Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

CategoryScience

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Printed business documents with colorful charts and graphs being analyzed through a magnifying glass

How a Prof Learned the Hard Way to Put Science First

The replication crisis forced him to grapple with the fact that he was too committed to ideology to assess truth

Intellectual diversity is a key reason the public is expected to heed (and often pay for) universities. Apart from that, a university would not differ from a sect.

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Anonymous crowd of people walking street wearing masks during covid 19 coronavirus pandemic in New York City November 2020

A Science Education Group Tackles the Fauci Hearing and Diary

They have every reason to be concerned about what these revelations about the Covid years are doing to the public perception of science

At one time, it was the less well-informed people who trusted science less. But repeated episodes like the Covid Crazy will mean that the better informed people will trust less.

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Doctor conference audience, Presentation education lecture in hospital, Group of doctor are meeting in hospital.

How NOT to Get More People to Trust Science, in Four Easy Lessons

Ethan Siegel had the singular bad luck to write his condescending column about how we should Trust the Science more in the very wake of Fauci’s Covid “diaries” coming to light…

Siegel’s essay at Big Think can have one very desirable result: It is a good, though unwitting, summary of attitudes that must change if public trust in science is to be improved.

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space of time dimension concept,universe,illusion,time theory

More Scientists Are Talking About a Mind Behind the Universe?

An urban affairs analyst thinks so and he also suggests some reasons why

If being a scientist means that one must refuse to consider the evidence for design, it’s no wonder if many are looking for alternatives.

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Science professor giving lecture to class

Papers: Argumentation and Surprise Are Best Ways to Do Good Science

Many studies show that students learn science best when engaging in critical thinking — that is, when they are asked to understand arguments for and against a particular viewpoint.

I’m sure the authors of these papers didn’t mean to pay ID any compliments, but everything we’ve seen here closely tracks with intelligent design literature.

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Hospital staff operating an automated external defibrillator AED during a code blue, emergency response

A Genuine Science-Based Debate About Near-Death Experiences?

Such a debate seems to be developing. It would make materialism much hard to just take for granted

Explainaways protect the system from unwanted evidence by ignoring or dismissing it. But when the weight of such evidence grows, they stop sounding persuasive.

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Biological and science background

Today’s Computer Chips — Measured in Beard-Seconds

Could we use beard-seconds as a measurement? Actually, we could

Moore’s Law states that the number of transistors on a computer chip doubles about every two years. But Moore’s Law must eventually stop at the Planck length.

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USA 250th anniversary Independence Day golden hour flag family polished holiday composition warm family gathering mood flag closeup with family gathering beyond creates warm national anniversary

On Our 250th Anniversary, There Is a Battle for America’s Soul

The most impassioned appeals for human rights by politicians and scientists mean nothing if they have abandoned their belief in the distinctive dignity of man

Without this conviction there is no logical ground for supporting human rights in the United States or elsewhere; there is no logical ground for human rights at all.

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3d illustration of Science background molecule and atom model.

Is Government’s Relationship with Science “Crumbling”?

There are many issues out there on which science disciplines are not earning our trust and we can't properly evaluate the scene without confronting that

The people who do not trust science today would probably like to be able to. And the people who do trust it may simply be unaware of the problems.

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Human brain illuminated by intense lightning strikes in dark clouds.

Near-Death Experiences: Do Brain Jolts Really Explain Them?

In the wake of evidence for changed lives, attempts to debunk NDEs as “just this or that” are starting to sound less certain

Materialist theories intended to explain away NDEs need only sound plausible and scientific; they need not enlighten. A new one will be along shortly anyway.

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science fiction wallpaper. Beauty of deep space. Colorful graphics for background, like water waves, clouds, night sky, universe, galaxy, Planets,

Bonnassies, coauthor of French bestseller, interviewed on Humanize

The science world appears to be moving away from the assertive atheism of James D. Watson, who died earlier this month

A downloadable audio file is available from Humanize of an interview with Olivier Bonnassies, author with Michel-Yves Bolloré of God: the Science, the Evidence (2025).

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Crumbling infrastructure: urban decay and deteriorating roads with potholes in the heart of the city

Current Science Is Sending Alarming Signals of a Declining System

Retractions have increased five-fold (and that's just the tip of the problem) while the Big Five science publishers continue to make huge profits

Some factors blamed are a “publish or perish” culture, lax oversight, secrecy, and the low status of research integrity officers (RIOs).

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Newton's cradle

Scientist Cuts Ties with Top Journal Nature over Ideological Bias

Warnings about the ideological pollution of science journals have not convinced the funders or editors of these important publications to institute reform

If more scientists follow Anna Krylov’s lead in simply severing ties from journals that are being politicized, reform may follow.

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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.

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Silhouette of a man standing in front of a gigantic wall, sunlight shining through a narrow gap, symbolic image for near-death experience, hope, depression, life crisis, psychology, grief, redemption, AI generated, AI generated, AI generated

Science on Near-Death Experiences: Explaining vs Explaining Away

The first rule of a scientific approach to near-death experiences should be to take seriously what is happening before rushing in with a “science can explain this” hypothesis

The reason medical researchers now take NDEs seriously is a growing body of evidence that can’t just be tossed off with a simple explanation.

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beautiful girl protests with the help of her hands her protest and emotions of denial

Denial? Science seeks trust but avoids the need for inner reform

Current science seems to be going full steam ahead to Cancel the means by which it formerly advanced knowledge of the world

Despite a swamp of scandals, the focus of discussion seems to be getting the public to trust again, not reform of the system.

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Wide angle shot of a campus science building with futuristic design, students in lab coats walking in and out, energetic vibe

What Happens When Science Degenerates Into a Spoils System?

Chemistry prof Anna Krylov forces us to look at that in discouraging detail

Krylov also calls out the practices of choosing citations on the basis of social justice merit instead of relevance and of censoring awkward findings.

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Spiral aloe vera with water drops, closeup

Wikipedia Qualifies Its “Pseudoscience” Label re Design in Nature

Not only that but newly launched Grokipedia’s entry seems to be written to actually inform the reader rather than to enlist the reader against the topic

On ID, it sounds like Grokipedia, unlike Wikipedia, follows the time-honored rule of letting people explain themselves and saving the commentary for later.

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Delicious, golden, and fluffy cornbread pieces, artfully stacked, enticing a feeling of warmth and comfort

Monday Micro Softy 50: Cutting Through the Cornbread

How did Yuri Senior cut the cornbread into eight identical portions using only three straight cuts?

You can guess the answer to Microsofty 49 if you try the test question yourself at home, using a small mirror.

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Wall street

Wall Street Journal Takes On Science and the Existence of God

In an interview, first author of the new book out of France, Michel-Yves Bolloré, tells a WSJ editor, “We are now in a century where science is the best ally of God.” That’s news

With Bolloré and Bonnassies’ work, reality-based thinking is coming back. And the reality is that the universe offers much evidence for God.

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