Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

CategoryTechnology

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Dark sphere rests on volcanic rocks, Iceland landscape

Why Did Our Very Ancient Ancestors Collect Ball-Shaped Stones?

Over a million years ago, it seems that some of our ancestors hiked through valleys in East Africa, searching for volcanic spheres
Darwinian evolution theory allows any state of affairs that dates to eons ago to be called “evolution” even when, as in this case, the facts imply the opposite. Read More ›
closed-up-image-of-a-female-using-tiktok-application-on-a-smartphone-in-home-5-september-2022-chiangmai-thailand-stockpack-adobe-stock
Closed up image of a Female using TikTok application on a smartphone in home. 5 September, 2022. ChiangMai, Thailand.

TikTok is on the Verge of a Ban. Now Users Are Flocking to Another Chinese App.

National security and the mental health of a generation are at stake

A federal ban of the wildly popular social media app TikTok is set to take effect on Sunday, unless a last-minute intervention occurs, or an American-owned business buys the company. The FBI, as well as several state authorities around the country, have said the app represents a national security threat, as it allows a foreign adversary to access the data of the 170 million Americans who use it. Apart from the issue of national security, plenty of people, particularly sociologist Jonathan Haidt, have pointed out TikTok’s profound negative impact on kids and users in general. TikTok uses an advanced algorithm system to hook its users. Haidt and his research assistant, Zach Rausch, list out the multiple harms: Executives within the Read More ›

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Conceptual illustration of people with eyeballs as their heads looking at mobilephones

2025: Rejecting Brain Rot

Toward a more embodied and human way of life
Following the data, observing personal experience, and developing another vision for human flourishing can get us a step closer to a fuller, intentional life. Read More ›
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Telecommunication tower during sunset with HUD graphical internet worldwide connectivity of 3G, 4G and 5G network. Technology concept. Antenna, microwave, repeater, base station. Mobile communications

The Radio Frequency Spectrum: A Finite Natural Resource

The increasing demand for the radio frequency spectrum that our wireless technologies depend on is unsustainable long-term
While spectrum "auctions" generate significant revenue, they raise concerns about fairness, as the big players outbid others, potentially stifling innovation. Read More ›
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Cerebral cortex disintegrating into ash, surrealism, muted grayscale tones, digital sketch, brain cells collapsing into void, signifying loss of memory

Oxford Word of the Year: Brain Rot

The flood of online content deteriorates our mental and intellectual states
Ironically, “brain rot” started making the rounds primarily on TikTok, one of the biggest culprits when it comes to getting people addicted to screens. Read More ›
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Teen girl bullied through social media

Are Phones to Blame for a Spiritual Crisis?

Technology is often impersonal magic. It makes things easy, but erodes personal formation

Phones block access to spiritual depth. That’s what social psychologist Jonathan Haidt writes in his newest bestseller The Anxious Generation. The frenetic, distractible nature of the screen-based existence most of us live in every day is eroding our ability to pursue meaning, transcending values, and empathy for other people. Haidt was recently joined in conversation by Andy Crouch, a Christian author who has written extensively on technology and culture in books like The Tech-Wise Family and The Life We’re Looking For: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World. “My life is full of convenience,” Crouch writes in the latter title mentioned. It is full of transaction, at its best a mutually beneficial exchange of value, a kind of arm’s-length benign use Read More ›

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In the last seconds of the sunset, the sunlight touched a bold, red bush and it's created some gorgeous colors and contrast with the white road.

Smartphone: The “Experience Blocker”

Experience is the key to emotional development and a fully human life

Smartphones are distracting and addicting, but according to Jonathan Haidt, and supported by our common experience, they can also keep us from a basic ingredient of human life: Experience. Sometimes I wonder if the worst aspect of the “dopamine culture,” as culture critic Ted Gioia calls it, is not that we no longer have the attention spans to focus on our work, but that we no longer seem able to enjoy activities that aren’t based on screens. Simple pleasures like a good meal, meant to savor and digest at a slow pace, or going through a rich and complicated novel that yields real insight and literary joy, or even kissing an actual person in an affectionate way are all “old-school” Read More ›

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Retro cell phone vintage concept. White old mobile telephone in neon pink blue light. Retro wave. Pop art. minimal idea concept.

The Dumbphone Revolution?

It's a crazy idea, but what if we just started using our phones to call and text people?
But being constantly online, constantly available to reach, and constantly bombarded with the woes of the world is a recipe for emotional turmoil. Read More ›
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Terahertz and optical wireless communication towers in a futuristic city with softwaredefined networking control centers

COSM: Ethernet Inventor Asks, Are We Ready for New IT Technology?

Bob Metcalfe will talk about new technologies like electromagnetic waves from the “dead zone” of the spectrum that are slowly becoming economically viable
Metcalfe’s Law of IT growth begins with the fact that one fax machine — for example — is useless. Two help a bit but millions of them made a difference. Read More ›
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Man hands holding global network and data customer connection on nature background.

COSM 2024: Learn More About the Tech That Will Replace the Chip

Tech philosopher George Gilder predicted the smartphone in the 1990s. His lineup of scitech greats can tell you what comes next
Wish you had known about the smartphone before 2000 – instead of the Y2K scare? To hear what’s really next, get in on COSM’s special price till September 30. Read More ›
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High-tech assembly line in a factory manufacturing computer chips with robotic arms and precise processes

Carver Mead and the Computer That Couldn’t Possibly Work

Mead, who named Moore’s Law and played a key role in developing the computer chip will be honored at COSM November 1
Mead never saw technology research as a left-brained thing; for him, he says, it is a matter of love. It only sounds simple afterward. Read More ›
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Full-length body portrait shot of a group of seven young male and female teenagers standing and using smartphones and tablets while waiting for a queue. Concept of technology addicted in modern life

Experience is Going Extinct

A review of Christine Rosen's "The Extinction of Experience"
As more of our daily experience goes mediated and buffered through screens, it’s important to wonder what we’re losing. Read More ›
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Long exposure of lonely man at subway station with blurry train and walking people

Americans Are Lonely. Sometimes Even When They’re Together

Technology can obstruct our connection with others, but it can also train us to not even want friendship in the first place
“Hell is other people,” wrote Sartre. For the modern apologist of self-love, no one spoke a truer word. Read More ›
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Young boys absorbed with cell phones. Concept of dependence on technology, children hooked on mobile, smartphone addiction, addicted to screens or devices and excessive phone use.

The Smartphone is the Enemy of Learning

Digital devices are hijacking kids' ability to concentrate in the classroom
How can students be expected to read and study or engage in discussions when educators are competing with TikTok videos and Instagram in the classroom? Read More ›
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A retro video games arcade fighting machine for two players, with a large blank screen. 3D render illustration.

A Weekend Watch: Paul Kingsnorth and Louise Perry

Who is technology serving?
What do we lose when we’re never quiet with our own thoughts, always checking our phones, always listening to Spotify or a podcast in the background? Read More ›
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Mars, the red planet with detailed surface features and craters in deep space. Blue Earth planet in outer space. mars and earth, concept

Growing Up on the Internet is Like Growing Up on Mars

We need to come back to Earth
Not only is the online world making us angry and sad. It's also causing our character to atrophy. Read More ›
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Colorful space galaxy cloud nebula. Stary night cosmos. Universe science astronomy. Supernova background wallpaper

Interstellar Space Travel: But Why Not Dream?

What would we need to trim the daunting energy requirement for space travel down to size? It's a challenge
Viewing the heavens beyond our reach causes us to look up and stretch our imaginations to envision a realm vastly greater than our own. Read More ›
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Group of exoplanets in outer space Extraterrestrial planet.

Interstellar Travel: Fantasy or Destiny?

The energy required to power a spaceship to a nearby star, given current tech, is 4,800 times the total energy consumption of the United States in the year 2022
I think it’s fair to say that interstellar space travel isn’t even remotely possible with our current understanding of physics and technology. Read More ›