Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

CategoryPhilosophy

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storm causing flash floods A storm causing sudden flash floods in a residential area

Why Do We Mourn the Deaths of Other People’s Children?

I share P. Z. Myers’s horror but the problem of innocent suffering is much deeper for the atheist than for the Christian
Whatever little contribution the theory of Darwinian evolution that Myers espouses makes to our understanding of bacteria, it tells us nothing of man. Read More ›
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Notre Dame de Paris cathedral, France

Can Cultural Christianity Save Christian Culture?

People cannot reconnect with a view on life that they don’t believe, simply to save the things that only such a view can create and maintain
It’s not just about religion. Neither the Greeks nor the Romans could save their Republics once most people stopped believing in the values that created them. Read More ›
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A cell viewed under a microscope, rendered in stunning 4K detail.

Methodological Naturalism: Helpful Rule or Hindering Dogma?

If the observable data points to outcomes that natural causes cannot adequately explain, then ruling out supernatural causes from the outset is not scientific humility — it’s dogma
The conversation highlighted the need to follow the evidence wherever it leads — even if it leads to the possibility of divine intervention. Read More ›
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The sunlight glistens through the clouds, creating a ray of hope and symbolizing the presence of a higher power.

Panpsychist Philosopher Espouses “Heretical” Form of Christianity

The fine-tuning of the universe for life was a key factor in Philip Goff's decision that there must be some sort of God
Goff’s eclectic philosophical journey is not likely over. But, generally, it is best to assume that the New Testament authors meant what they said. Read More ›
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Space background with giant planetary nebula

“Nature of the Universe” Questions That Still Puzzle Physicists

What would go wrong if we just accepted that we live in a universe designed by a Mind far greater than ours? Would that really be the end of science?
Or just an end to conundrums that aren’t really conundrums if that fact is faced. There is a lot we could be doing with the same expenditure of time, energy, and intellectual skill. Read More ›
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Glowing Light Bulb in the Dark

Why AI Breaks Down Where Human Creativity Begins

Part 1: AI can handle statements that are internally coherent but that is not the same thing as correspondence with reality
In short, philosophers distinguish between two fundamental theories of truth: correspondence and coherence, and AI does only coherence. Read More ›
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Big Bang in Space, The Birth of the Universe 3d illustration

An Experimental Physicist Reacts to Pop Physics Re the Big Bang

Physicists Brian Cox and Sir Roger Penrose make a number of claims about infinite and endless universes. But how much of this is really physics? We asked Rob Sheldon
We hear so much these days about the need for more trust in science. Making science sound like a carnival of unlikely stories is not helping. Read More ›
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The image contains various celestial objects and mathematical calculations subtly illustrated on a dark starry background, ideal for space and science enthusiasts.

Michael Egnor on Faith, Reason, and the Architecture of Reality

In this week’s podcast, discussion with Robert J. Marks, he talks about the relationship between arguments from philosophical reasoning and faith
Egnor describes faith as a deep relationship that may not always yield happiness about life circumstances but fosters lasting joy, independent of circumstances. Read More ›
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mind, body, spirit, soul and you

Michael Egnor: Your Spiritual Soul Has No Off Switch

Here is Dr. Egnor’s talk at the Dallas Conference last February, where he discussed some themes from The Immortal Mind, to be published June 3
He makes the case—based on 40 years of practice and over 7,000 brain surgeries—that science has gotten it all wrong about the soul. Read More ›
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Cutting edge medical dna lab equipment for gene testing and analysis in biotechnology research

Settled Science Is a Contradiction in Terms

The consensus of science has often turned out to be incorrect and we often get closer to truth when it is challenged
Limiting debate and censoring minority scientific viewpoints can keep “settled science” spinning wheels, stuck in the mud, on the open road to science progress. Read More ›
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Supernova Galaxy 8k hype realistic. spiral galaxy in space background. background of supernova nebula and stars, glowing mysterious universe. Space texture illustration. Generative ai

Physicist: “Bad Philosophy” May Spur Search for New Physics

Carlo Rovelli points out that revolutions’ in the history of fundamental physics are more conservative than they are often depicted
It may not just be bad philosophy. It may also be a determination to believe in a universe that the evidence does not support. Read More ›
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Spaceship flies near the amazing blue planet earth, view from the window. Travel and tourists in space, concept. Beautiful space view of the Earth with cloud formation. Hotel in space

A Challenge to Pale Blue Dot-ology: Earth Is Significant

The “pale blue dot lost in space” view of Earth seems to brand science as an intellectual property of materialist atheism. And evidence isn’t what keeps it going
Perhaps more of us should start calling out these assumptions that arise not from observing nature but from the intellectual commitments of those who make them. Read More ›
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Charles Darwin observing Ape skulls

Salvo: The Facts and Fictions of the Scopes Monkey Trial

Society has changed so much that biologists face trouble not for believing in Darwinism but for believing in the reality of biology
The biologists who would pride themselves on enthroning Darwinism as a public truth a century ago find that what is publicly true no long even matters the way it used to. Read More ›
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Rainbow over stormy sky. Rural landscape with rainbow over dark stormy sky in a countryside at summer day.

Idealism: Rethinking Reality Through a Divine Lens

Douglas Axe’s defense of idealism as a philosophy in a recent podcast should prompt deep questions: In what sense is the physical world real?
Idealism’s challenging alternative to physicalism and dualism proposes a resolution to metaphysical issues that aligns with quantum mechanics’ peculiarities. Read More ›
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Microscopic Flatworm in Low Light, Detailed Platyhelminthes Anatomy

Mind Rules, Not Matter, Biologists Say — in Journal Article

They argue that simple natural processes cannot explain embryological development. Instead, biology is directed by cognition
A revolution in biology? Too soon to tell but the fact that they are permitted to make their case signals greater openness to considering the evidence. Read More ›
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Silhouette of Ancient Greek Galley Ship at Sunset, Majestic Ocean Scene

The Ship of Theseus: The Mystery of Personal Identity

If all your parts are slowly replaced, in what sense are you still you? A Mind Matters podcast discussion explores that
Walter Myers, an engineer and philosopher, sees the human soul as soul is what ultimately grounds human identity in something more than matter. Read More ›
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Brain psychology mind soul and hope concept art, 3d illustration, surreal artwork, imagination painting, conceptual idea

The Enduring Self and the Case for Substance Dualism

On our most recent podcast, philosophers make the case that if mind is illusion, so too is the scientific enterprise
Scientists form hypotheses, interpret data, and act with purpose. These activities cannot be reduced to neurons firing without undermining science itself. Read More ›
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Colorful space galaxy cloud nebula. Stary night cosmos. Universe science astronomy. Supernova background wallpaper

Ross Douthat Makes the Case that Religious Belief Is Rational

His new book is written largely with the agnostic or full-on atheist in mind but believers would certainly also benefit, as I did
He notes, if our brains evolved merely to help us stay alive, then it’s strange that those same mental states could invent the telescope to explore the cosmos. Read More ›
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Dreamy foggy dark forest. Trail in moody forest. Alone and creepy feeling in the woods

1. When actual experiences challenge the viewpoints of skeptics

Sean McDowell recently hosted J. Steve Miller to talk about his top five believable near-death experiences
Mark Twain and Michael Shermer each had an anomalous experience that he could not explain but would not deny. Read More ›
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Green grass and blue sky with white clouds

Is Science in Our Frame of Reality Inevitably Incomplete?

It’s becoming increasingly obvious that human consciousness isn’t a material phenomenon like any other; it has one foot in time and another in eternity
Efforts to jam both feet into time have gone nowhere and are likely to continue to do so. Read More ›