Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

CategoryPhysics

changing-tire-on-roadside-spare-tire-and-tools-visible-car-n-1409976958-stockpack-adobestock
Changing tire on roadside, spare tire and tools visible, car nearby, outdoor maintenance situation

Monday Microsofty 59: Alfred Hitchcock’s Low-Pressure Tire

Could the tire in the old Hitchcock film really be reinflated in the way shown?

The solution to last week’s puzzle is to ask whether the way each of the relationships is created makes any difference.

Read More ›
conceptual-design-of-quantum-mechanics-featuring-particles-e-1186874036-stockpack-adobestock
Conceptual design of quantum mechanics, featuring particles entangled in a network of energy waves, illustrating the interconnectedness and non-locality of quantum particles

Does Quantum Mechanics Help Us Make Sense of the Soul?

Quantum mechanics seems to be the game-changer that Albert Einstein (1879–1955) feared it would be. It is certain to liven up discussions about the soul

Shermer told Mind Matters News after the event that he would bump up his credence in the existence of souls from 1% to 2% out of 99%.

Read More ›
particles-quantum-entanglement-quantum-correlation-quantum-m-286724760-stockpack-adobestock
Particles, quantum entanglement (quantum correlation), quantum mechanics. 3d illustration

COSM 2025: Entanglement in Physics —What It Means for Materialism

Physics is sometimes weirder than we imagine or physicists can explain. It does not favor a tidy materialist explanation of our cosmos

Initially, many scientists felt that non-locality or “action at a distance” was too spooky to be correct. But it is correct.

Read More ›
female-engineer-walks-through-factory-workshop-with-augmente-380661204-stockpack-adobestock
Female Engineer Walks Through Factory Workshop with Augmented Reality 3D Models CNC Machinery Production Line. Industry 4.0 Graphics Visualization in Factory. VFX Special Graphics and Visual Effects

Physicists: Math Shows That the Universe Can’t Be a Simulation

The physicists argue that pure information underlies the universe of matter and energy, as a Platonic realm of ideas

We seem a long way now from the once-dominant science view of eliminative materialism in which even human consciousness was not considered real.

Read More ›
abstract-film-texture-background-stockpack-adobe-stock-1076055569-stockpack-adobestock
Abstract film texture background

When the Big Bang Cost Physicists Their Lives

A new book from France tells the astonishing story of how governments murdered or drove out scientists to hush up the reality that our universe has a beginning

I was hardly prepared for what Bolloré and Bonnassies reveal about efforts to discredit the idea of a beginning to the universe — by any means necessary.

Read More ›
stars-explosion-galaxy-night-stars-trails-sky-night-landscap-187814913-stockpack-adobestock
Stars explosion galaxy, night stars trails sky. Night landscape in long exposure. Deep magnetic hypnotic extreme sky with magic lightning view, abstract cosmos universe style

Sabine Hossenfelder Gets Canceled. A Physicist Responds

Experimental physicist Rob Sheldon offers some further thoughts on the theoretical physicist’s ejection from the Munich Center

Here at Mind Matters News, we thought there might be fallout. And 1.15M views in less than a week seems like fallout already. Something’s rotten.

Read More ›
abstract-atom-science-physics-stockpack-adobe-stock-145739242-stockpack-adobestock
Abstract atom, science, physics

Physicist Sabine Hossenfelder Gets Canceled by the Munich Center

Her parting words: “A lot of research [in] the foundations of physics is now pseudocience. It hasn't followed the scientific method for decades.”

It seems unlikely that the only reason that the Munich Center parted ways with Hossenfelder is bad language in her posts. Is she uncomfortably correct?

Read More ›
abstract-image-representing-quantum-mechanics-and-the-myster-917689749-stockpack-adobestock
Abstract image representing quantum mechanics and the mysterious world of subatomic particles, quantum, mechanics, physics

Wall Street Journal: A Disappointing Fret About “Conspiracy Physics”

If physicists are starting to “worry about the consequences” of discussing long-term theory failure, it is reasonable to think that there are even more serious problems within the discipline

If the physics establishment is only just now beginning to see that public funding depends on public legitimacy, well… it’s about time.

Read More ›
illustration-of-basic-physics-and-mathematics-formulas-and-galaxy-in-universe-stockpack-adobe-stock
Illustration of basic physics and mathematics formulas and galaxy in universe

When Physicists Clash Over an Allegedly Pointless Universe…

… we end up finding out how much current research appears to be an elaborate waste of public funds

When Piers Morgan invited Sean Carroll and Eric Weinstein on his show, sparks flew. And Sabine Hossenfelder’s comments are an eye-opener.

Read More ›
closeup-of-baseball-glove-and-baseball-on-turf-stockpack-ado-253469760-stockpack-adobestock
Closeup of Baseball Glove and Baseball on turf

Monday Micro Softy 37: A Unique Baseball Game

Something was missing from the game played on June 30, 1997, that occured in every MLB game for decades before

The answer to Micro Softy 36 lies in considering the problem from a number of angles…

Read More ›
man-standing-in-front-of-various-paths-needing-to-make-a-dec-586175037-stockpack-adobestock
man standing in front of various paths, needing to make a decision to move forward in life. Generative Ai.

Today’s Free Will Debate Shows How Science Culture is Changing

The fact that this Sapolsky–Mitchell debate is still raging shows that eliminative materialism and physicalism are experiencing setbacks in our philosophy of science culture today

Interestingly, Mitchell uses evolution to establish free will. Most uses of the concept would be to deny or diminish it, as in “We evolved to be violent,” etc.

Read More ›
operaciones-matematicas-escritas-a-mano-con-una-tiza-en-la-p-478224078-stockpack-adobestock
Operaciones matemáticas escritas a mano con una tiza en la pizarra

Monday Micro Softy 31: Elementary Algebra

How much can an equation be simplified?

In last week’s puzzle, the car was handling like a cement mixer because something was wrong with the tires. The solution lies in finding out what that is.

Read More ›
nature-within-stockpack-adobe-stock-938965323-stockpack-adobestock
Nature Within.

Science Writer: The Self Is Part of a Conscious Universe

Annaka Harris seems to be fleeing eliminative materialism — the snake that eats its own tail

Harris is the wife of well-known New Atheist neuroscientist Sam Harris, at one time one of the Four Horsemen of the New Atheist apocalypse.

Read More ›
big-bang-in-space-the-birth-of-the-universe-3d-illustration-stockpack-adobe-stock
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 ›
a-man-practicing-mindfulness-and-meditation-or-yoga-in-a-pea-623218874-stockpack-adobestock
A man practicing mindfulness and meditation or yoga in a peaceful natural environment realistic image, ultra hd, high design very detailed

A Physicist Ponders the Nature of Consciousness

Ethan Siegel fears that we abandon science when we think that consciousness is not a material thing

If science, as interpreted by some, can’t address immaterial realities like our ability to reason and thus do science, so much the worse for that interpretation

Read More ›
frozen-creek-7-stockpack-adobe-stock-247431199-stockpack-adobestock
Frozen creek 7

Monday Micro Softy 30: Driving a Cement Mixer

Why did the car with leaky tires suddenly start handling like a cement mixer, and then, just as suddenly, handle normally again?

Micro Softy 29 shows that unambiguous facts can be stated in confusing language but cold hard logic can solve the puzzle.

Read More ›
a-man-observes-a-wall-filled-with-colorful-sketches-and-note-999209347-stockpack-adobestock
A man observes a wall filled with colorful sketches and notes, representing creativity and brainstorming in a workspace.

Information, Evolution & AI: A Conversation with William Dembski

In discussion with neurosurgeon Michael Egnor, Dembski stresses that AI is a tool, not a mind. Treating it otherwise leads to addiction, manipulation, and cultural decline

Information isn’t free, Dembski says, and machines aren’t magic. By remembering what makes us human, we can use technology without losing ourselves to it.

Read More ›
supernova-galaxy-8k-hype-realistic-spiral-galaxy-in-space-ba-559012559-stockpack-adobestock
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 ›
blue-glowing-quantum-correlation-stockpack-adobe-stock-600507118-stockpack-adobestock
Blue glowing quantum correlation

Has Physics Pounded a New Nail in the Coffin of Materialism?

Cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman says that matter is now known not to be fundamental but that fact is taking a while to catch on

Continued failure to materialize the mind could be the beginning of a serious reckoning with the problems that physicalism and materialism represent.

Read More ›
a-red-eared-slider-rests-on-a-leafy-green-surface-with-anoth-843881686-stockpack-adobe_stock
A red-eared slider rests on a leafy green surface with another red-eared slider on its back.

An Infinite Past Universe Rules Out Free Will. But Here’s a Catch

Such a universe is not logically possible, says Daniel Witt. That’s the “turtles all the way down” problem

“Turtles all the way down” — infinite regress — doesn’t solve the problem that everything, as a whole, is ultimately floating on something beyond itself.

Read More ›