should ask, is the idea that consciousness is an illusion, grounded in Darwinian evolution theory, testable?