Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

CategoryPolitics

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Colonisation of Mars. Mars base colony in open space. Digitally generated AI image

Why Do Science and Tech Writers Hate Elon Musk?

It's partly because he encourages bottom-up media but also he encourages a sort of vision that is now largely lost

Musk’s philosophy of the future: I believe it should be curiosity about the Universe – expand humanity to become a multiplanet, then interstellar, species.

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Tide going out on beach in Mexico at sunset with mountains behind

Woke SciAm Editor Resigns in Post-US Election Uproar

Michael Shermer, founding publisher of Skeptic Magazine and former Scientific American columnist, offers a thoughtful response

Shermer writes, “the people promulgating these woke ideas are mostly true believers” and their fervor makes it easier to convince themselves, not others.

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Poppy field at sunset

West Virginia: Constitutional Amendment Bans Assisted Suicide

I just wish my mentor on this issue, Rita Marker, had lived to see it

Also, the great anti-assisted-suicide and disability-rights campaigner Diane Coleman — who founded Not Dead Yet — who recently passed away.

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Consensus word made of square letter block on green square mat background.

Nature Editorial Attacks Trump for Ignoring “Scientific Consensus”

Mistrust of the state, which the editorialists fear, doesn’t weaken democracy. It is essential to its proper functioning. Hence the Constitution and Bill of Rights

Nature, a British publication, should stay out of American politics; otherwise, it breeds the very mistrust of the science sector that it decries.

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flags of Palestine and Israel painted on cracked wall

Top Journal Nature Promotes Views of Anti-Israel Demonstrator

What any of this has to do with promoting science is beyond me. It’s politics and ideology, pure and simple. Perhaps that’s why the interview is not behind a paywall

The editors of Nature are destroying a once venerable and important science journal. That’s bad for science, which is bad for the world. Shame.

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Kids feed elephant in zoo. Family at animal park.

Will Colorado Allow Elephants to Sue?

The Nonhuman Rights Project wants to become the guardian of five elephants at the Colorado Springs zoo and take control of their care

The zoo, where the elephants have lived for years, has a sterling reputation but the advocates believe that they know better what elephants would want.

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businessman-forecasting-a-crystal-ball-stockpack-adobe-stock-87433639-stockpack-adobe_stock
Businessman forecasting a crystal ball

P-Hacking: The Perils of Presidential Election Models

History professor Alan Lichtman’s model uses 13 true/false questions reflecting likely voter interests. But some of them seem rather subjective

Lichtman’s Thirteen Keys to the White House prediction model for the presidency shows some evidence of p-hacking, as does Helmut Norpoth’s Primary Model.

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High-tech American election coverage in a futuristic studio

Presidential Pundits—a P-Hacking Parable

In politics, as elsewhere, too many studies flop when other researchers attempt to replicate them with fresh data

Some prediction models were developed by well-intentioned researchers before the perils of p-hacking were clearly understood, hence the failures.

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Close-up of a green plant with sunlight illuminating the leaves on the right side of the image

Three Recent Books Argue for Consciousness in Plants

The award-winning environment journalist who reviews the books tackles the question, “If so, is it right to eat even plants?”

The idea that plants can “feel” things, based on their complex reactions, may stem from a misunderstanding of categories of consciousness.

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Exceptionally zoomed macro images of neural cells in the human brain

Scandal! Science Journal Busts Allegedly Bogus Neurological Science

If these leading dementia studies’ images are indeed falsified, many years of follow-up research by others may have been wasted

Dementia is not politically sensitive. But if the topic were, say, gender dysphoria, would honesty be likewise demanded? No wonder so many doubt science now.

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After Dawkins Is Canceled, What Comes Next? Not Better Science!

As the National Academies of Science try to blend traditional lore into science findings, the concept of truth that atheists and theists clash over is irrelevant

For many today, truth is whatever benefits Woke causes. Claims for truth that offer them no political benefit are seen as a threat, meriting a hostile response.

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The confrontation of a heatwave and a melting glacier, symbolizing the collision of rising temperatures and shrinking ice masses. Concept of climate change impact on glaciers. Generative Ai.

New Atheism Is Shrinking and It’s Not Entirely Clear Why

Now, there is an eerie unfashionable silence that fashionable media are beginning to notice. For one thing, it is affecting Richard Dawkins

The Woke, it turns out, are no more tolerant of atheists than they are of anyone else with divergent views. That may be what finally fells new atheism.

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Small orange flags places in grass in memory of the thousands of Indigenous children that died in Canada's residential school system. Wide view.

Canada’s Residential Schools: A Saga of Journalistic Wrongdoing

Even as the story is collapsing for lack of evidence, there is a move afoot to criminalize doubt about what happened (denialism).

Could it happen in the United States? Of course. It can happen anywhere where people are willing to ignore the demands of evidence in favor of private truth.

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Politician during election campaign

Science Writer Tells Top Science Mag: Quit Endorsing Politicians!

Scientific American's display of political partisanship comes at an awkward time. Trust in science is in steady, ongoing decline

When scientists engage in political partisanship, they abandon accuracy, regarding their choice a form of righteousness as long as the Good party wins.

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A political rally with protest signs

The Science Establishment Continues to Politicize “Science”

And that ain’t good for science

Increasingly, those who claim to be science’s greatest defenders do the sector wrong by becoming highly ideological and progressively partisan.

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View of the surface of the moon.Elements of this image furnished by NASA

Is NASA a Spent Force in Space Exploration?

A government report implies it is, as private groups are moving into the space business and China is catching up quickly

What if a private craft is the first to discover extraterrestrial life? What laws apply?

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a-group-of-sheep-on-a-pasture-stand-next-to-each-other-and-look-into-the-camera-stockpack-adobe-stock
a group of sheep on a pasture stand next to each other and look into the camera

Engineer Explains Why AI Bots Always Lean Left

ChatGPT kept insisting on scientific consensus as the most important factor in what to believe regarding global warming and similar issues

If AI systems such as ChatGPT cannot engage in conceptual thought, then they can only promote consensus, which is what we see.

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Laboratory technician checking CDC specimen submitting form, laboratory testing for SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 Coronavirus disease infection,global pandemic crisis,swab collection patient specimen procedure

COVID: A Lab Leak — the Most Likely Cause — Is Not Discussible

Although COVID killed approximately 28 million people, the Chinese government makes discussion of its origin very difficult, says Matt Ridley

The science world has come to depend on China a great deal — for money, among other things — and dare not risk giving offense by unwanted discussion.

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The execution by injection concept is visualized with a judge's gavel and a syringe on a wooden table, highlighting capital punishment

Get Ready for ‘Public Health’ Authoritarianism

The medical establishment is laying the groundwork for imposing left-wing political policies from the top down and disguising them as health-related

Lately, columns in professional journals have argued repeatedly that our most contentious political controversies be redefined into issues of public health.

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Close-up check mark on cube wooden toy block stack with cross symbol for true or false changing mindset or way of adapting to change leader and transform quiz answer and poll concept.

Polling Season: Time To Be Manipulated!

The fact that polls can be analyzed numerically is one of their limitations for prediction

If we obsess about polling data, all we will hear is the distorted echo of our own voices. We need to focus on issues and policies instead.

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