Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

TagAlfred Russel Wallace

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female player plays poker and takes chips to raise the bet

Proof of Darwinism Lies in a Book That Was Never Written…

Terry Scambray looks at Robert Shedinger’s Darwin’s Bluff, which tells the tale of the proof that Darwin was always “going to” provide
As Scambray observes, in the end, Darwin did not really need to provide clinching evidence. Intellectuals already *believed in* evolution and that was enough. Read More ›
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The combination of playing cards

Darwin’s Bold Bluff: He Never Demonstrated His Evolution Theory

He often promised he would demonstrate it. But, as Robert Shedinger shows, when he didn’t, his supporters decided to just act like he had
Their strategy worked quite well because, by gentleman’s agreement, everyone closed ranks and no one asked hard questions — until quite recently… Read More ›
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Bearded neanderthal man sits by fire in cave at night, caveman and bonfire on dark background. Concept of Homo sapiens, prehistoric era, primitive, ancient, Stone Age

Evolutionary Theorists Stymied by the Human Mind

No one actually knows how our ancestors began to think like humans
If man is biologically — but not cognitively — like an animal, the obvious implication is that some aspect of the human mind is not biological. Read More ›
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Bipolar disorder mind mental concept. Change of mood. Emotions. Split personality. Dual personality. Head silhouette of man

The Battle Over the Human Mind Split Two Great Thinkers

Charles Darwin opted for a materialist model; his co-theorist Alfred Russel Wallace insisted that the mind was not just the brain

Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–2013) share the credit, technically, for the theory of evolution by natural selection but Darwin became the icon. One reason they parted ways was that Wallace did not agree with Darwin that the human mind was simply an organ that evolved naturally, like any other. There had to be something more to it. Philosopher Neil Thomas explains: In his older years Wallace came to reject natural selection as an explanation for the unfurling of all human and even animal life. By then he had transitioned towards the espousal of a form of natural theology; but his initial and gravest misgiving in the 1860s was focused four-square on the mystery of how the human Read More ›