^TagEvolution

Conceptual art, concept of problem mind psychology freedom and solution, surreal painting, jigsaw puzzle on human head.

^{Type
post

Author
Michael Egnor
Date
March 8, 2023

Categorized
Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Catholicism, Consciousness, Darwin, Evolution, free will, Materialism, Matter, Michael Egnor, mind, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind, reason}

Kenneth Miller on Consciousness and Evolution

_{Despite Miller's claims, neither human reason nor free will evolved because neither are generated by material processes} _{Michael Egnor

March 8, 2023

8

Philosophy of Mind}

Kenneth Miller is a biologist at Brown University who has been very active in his written and vocal support for Darwin’s theory of evolution. He’s neither a materialist nor an atheist – he is a Catholic, and in being one of the rare Darwinists who doesn’t subscribe wholeheartedly to the materialist/atheist paradigm, he allows himself to be used as a token theist by the Darwinists. It helps his career, no doubt, but doesn’t advance the truth. Not an admirable place to be. Miller’s New Book and What it Misses In his 2018 book The Human Instinct: How We Evolved To Have Reason, Consciousness, and Free Will, Miller manages a feat uncommon even for Darwinists – even the title of the Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
January 4, 2023

Categorized
Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Closer to Truth (video series), Conscious realism, Consciousness, Donald Hoffman, Evolution, Idealism, Objective reality, Robert Lawrence Kuhn}

Brain Scientist: Consciousness Didn’t Evolve. It Creates Evolution

_{With a tremor in his voice, Donald Hoffman tells Robert Lawrence Kuhn that even the Big Bang must be understood in a universe where consciousness is fundamental} _{Denyse O'Leary

January 4, 2023

10

Philosophy of Mind}

In a recent episode of Closer to Truth, Robert Lawrence Kuhn interviewed University of California cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman on a challenging topic, “Why did consciousness emerge? (7:41 min, December 10, 2022): There was a time when there was no consciousness in our universe. Now there is. What caused consciousness to emerge? Did consciousness develop in the same way that, say, the liver or the eye developed, by random mutation and fitness selection during evolution? Inner experience seems to be radically different from anything else. Are we fooling ourselves? Donald Hoffman is the author of Visual Intelligence: How We Create What We See and coauthor of Observer Mechanics: A Formal Theory Of Perception (Norton, 2000) A partial transcript and some Read More ›

^{Type
podcast

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
August 25, 2022

Tagged
AI swarm, Algorithms, Animal Algorithms, Animal Algorithms (book), Ants, Darwinian evolution, Darwinism, Eric Cassell, Evolution, genetic entropy, Homing Pigeon, Ingenious Instincts, Insects, Monarch Butterfly, Navigational Cues, Orphan Genes, Path Integration, Pheromone, Polarization, Sun Polarization, Swarm intelligence, trail pheromone, World War I, World War II}

Animal Algorithms and Artificial Intelligence

_{Robert J. Marks

August 25, 2022

1}

Did you know that animals have built-in algorithms? Some of these amazing algorithms allow animals to migrate to new places and navigate back to previous locations. Insects also have a wide variety of fascinating social behaviors. Where did they come from? Eric Cassell, author of Animal Algorithms, discusses animal algorithms, artificial intelligence, instincts, and irreducible complexity with Robert J. Marks. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 28, 2022

Categorized
Philosophy, Religion, Science, Social Media

Tagged
Bacteria, Casey Luskin, Darwinian evolution theory, Evolution, Featured, Human brain (as complex), Isaac Asimov (on human brain), Jerry Coyne, Michael Egnor, New Atheism, Orac (pseudonym), Panda's Thumb (blog), Positivism, Rubik's cube (and specified complexity), Scientism, Specified Complexity, Steven Novella, Why Evolution is True (blog)}

When a Neurosurgeon and a Biologist Keep On Arguing…

_{… we suspect some pretty basic science issues are involved} _{News

June 28, 2022

11

Philosophy, Religion, Science, Social Media}

In a recent ID: The Future podcast (June 24, 2022) Casey Luskin interviews pediatric neurosurgeon Michael Egnor on his blogosphere debates with evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne. Egnor, who has authored many research papers, espouses a non-materialist view of the mind — and of life in general — with which Dr. Coyne, a committed atheist, emphatically disagrees. Here’s a partial transcript from “A Brain Surgeon Debates Evolutionist Jerry Coyne and Other Atheists”: Casey Luskin: We’re going to talk about these debates you’ve had with Dr. Coyne and others. Some of the arguments you’ve made, I think, have been very compelling. But before we get into that, I’d like to ask, why do you focus your writing so much on Dr. Jerry Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Eric Holloway
Date
March 28, 2022

Categorized
Biology

Tagged
Evolution, Hamlet, Natural selection, Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker, Weasel program}

Dawkins’ Dubious Double Weasel and the Combinatorial Cataclysm

_{Dawkins has successfully reduced a combinatorial explosion to a manageable problem...or has he?} _{Eric Holloway

March 28, 2022

6

Biology}

In Richard Dawkins’ book, The Blind Watchmaker, he proposed a famous (and infamous) computer program to demonstrate the power of cumulative selection, known as the “Weasel program.” The program demonstrates that by varying a single letter at a time, it is possible to rapidly evolve a coherent English sentence from a string of gibberish. The way the program works is as follows: First, a sequence of characters is randomly assembled by drawing from the 26 English letters and the space. Then, one character is randomly reassigned. The resulting sequence is compared to the phrase from Hamlet, a quote uttered by Polonius: “methinks it is like a weasel.” For every character that matches, a point is scored. If the new sequence Read More ›

Isolated Low Poly graphic design of . Eagles -3d rendering.

^{Type
podcast

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
January 6, 2022

Tagged
Algorithms, Animal Algorithms, Darwinian evolution, Darwinism, Eric Cassell, Evolution, Homing Pigeon, Monarch Butterfly, Navigational Cues, Path Integration, Polarization, Robert J. Marks, Sun Polarization, World War I, World War II}

The Astonishing Algorithms That Allow Animals to Navigate & Migrate

_{Robert J. Marks

January 6, 2022

1}

An algorithm is a step-by-step procedure to perform a specific task. We usually think of algorithms as being performed by computers. Did you know that animals have built-in algorithms of their own? Some of these amazing algorithms allow animals to migrate to new places and navigate back to previous locations. Eric Cassell discusses his new book, Animal Algorithms, with Robert Read More ›

Beautiful night sky, the Milky Way, moon and the trees. Elements of this image furnished by NASA.

^{Type
podcast

Author
Michael Egnor
Date
August 26, 2021

Tagged
Arthur Schopenhauer, Bernardo Kastrup, Computers, Consciousness, Cosmopanpsychism, Death, dissociative identity disorder, epiphenomenal, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Intelligent design theory, Jerry Fodor, Materialism, metaphysics, Michael Egnor, mind, mutation, Near-death experiences, Panpsychism, Panpsychism (vs. materialism), Philosophy, Physics, Quantum Computing, Quantum Entanglement, Quantum Mechanics, Quantum Physics, Sabine Hossenfelder, sense, Sense of smell, Sense of touch, soul, subjective idealism, Teleology, Thomas Aquinas}

“If Nobody Looks at the Moon, Does It Exist?” and Other Metaphysical Questions

_{Michael Egnor

August 26, 2021

2}

If no one is looking at the moon, does it exist? Why has materialism been around for so long? Will computers ever be conscious? What happens to our consciousness after we die? Bernardo Kastrup tackles these questions and more with Michael Egnor in another bingecast! Show Notes 0:00:28 | Introducing Dr. Bernardo Kastrup 0:01:22 | How quantum mechanics points to Read More ›

World philosophy day education concept: tree of knowledge planting on opening old big book in library with textbook in natural background

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
May 9, 2021

Categorized
Philosophy, Science

Tagged
Christopher Norris, Evolution, Grand Design (book), Immanuel Kant, Larry Krauss, Leonard Mlodinow, Massimo Pigliucci, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Patrick Stokes, Philosophy denialism, Philosophy of Science, Quantum Mechanics, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Hawking}

Why Do Some Famous Materialist Scientists Hate Philosophy?

_{Philosopher of biology Massimo Pigliucci takes Richard Dawkins to task for dismissing philosophy but he might have said the same of Stephen Hawking} _{News

May 9, 2021

6

Philosophy, Science}

Massimo Pigliucci (pictured) makes clear that he is a naturalist (materialist) like zoologist Richard Dawkins. For example, he tells us that they crossed paths at a conference whose purpose was to promote naturalism (materialism): Over four centuries of scientific progress have convinced most professional philosophers and scientists of the validity of naturalism: the view that there is only one realm of existence, the natural world, whose behavior can be studied through reason and empirical investigation. The basic operating principles of the natural world appear to be impersonal and inviolable; microscopic constituents of inanimate matter obeying the laws of physics fit together in complex structures to form intelligent, emotive, conscious human beings. Sean Carroll, “Moving Naturalism Forward (announcement)” at Preposterous Universe Read More ›

White, grey and pink mandelbrot fractal.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
March 7, 2021

Categorized
Mathematics, Religion

Tagged
Anselm of Canterbury, Evolution, Featured, Gregory Chaitin, Incompleteness theorems (Gödel), Kurt Gödel (belief in God), Robert J. Marks, Saint Anselm}

How Kurt Gödel Destroyed a Popular Form of Atheism

_{We don’t hear much about logical positivism now but it was very fashionable in the early twentieth century} _{News

March 7, 2021

6

Mathematics, Religion}

In this week’s podcast, “The Chaitin interview I: Chaitin chats with Kurt Gödel,” Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks interviewed mathematician and computer scientist Gregory Chaitin. Earlier, we noted his comments on the almost supernatural awareness that the great mathematicians had of the foundations of reality in the mathematics of our universe. Yesterday, we heard Chaitin’s recollection of how he (almost) met the eccentric genius Kurt Gödel (1906–1978). One way that Gödel stood out from many of his contemporaries was that he believed in God. He even wrote a mathematical proof of the existence of God. https://episodes.castos.com/mindmatters/Mind-Matters-124-Gregory-Chaitin.mp3 This portion begins at 17:16 min. A partial transcript, Show Notes, and Additional Resources follow. Robert J. Marks: One of the things Read More ›

Robotic man cyborg face representing artificial intelligence 3D rendering

^{Type
post

Author
Eric Holloway
Date
March 2, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Medicine and Health, Technocracy

Tagged
Evolution, Featured, free will, Mark Alan Walker, Person-engineered technologies, Ray Kurzweil, Second Law of Thermodynamics, Singularity}

Are We Facing the Next, Very Rapid Stage of Evolution, via AI?

_{Prof. Mark Alan Walker: “Person-engineering technologies will make it possible to accomplish in a matter of years what evolution would take thousands of millennia to achieve.”} _{Eric Holloway

March 2, 2021

6

Artificial Intelligence, Medicine and Health, Technocracy}

These are certainly heady times in the biotech world. With the new mRNA vaccine being created in just a few days in January 2020, someone can mass produce DNA in their garage for the price of a hamburger, and Alpha Fold 2 can predict proteins from DNA with accuracy, rivalling wet lab results, it seems we are on the cusp of something extraordinary. Most viral infections will cease if all we need to do to roll out a new vaccine is sequence the virus genome and mass produce the portion that binds to human cells. On the darker side, it will also likely mean a greater threat of biowarfare. Creating a new virus may just be a matter of downloading Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
December 26, 2020

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Evolution, Science fiction, Synhedrion Films, Vikaari}

Sci-fi Saturday: What If Next-Stage Evolution Children Appear?

_{A sci-fi short from Sri Lanka looks at the possibilities} _{News

December 26, 2020

3

Arts & Culture, Science}

Here’s the last item in our Saturday reviews of free, relevant sci-fi fun from DUST, the sci-fi channel at YouTube. This one is “Vikaari”from Synhedrion Studios (Sri Lanka, 13:54): Due to some possible “evolutionary transformation,” children in Sri Lanka are born with no emotional reaction to anything but with the ability for telekinesis and a hive mind. It’s suggested that that is an adaptive response to continuous warfare. Many want to kill them, saying “They look like kids, but they’re not.” Eerily reminiscent of the persecution of people with Down Syndrome. Evolution theories are evoked in glowing color to explain the situation though many such theories are contested today. The story is very well done as a parable of the Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
November 28, 2020

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Drake Equation, Evolution, Extraterrestrials (ET), Fine-tuning, Future of Humanity Institute, Michael Denton, Miracle of the Cell (book)}

Does the Slow Pace of Evolution Mean That ET Life Is Rare?

_{That’s the contention in a recent paper by astrobiologists at Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute} _{News

November 28, 2020

4

Arts & Culture, Science}

In a new paper, researchers affiliated with Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute use the assumptions we make about the evolution of life on Earth to estimate the likelihood of it happening the same way elsewhere. And the numbers do not look good. As a science writer puts it: There are countless naturally occurring, but extremely lucky ways in which Earth is special, sheltered, protected, and encouraged to have evolved life. And some key moments of emerging life seem much more likely than others, based on what really did happen. Caroline Delbert, “Intelligent Life Really Can’t Exist Anywhere Else” at Popular Mechanics In the paper, the Oxford group concludes, It took approximately 4.5 billion years for a series of evolutionary transitions Read More ›

Atoms and their electron clouds , Quantum mechanics and atomic structure

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
November 14, 2020

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
C.S. Lewis, Charles Darwin, Evolution, Extraterrestrials (ET), John D. Barrow, John M. Smart, Matt Williams, Oren Etzioni, Ray Kurzweil, Roger Penrose, Science fiction, Singularity, Transcension Hypothesis}

The Aliens Exist—But Evolved Into Virtual Reality at a Nanoscale

_{That’s the Transcension Hypothesis, the latest in our series on science fiction hypotheses as to why we don’t see extraterrestrials} _{News

November 14, 2020

10

Arts & Culture, Science}

Readers will recall that we have been looking at science writer Matt Williams’s analysis of the various reasons that we do not see extraterrestrials except at the movies. Last week, we looked at the Firstborn Hypothesis: We don’t see aliens because they haven’t evolved yet. And, when they do, we must be careful not to harm their development through colonization. This week is a bit of a deeper dive: The extraterrestrials have evolved so far beyond us that perhaps we could not encounter them. … the Transcension Hypothesis ventures that an advanced civilization will become fundamentally altered by its technology. In short, it theorizes that any ETIs that predate humanity have long-since transformed into something that is not recognizable by Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Eric Holloway
Date
October 14, 2020

Categorized
Information Theory, Science

Tagged
Common descent, Consistency Index (CI), Convergent evolution, Evolution, Featured, Invention, Klassen et al., Nested hierarchy, Phylogenetic signal, Talk Origins (website), Tree of Life}

To What Extent Does Life Simply Invent Itself As It Goes Along?

_{The evidence may surprise us} _{Eric Holloway

October 14, 2020

6

Information Theory, Science}

According to a popular anti-creationist website Talk Origins, one of the strongest pieces of evidence for evolution and common descent is the phylogenetic signal. In their view, when we look at specific properties across multiple species — number of legs, presence or absence of wings, the presence of a gene, a configuration of nucleotides in the genome, etc. — such properties will form a strongly nested hierarchy. We should expect to see such a strongly nested hierarchy if organisms evolved from one another and therefore a “family tree” links all the organisms together. However, if a property that appears only on a branch, it will be shared only by that branch’s leaves. Leaves on a different branch will not have Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
October 3, 2020

Categorized
Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience

Tagged
Brain organization, Comparative brain structure, Convergent evolution, Evolution, Genetics, human brain, Inheritance, Insect brain, Mouse brain}

Human, Mouse, and Fly Brains All Use the Same Basic Mechanisms

_{The study of brains in recent decades has yielded a very different picture from the patterns we might have expected} _{News

October 3, 2020

4

Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience}

With differing outcomes, of course: A new study led by researchers from King’s College London has shown that humans, mice and flies share the same fundamental genetic mechanisms that regulate the formation and function of brain areas involved in attention and movement control. News Centre, “Humans and flies employ very similar mechanisms for brain development and function” at King’s College London (August 3, 2020) We might have expected a gradual increase in size and complexity, corresponding with ability, leading up to the human brain. But we have learned from recent research that lemurs, with brains 1/200 the size of chimps’, pass same IQ test (the Primate Cognition Test Battery). Human intellectual abilities are orders of magnitude greater than that of Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 30, 2020

Categorized
Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience

Tagged
Deutsches Primatenzentrum (DPZ), Evolution, Great apes, intelligence, Lemur, Mouse lemur, Primate Cognition Test Battery (PCTB), Primates}

Lemurs with Brains 1/200 the Size of Chimps’ Pass Same IQ Test

_{This new finding about mouse lemurs also makes human exceptionalism more exceptional} _{Denyse O'Leary

September 30, 2020

4

Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience}

Researchers were surprise to discover recently that the mouse lemur, a tiny primate whose brain is 1/200th the size of a chimpanzee’s brain, did as well as great apes on a primate intelligence test. Read More ›

Pair of ravens in courtship. Corvus corax

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 29, 2020

Categorized
Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Birds, Chimpanzees, Crows, Evolution, Human exceptionalism, intelligence, Language, Mirror test, Mythology, Neocortex, Primates, Ravens, Suzana Herculano-Houzel}

Why Does Science Embrace the “Talking Animals” Myth?

_{Many birds are quite smart but why do some researchers imply that they think like people?} _{Denyse O'Leary

September 29, 2020

8

Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind}

In recent years, studies have confirmed a widespread cultural intuition that some birds, particularly corvids like crows and ravens, are “smart.” They show considerable problem-solving skills. Thus, they loom large in mythology as messengers and tricksters. For example, the Norse king of the gods (pictured) had two ravens as advisors. Oddly enough, science today retains the mythology and makes a curious use of it: New discoveries about the specifics of corvid brain organization and intelligence are framed as demonstrating that humans do not really have as exceptional thinking ability as we suppose: Research unveiled on Thursday in Science finds that crows know what they know and can ponder the content of their own minds, a manifestation of higher intelligence and Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
September 26, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Information Theory

Tagged
Elon Musk, Evolution, Featured, Implicit genome, Origin of life, Robert J. Marks, Search for a search, William Dembski}

Elon Musk Tweet Shows Why Many Doubt Origin of Life Studies

_{Musk was talking about the origin of machines, not life, but the principle is, perhaps surprisingly, the same} _{Jonathan Bartlett

September 26, 2020

4

Artificial Intelligence, Information Theory}

Creating a machine that manufactures or a cell that reproduces is much harder than creating a prototype of either. It’s a search for a search. Read More ›

abstract binary code science computing center

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
September 22, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Algorithms, Brian J. Woolley, Computers, Darwinian evolution, Eric Holloway, Evolution, Featured, Goodhart's Law, Jonathan Bartlett, Kevin O. Stanley, No Free Lunch theorems, Word ladder game}

Can AI Really Evolve into Superintelligence All by Itself?

_{We can’t just turn a big computer over to evolution and go away and hope for great things} _{News

September 22, 2020

6

Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind}

At Science earlier this year it was claimed that Darwinian evolution alone can make computers much smarter. As a result, researchers hoped to “discover something really fundamental that will take a long time for humans to figure out”: Artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving—literally. Researchers have created software that borrows concepts from Darwinian evolution, including “survival of the fittest,” to build AI programs that improve generation after generation without human input. The program replicated decades of AI research in a matter of days, and its designers think that one day, it could discover new approaches to AI. Edd Gent, “Artificial intelligence is evolving all by itself” at Science (April 30, 2020) How does that work? The program discovers algorithms using a Read More ›

Businesswoman hand holding wooden cube with flip over block CHANGE to CHANCE word on table background. success, strategy, solution, business and Positive thinking concepts

^{Type
post

Author
Eric Holloway
Date
September 21, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
DNA, Evolution, Featured, Marcel-Paul Schutzenberger, Natural selection, Wistar Institute, Word ladder game}

Evolution And Artificial Intelligence Face The Same Basic Problem

_{Think of the word ladder game, where we transform one word into another by changing only one letter at a time} _{Eric Holloway

September 21, 2020

6

Artificial Intelligence}

Without knowledge about the goal and how to get there, it rapidly becomes first difficult and then completely impossible to reach the goal. Read More ›