Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

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denisovan-hunter-holding-a-staff-in-a-prehistoric-grassy-lan-1091332131-stockpack-adobestock
Denisovan hunter holding a staff in a prehistoric grassy landscape. The face is based on a reconstruction of a female Denisovan using DNA extracted from a pinky bone discovered in Siberia.

Human Evolution Needs Subhumans, and Needs Them Badly

Archeologists are quietly revising the human origins story in a way that does not follow a Darwinian pattern but they don’t quite come out and say it

Without a subhuman, the human mind has no history. That is a serious blow to any Darwinian materialist project.

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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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evil-ai-agent-robot-hacking-1330157571-stockpack-adobestock
Evil AI agent robot hacking

The Daily Mail: Clickbait in the AI Arms Race

Contrary to the article’s premise, the AI did not invent any bad behavior. It copied or adapted techniques that are already well known and widely available

The real concern is that AI can find, combine, and carry out existing malicious techniques much faster and on a much larger scale than the human one.

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meeting-training-and-planning-with-a-finance-ceo-manager-or-537425829-stockpack-adobestock
Meeting, training and planning with a finance CEO, manager or leader and team in the boardroom. Collaboration, workshop and presentation with a business man and staff talking about vision and mission

Colleges and Universities: Still on a Road to Nowhere

One cost-saving proposal has been to eliminate courses with ten or fewer students, irrespective of what the course is teaching

Significantly, no administrators who were contacted recommended reducing schools’ budget woes by reducing the number of administrators.

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with-the-global-spread-of-the-new-coronavirus-pneumonia-an-automated-line-of-disposable-medical-masks-makes-the-masks-ready-for-an-epidemic-24-hours-a-day-covid-19-outbreak-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
With the global spread of the new coronavirus pneumonia, an automated line of disposable medical masks makes the masks ready for an epidemic 24 hours a day, COVID-19 outbreak

If It Is About the Covid Crazy, Don’t Tell Your Diary Anything!

Especially not if you are Anthony Fauci...

Fauci’s most revealing 1,141 pages are not a personal diary; despite all the personal material, he was writing at work on a government computer.

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space-of-time-dimension-conceptuniverseillusiontime-theory-s-816704682-stockpack-adobestock
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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Close up of old English dictionary page with word vocabulary

Monday Micro Softy 89:  Double Negatives are a No-No

Actually, they do have their uses — for example, if politicians are trying to correctly state views while making them hard to understand

To solve last week’s puzzle: you are told how many heads there are so start by flipping that number of coins.

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hospital-staff-operating-an-automated-external-defibrillator-923135540-stockpack-adobestock
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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An octopus holding a plastic bottle , generative ai

Maybe Being a Loner Helps the Octopus Be Smart?

With the asocial brain hypothesis, researchers ask us to think beyond traditional explanations for why some animals display unexpected intelligence

The research mainly shows that there is more than one route to animal intelligence and shaking up Darwin’s tree can be productive.

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books-in-colored-covers-swirl-on-a-blue-background-copy-spac-487436588-stockpack-adobestock
books in colored covers swirl on a blue background, copy space

Horowitch and Harrington Chime in on the “Post-literate Society”

Is the age of longform reading truly over?

Despite good reasons to be optimistic about reading’s ultimate survival, Horowitch and Harrington are putting their fingers on something real and concerning. Even for someone like me, who grew up reading books, the allure of digital distraction is often overpowering.

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File cabinets overflowing with orange folders and documents, symbolizing bureaucracy and disorganization

Parkinson’s Law Is the Key to Understanding Bureaucratic Bloat

The experience of one small university offers a useful example

I spent 55 years as an eyewitness to this disaster, watching a relatively lean and efficient enterprise turn into a distended, barely recognizable caricature.

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stack-of-american-gold-coins-background-us-half-dollar-coin-391397437-stockpack-adobestock
Stack of american gold coins background. US half Dollar coin with eagle. Concept of a stable banking system and economy.

Monday Micro Softy 88:  Flipping Gold Coins

Computer programmers must be good at math. The solution to this week's Micro Softy uses math — but you don’t need to know the math to impress your friends

The answer to Micro Softy 87 depends on understanding which number a given sequence of the code represents.

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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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multiethnic-group-of-8-10-year-old-children-sitting-on-windo-412273512-stockpack-adobestock
Multiethnic group of 8-10 year old children sitting on windowsill, playing online phone games and ignoring real life. Concept of gadget addiction and excessive use of social media and mobile devices

Addicted to Social Media: Are We the Customer or the Product?

A lawsuit has revealed social media company strategies that seem to promote addiction

Meta and Google recently lost a bellwether case accusing them of exacerbating children’s mental health struggles by intentionally addicting them to unhealthy social media.

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evolution-of-technology-from-early-computers-to-modern-ai-ad-906342285-stockpack-adobestock
Evolution of Technology: From Early Computers to Modern AI Advancements

Superintelligence? AI’s History vs. the Myth

Here is the history in a nutshell outlining how we got to where we are today.

The breakthroughs have come from human creativity. Computers have served as powerful tools for implementing innovations, but they did not invent them.

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polar-bear-eats-pink-donut-in-cold-blue-water-arctic-iceberg-1854954820-stockpack-adobestock
Polar bear eats pink donut in cold blue water arctic. Icebergs float in background. White mammal animal enjoys sweet treat despite cold weather and icy landscape.

Monday Micro Softy: Dr. Marks’s Incredible Ice Diet

Here’s a breakthrough announcement that will be a blessing to all the people in the world like me who struggle with weight control

To solve Micro Softie 85, ask yourself, when would a slightly smaller caliber bullet than the enemy uses be a definite advantage?

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a-realistic-depiction-of-a-human-cannonball-mid-air-soaring-1110637729-stockpack-adobestock
A realistic depiction of a human cannonball mid-air, soaring through the circus tent as the crowd gasps in awe

Monday Micro Softy 85: Are You Up To Caliber?

There is a serious question here: Why might small differences in caliber matter?

Why would a military force decide to use a slightly different caliber of bullets from the one used by the enemy force?

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3d-illustration-of-science-background-molecule-and-atom-mode-315649004-stockpack-adobestock
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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a-line-of-ants-marching-across-a-sandy-surface-with-a-large-991384288-stockpack-adobestock
A line of ants marching across a sandy surface with a large area of empty sky above for text.

Monday Micro Softy 84: Meet the Followers

What happens when everyone in the swarm is a follower?

To solve last week’s puzzle, we should picture what must happen when every bug wants to place itself between two other bugs.

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