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Circle of people. Teamwork. Business meeting. Negotiations, reaching consensus in disagreements. Joint problem solving. Conflict resolution through dialogue. Compromise. Cooperation and collaboration
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post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
May 10, 2021
Categorized
Machine Learning, Mathematics
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Consensus Gives Us Information Only If We Are Free to Doubt

Jonathan Bartlett
May 10, 2021
Machine Learning, Mathematics

There are so many credentialed people on the internet with sufficiently differing views that it sometimes seems as if we could find an expert somewhere to support almost any harebrained idea. So how does a non-expert figure out the truth? Most of us lack the time, training, and inclination to investigate most subjects sufficiently so we are often urged to adopt the consensus opinion. While an individual expert may have wild and crazy ideas, the consensus will most likely be an average informed view. But it’s not that simple. Most of the time it is impossible for the public to determine the consensus opinion. What is usually labeled as consensus opinion is what media believe it to be. And the…

probability-likelihood-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
probability likelihood
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post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
December 1, 2020
Categorized
Mathematics
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How Bayes’ Math Rule Can Counter Unreasonable Skepticism

Mathematics is much more interesting if we know a bit about the players and their positions
Jonathan Bartlett
December 1, 2020
Mathematics

Yesterday, we discussed the importance of Bayes’ rule in statistical reasoning. We used the example of a person who goes for a battery of screening tests and comes up positive for HIV. Let’s say she is surprised (and alarmed) because she is not at any known risk for HIV. But, it turns out, the risk of false positives for the test is several times greater than the incidence of HIV in the population. In that case, it is reasonable for her to suspect—on a statistics science basis, not just wishful thinking—that the test is a false positive. The formula we used is part of Bayesian reasoning, originally developed by an eighteen-century British clergyman and mathematician Thomas Bayes (1702–1761), but now…

richards-forbes-cosm
Jay Richards and Steve Forbes Interview
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Author
News
Date
June 12, 2020
Categorized
Business and Finance
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Cryptocurrency a “High-Tech Cry for Help” Says Steve Forbes of Forbes Media

News
June 12, 2020
Business and Finance
Jay Richards interviews Steve Forbes, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Media, regarding the future of cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies, and the implications of the technologies for global money, global security, and internet architecture. Read More ›
Asian temple dragon
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post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
April 5, 2020
Categorized
Ethics, Global Technology, Social Media, Technocracy
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The Dragon’s Deception: Conspiracy Theories and False Numbers

China’s global attempt to rewrite the history of coronavirus (COVID-19) is running up against incriminating evidence
Heather Zeiger
April 5, 2020
Ethics, Global Technology, Social Media, Technocracy

The Chinese Communist Party has touted the superiority of an authoritarian government over a democratic one in handling the virus outbreak. But American intelligence sources say that it was the punishment that local officials might receive from the authoritarian system that led to the initial coverup of the outbreak.

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Man with double face expression isolated on gray background
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Author
News
Date
April 4, 2020
Categorized
Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind
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If Your Brain Were Cut in Half, Would You Still Be One Person?

Yes, with minor disabilities. Roger Sperry’s split-brain research convinced him that the mind and free will are real
News
April 4, 2020
Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

The true significance of the split-brain experiments goes far beyond the significance of the lateralization of the brain; your essential unity also points to the immaterial nature of the mind.

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Blackboard inscribed with scientific formulas and calculations in physics and mathematics.
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Author
News
Date
March 28, 2020
Categorized
Education, Mathematics
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Bartlett’s Calculus Paper Reviewed in Mathematics Magazine

The paper offers fixes for long-standing flaws in the teaching of elementary calculus
News
March 28, 2020
Education, Mathematics

Jonathan Bartlett tells us, “The review was mixed, but most importantly the reviewer didn’t disagree with the results, only their potential usefulness."

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Western lowland gorilla, Gorilla gorilla
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Author
Michael Egnor
Date
March 27, 2020
Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind
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How Not To Debate Materialists

This is the story of how a gifted scientist lost a debate with a Darwinist — a debate he should have won
Michael Egnor
March 27, 2020
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Although ape brains do differ somewhat from human brains in cortical anatomy, it is the similarity between the brains of apes and men, rather than the differences, that provide striking evidence of human exceptionalism.

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Panoramic aerial view of St Peter's square in Vatican, Rome Italy
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post
Author
Jay Richards
Date
March 22, 2020
Categorized
Business and Finance, Ethics, Religion
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Why Does the Vatican Need Microsoft?

Should the Church really partner with IBM and Microsoft to make pronouncements on tech regulation?
Jay Richards
March 22, 2020
Business and Finance, Ethics, Religion

When giant corporate actors like IBM and Microsoft promote “transparency and compliance with ethical principles?”, we run the risk that they are helping to craft regulations that hinder future competitors (“regulatory capture”). Rather than partner with them in making statements, the Church should stay clear.

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Senior couple having fun at home playing video game holding joysticks in hands.Quarantine.
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post
Author
Adam Nieri
Date
March 21, 2020
Categorized
Arts & Culture
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Shelter in Place? Your Sci-Fi Video Game Binge List

You’ll never know where the long hours went, courtesy Sci-Fi Saturday at Mind Matters News
Adam Nieri
March 21, 2020
Arts & Culture

Has your ISP lifted bandwidth limits in your area due to thousands more Americans working from home? Great news for gamers too! Here’s my list of top-notch sci-fi apocalypse games.

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Woman in medical protective mask applying an antibacterial antiseptic gel for hands disinfection and health protection during during flu virus outbreak. Coronavirus quarantine and novel covid ncov
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post
Author
Brendan Dixon
Date
March 20, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Medicine and Health, Social Media
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AI Is Not Ready to Moderate Content!

In the face of COVID-19 quarantines for human moderators, some look to AI to keep the bad stuff off social media
Brendan Dixon
March 20, 2020
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Medicine and Health, Social Media

Big social media companies have long wanted to replace human content moderators with AI. COVID-19 quarantines have only intensified that discussion. But AI is far, far from ready to successfully moderate content in an age of where virtual monopolies make single point failure a frequent risk.

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Coronavirus pandemic - Cleaning and Disinfection. Professional teams for disinfection efforts. Infection prevention and control of epidemic. Protective suit and mask
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post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
March 19, 2020
Categorized
Ethics, Medicine and Health, Technocracy
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China: Rewriting the History of COVID-19

Making the government the improbable hero of the tale
Heather Zeiger
March 19, 2020
Ethics, Medicine and Health, Technocracy

Chinese scientists worked together swiftly and seamlessly to sequence the virus, (completed February 25), even as the government was downplaying the extent of the problem and silencing doctors who attempted to warn colleagues and the public. The Wuhan public erupted in anger when the government demanded a show of gratitude for its efforts rather than theirs.

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mental mind sport motivation concept of young handsome strong man with beard wearing black jersey concentration relaxation in sport gym
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post
Author
Michael Egnor
Date
March 5, 2020
Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind
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The Mind Is the Opposite of a Computer

Matthew Cobb, a materialist, only scratches the surface when he explains why your brain is not a computer
Michael Egnor
March 5, 2020
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Mental activity always has meaning—every thought is about something. Computation, by contrast, always lacks meaning in itself. A word processing program doesn’t care about the opinion that you’re expressing when you use it. In fact, what makes computation so useful is that it doesn’t have its own meaning. Because the mind always has meaning and computation never does, the mind is the opposite of computation.

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The Dreamy Abstract background from soap bubble in the air with nature defocused
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post
Author
Jeffrey Funk
Date
March 3, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance
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Stanford’s AI Index Report: How Much Is BS?

Some measurements of AI’s economic impact sound like the metrics that fueled the dot-com bubble
Jeffrey Funk and Gary Smith
March 3, 2020
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance

Stanford University’s AI index offers us fanciful measures of the triumph of AI, rivaling the far-fetched metrics of dot-com commerce. The reality has been the opposite. For decades, U.S. productivity grew by about 3% a year. Then, after 1970, it slowed to 1.5% a year, then 1%, now about 0.5%. Perhaps we are spending too much time on our smartphones.

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Concept of brain recording for parkinson surgery
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Author
News
Date
February 29, 2020
Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind
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Why Pioneer Neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield Said the Mind Is More Than the Brain

He gave three lines of reasoning, based on brain surgery on over a thousand patients
News
February 29, 2020
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Michael Egnor points out that Penfield offered three lines of evidence: His inability to stimulate intellectual thought during brain operations, the inability of seizures to cause intellectual thought, and his inability to stimulate the will. … So he concluded that the intellect and the will are not from the brain. Which is precisely what Aristotle said.

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Two Scientists in the Brain Research Laboratory work on a Project, Using Personal Computer with MRI Scans Show Brain Anomalies. Neuroscientists at Work.
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Author
News
Date
February 27, 2020
Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind
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Pioneer Neuroscientists Believed the Mind Is More Than the Brain

A number of them were Nobel Laureates and their views were informed by their work
News
February 27, 2020
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

In a podcast discussion with Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks, neurosurgeon Michael Egnor talks about how many famous neuroscientist became dualists—that is, they concluded that there is something about human beings that goes beyond matter—based on observations they made during their work.

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Man typing on keyboard background with brain hologram. Concept of big Data.
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Author
News
Date
February 23, 2020
Categorized
Business and Finance, Work
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Which Career-Limiting Data Mistake Are YOU Most at Risk For?

Award-winning data science author Gary Smith says the odds depend on your relationship to the data
News
February 23, 2020
Business and Finance, Work

Dr. Smith thinks that the most dangerous error is putting data before theory. Many data-mining algorithms that are now being used to screen job applicants, price car insurance, approve loan applications, and determine prison sentences have significant errors and biases that are not due to programmer mistakes and biases, but to a misplaced belief in data-mining.

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Double personality long exposure artistic creative portrait. Young handsome man profile. looking side. Ghost. abstract conceptual artistic view. representation of subconscious feelings and thoughts
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Author
News
Date
February 21, 2020
Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind
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The Mind’s Reality Is Consistent with Neuroscience

A neglected “dualist” theory offers some insights
News
February 21, 2020
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Neurosurgeon Michael Egnor thinks that the explanation of the relationship of the mind to the brain that best fits today’s neuroscience is that certain powers, particularly the intellect and will, are not generated by matter but are immaterial. However, other properties of the mind, like perception, memory and imagination are physical, generated by brain matter.

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robot sit down and thinking
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post
Author
Eric Holloway
Date
February 19, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind
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A Philosopher Explains Why Thinking Matter Is Impossible

He’s right but Captain Kirk tumbled to it before him. So did a medieval poet
Eric Holloway
February 19, 2020
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind

According to analytical philosopher Richard Johns, we cannot represent ourselves completely mathematically so we cannot generate fundamentally contradictory thoughts about ourselves. Some part of us lies beyond mathematics. An android would not be so lucky, as Captain Kirk realized in an early Star Trek episode.

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Sagrada Familia
Spandrels within the interior arches of the Sagrada Familia
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post
Author
Michael Egnor
Date
February 11, 2020
Categorized
Philosophy of Mind
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Did Consciousness Evolve?: A Darwinist Responds

Jerry Coyne argues that consciousness is a mere byproduct of useful traits that are naturally selected. But wait…
Michael Egnor
February 11, 2020
Philosophy of Mind

The critical problem that consciousness poses for Darwinian evolution is that there is no survival advantage for subjective first-person existence over objective third-person existence.

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An abstract computer generated fractal design. A fractal is a never-ending pattern. Fractals are infinitely complex patterns that are self-similar across different scales.
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post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
February 8, 2020
Categorized
Education, Mathematics
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Are Divergent Series Really an “Invention of the Devil”?

The real villain in the piece is horrendously non-specific concepts of infinity. But that can be fixed
Jonathan Bartlett
February 8, 2020
Education, Mathematics

It turns out that hyperreal numbers (i.e., infinities that obey algebraic rules) resolve many of the paradoxes that previously plagued conceptions of divergent series. It is now possible to assign specific values to divergent series.

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