Tag: brain | Page 5 | Mind Matters

hope, freedom, life, different, contrast concept, blue sky human with broken human, surreal and fantasy artwork, conceptual art, painting illustration, sadness and depression idea

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post

Peter Biles
Date
September 26, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Tagged
Artificial Intelligence, Creativity, Engineered Arts (robotics), human brain, Human exceptionalism, human uniqueness, mind}

Making Art Is Uniquely Human

_{While the architects of AI "art" tools like to think their technology can replace human creativity, the artistic impulse is uniquely human} _{Peter Biles
September 26, 2022

4

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

In my last post, I wrote about a novelist who used a version of the AI art tool known as Stable Diffusion to gather images for a promotional website. She wanted erotic and violent elements in the artwork and found that other AI art tools included “guardrails” limiting access to graphic results. But if these images are disconnected from a human, imaginative process, can we say AI-generated results qualify as creative works? Artificial intelligence doesn’t only challenge our notions of what it means to be human. It also makes us wonder what it means to make art and whether human beings are the only agents capable of creating it. Walter Kirn addressed this question poignantly in a Substack essay. Kirn Read More ›

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podcast

Andrew Newberg and Michael Egnor
Date
July 28, 2022

Tagged
Dualism, mind, Mind-Brain Distinction, Near Death Experiences, Neurotheology}

Mysteries of the Mind

_{Andrew Newberg and Michael Egnor
July 28, 2022

1}

It’s hard to know where the brain ends and the mind begins. How can studying our brains give us insight into our minds? Neuroscientist Andrew Newberg and neurosurgeon Michael Egnor sit down for a chat about all things brain related including neurotheology, methods of studying the brain, and other mind/brain phenomena. Additional Resources Andrew Newberg’s Website Michael Egnor at Discovery.org Read More ›

3d rendering of human brain on technology background

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podcast

Bruce Gordon and Michael Egnor
Date
January 27, 2022

Tagged
Idealism, Near-death experiences, Neuroscience, Plato, Quantum Mechanics}

Neuroscience, Quantum Physics, and the Nature of Reality

_{Bruce Gordon and Michael Egnor
January 27, 2022

2}

Dr. Michael Egnor and Dr. Bruce Gordon discuss quantum mechanics, the nature of reality, idealism and how to interpret the finding of modern neuroscience. Prepare to cover a lot of ground on this Mind Matter News Bingecast. Show Notes 00:00:43 | Introducing Dr. Bruce Gordon 00:02:00 | Idealism 00:03:37 | Plato’s theory of forms 00:05:08 | Kantian idealism 00:09:17 | Read More ›

Electrocardiogram in hospital surgery operating emergency room showing patient heart rate with blur team of surgeons background

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post

News
Date
September 3, 2021

Categorized
Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
brain, Consciousness, mind, Sam Parnia}

Why Some Scientists Think Consciousness Persists After Death

_{We should not assume that people who are near death do not know what we are saying} _{News
September 3, 2021

4

Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind}

A very significant change that happened in the last century or so has been the ability of science professionals to see what happens when people are thinking, especially under traumatic conditions. It was not a good moment for materialist theories. Here is one finding (there are many others): Death is a process, usually, not simply an event. Consciousness can persists after clinical death. A more accurate way of putting things might be that the brain is able to host consciousness for a short period after clinical death. Some notes on recent findings: The short answer is, probably, yes: Recent studies have shown that animals experience a surge in brain activity in the minutes after death. And people in the first Read More ›

Live lobster in the aquarium. Product in the supermarket. Close up photo of big lobsters in water tank for sale

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post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
June 24, 2021

Categorized
Ethics, Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience

Tagged
brain, Jordan Peterson, Minimal self, Pain}

Can Crabs Think? Can Lobsters Feel? What We Know Now

_{In Switzerland, it is now illegal to boil a lobster alive. Are the Swiss right? Is it cruel?} _{Denyse O'Leary
June 24, 2021

6

Ethics, Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience}

Because crustaceans have shells, we may tend to think of them as like machines. Yet crustaceans, along with octopuses, show some surprising abilities and complexities. Take crabs, for example: A new Swansea University study has revealed how common shore crabs can navigate their way around a complex maze and can even remember the route in order to find food … Spatial learning is quite complicated, so figuring out how it works in crustaceans gives us a better understanding of how widespread this ability, and learning in general, is in the animal kingdom.” The researchers tested 12 crabs over four weeks, placing food at the end of the maze each time. The route to the end of the maze required five Read More ›

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post

News
Date
June 12, 2021

Categorized
Neuroscience

Tagged
brain, Memories, Neurons}

Researchers Can’t Explain: Memories Drift From Neuron to Neuron

_{Memories are supposed to stay put in the neurons that lay them down. A recent study, published at Nature, shows that they move a lot…} _{News
June 12, 2021

4

Neuroscience}

“Scientists are meant to know what’s going on, but in this particular case, we are deeply confused”, a recent article at The Atlantic begins. It’s about the way nervous system cells don’t simply lay down memories and keep them. The memories drift from neuron to neuron, quite contrary to textbook claims and traditional neuroscience assumptions: The relatively simple explanation found in neuroscience textbooks is that specific groups of neurons reliably fire when their owner smells a rose, sees a sunset, or hears a bell. These representations—these patterns of neural firing—presumably stay the same from one moment to the next. But as Schoonover, Fink, and others have found, they sometimes don’t. They change—and to a confusing and unexpected extent. Schoonover, Fink, Read More ›

Little brave pawn wearing artificial paper crown suit on chessboard with figures, business entrepreneur leadership concept

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post

News
Date
June 4, 2021

Categorized
Ethics, Medicine and Health, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Neuroscience}

Do You Have a “Selfish Prefrontal Cortex”?

_{Do you tell “white lies” only for selfish motives?} _{News
June 4, 2021

3

Ethics, Medicine and Health, Philosophy of Mind}

A recent neuroscience paper claims to determine whether your motives are selfish: You may think a little white lie about a bad haircut is strictly for your friend’s benefit, but your brain activity says otherwise. Distinct activity patterns in the prefrontal cortex reveal when a white lie has selfish motives, according to new research published in Journal of Neuroscience. White lies — formally called Pareto lies — can benefit both parties, but their true motives are encoded by the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). This brain region computes the value of different social behaviors, with some subregions focusing on internal motivations and others on external ones. Kim and Kim predicted activity patterns in these subregions could elucidate the true motive behind Read More ›

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podcast

Michael Egnor and Robert J. Marks
Date
May 27, 2021

Tagged
Consciousness, Dualism, free will, mind-body problem, Neuroscience}

Bingecast: Michael Egnor on the Human Brain

_{Michael Egnor and Robert J. Marks
May 27, 2021

4}

In this Bingecast episode, Dr. Robert J. Marks and Dr. Michael Egnor explore the human brain and its relationship to the mind. Is the mind an emergent property of the brain? Is there neurological evidence for the soul? What have brain experiments taught us about free will and the human person? Can you still think in a coma? Show Notes Read More ›

Looking through glasses to bleach nature landscape - tulips field. Color blindness. World perception during depression. Medical condition. Health and disease concept.

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podcast

Angus Menuge and Robert J. Marks
Date
May 13, 2021

Tagged
Consciousness, Integrated Information Theory, Panpsychism, Philosophy of Mind, Quantum consciousness}

Dr. Angus Menuge: Models of Consciousness (Part II)

_{Angus Menuge and Robert J. Marks
May 13, 2021

2}

What is it like to see a red rose? To smell a red rose? To feel pain? In this week’s podcast, Dr. Robert J. Marks and Dr. Angus Menuge continue their discussion on philosophies of the mind, delving into competing definitions of consciousness. Show Notes Additional Resources

Double multiply exposure abstract portrait of a dreamy cute young woman face with galaxy universe space inside head. Human spirit, astronomy, life zen concept Elements of this image furnished by NASA.

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post

News
Date
May 6, 2021

Categorized
Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Angus Menuge, Featured, mind, mind-body problem, Near-death experiences (evidential), Rene Descartes, Robert J. Marks, soul}

How Do We Know We Are Not Just Physical Bodies?

_{The mind–body problem is one of the most difficult issues in modern philosophy} _{News
May 6, 2021

8

Philosophy of Mind}

In this week’s podcast, Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks interviews Concordia University philosopher Angus Menuge on the notoriously difficult mind–body problem. Dr. Marks asks, “Is there a part of you that is not physical? Are we meat puppets limited to scientific analysis described totally by the laws of nature? “ That’s the mind–body problem! It’s more complex today because some claim we will build computers that have minds like humans (but not bodies like humans). But first, how do we know we are not just bodies? https://episodes.castos.com/mindmatters/Mind-Matters-133-Angus-Menuge.mp3 This portion begins at 04:06 min. A partial transcript, Show Notes, and Additional Resources follow. Angus Menuge (pictured): Well, the real question is how two such different realms can relate. If Read More ›

Woman experiencing sad emotions and evaluate their emotions from the side. Emotional Intelligence Concept

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News
Date
May 1, 2021

Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
brain, mind}

Neuroscientist: We Are Closing In On the Secret of Self-Awareness

_{But then he turns around and admits that we are frustratingly far from understanding how it all works. His frustration is understandable.} _{News
May 1, 2021

4

Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind}

Cognitive neuroscientist Stephen M. Fleming, author of Know Thyself: The Science of Self-Awareness (2021), offers an excerpt at Slate in which he implies that we have made some headway in understanding self-awareness. Size alone is not the key to intellectual capacity, he says, but rather the “brain soup,” the number of neurons that can be packed into the brain. Primates of all types (monkeys, apes, and humans) are much more efficient at packing neurons into the brain than rodents are: “Regardless of their position on the tree, it seems that primates are evolutionary outliers—but, relative to other primates, humans are not.” He points to a portion of the prefrontal cortex, the “association cortex” which is “particularly well-developed” in humans, relative Read More ›

Neural networks of the human brain. 3d illustration of abstract nerve centers. Electrical impulses in brain. Bright full color

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post

News
Date
April 30, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Media, Neuroscience

Tagged
brain, Henry Markram, In Silico (documentary), Noah Hutton, Sebastian Seung}

Young Filmmaker Tackles the Hype About Computing the Brain

_{In Silico, in which Noah Hutton sorts hope from hype, goes livestream today} _{News
April 30, 2021

3

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Media, Neuroscience}

Twelve years ago Noah Hutton (pictured), who had some background in neuroscience, heard prominent neuroscientist Henry Markram tell viewers in a TED talk that he had determined how to simulate a complete human brain, via supercomputers, within a decade. At the time, Hutton didn’t question that and he started to document the Blue Brain project that Markham directed, which started with a mouse brain. But then things stalled: As Hutton recounted in Scientific American yesterday, “there were magnificent fly-through visualizations of the first square millimeter of simulated rat brain set to The Blue Danube available in a visitor’s screening room, but a definite lack of progress along the road map towards a human brain.” There was, however, the recognition that Read More ›

Creative background, the human brain on a blue background, the hemisphere is responsible for logic, and responsible for creativity. different hemispheres of the brain, 3D illustration, 3D render

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podcast

Bruce Gordon and Michael Egnor
Date
April 22, 2021

Tagged
Aristotelianism, Aristotle, Idealism, metaphysics, Near-death experiences, Neuroscience, Plato, soul, Thomas Aquinas, Thomism}

Bruce Gordon on the Meaning of Neuroscience (Part III)

_{Bruce Gordon and Michael Egnor
April 22, 2021

1}

In this third and final episode with Dr. Bruce Gordon, host Michael Egnor picks Gordon’s brain on the overlaps between historical metaphysical perspectives and modern neuroscience. What does St. Thomas Aquinas have to say about metaphysical realities, and how does that compare to Plato’s idealism? Who is right? And what can near-death experiences and other phenomena tell us about the Read More ›

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post

News
Date
April 8, 2021

Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Abortion, brain, Hydrocephalus}

Boy Born With 2% of Brain “Does Maths, He Loves Science”

_{Noah Wall’s story raises intriguing questions about the relationship between the brain and the mind} _{News
April 8, 2021

4

Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind}

Well before Noah Wall was born, his odds did not look very good. Scans showed he had developed a cyst which was destroying his brain, along with spina bifida and hydrocephalus. Doctors predicted he would likely never talk, walk, or eat on his own. Five times his parents, Michelle (Shelly) and Rob, were pressed to abort him. Shelly recalls, “It wasn’t until around the 12 week scan that they knew something just wasn’t quite right,” Shelly told The Epoch Times in a video interview. “I said, ‘Does the baby have a heartbeat?’ And they said, ‘Yes.’ And I said, ‘Well, that’s all that matters to us.’” Shelly and Rob were referred to the RVI Hospital in Newcastle, where their baby Read More ›

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post

Michael Egnor
Date
April 5, 2021

Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
brain, Featured, fMRI, functional MRI (fMRI), mind, phrenology}

Why a “Budding” Neuroscientist Is Skeptical of Brain Scans

_{After reading her perceptive essay about the problems in fMRI imaging in neuroscience, I’m sad that a gifted student has doubts about a career in the field} _{Michael Egnor
April 5, 2021

8

Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind}

Kelsey Ichikawa has just published a superb essay about the pitfalls of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of the brain. Ms. Ichikawa (pictured), who describes herself as a ”budding” neuroscientist who graduated last year from Harvard, discusses the snares into which misinterpretation can lead us. fMRI brain scanning is a relatively new technology in which researchers and clinicians use magnetic resonance images (MRI) of the brain to detect brain activity almost as it happens. The technique is widely used, both for clinical care of patients (neurosurgeons use it to map sensitive parts of the brain prior to surgery) and for research purposes. A major thrust of neuroscience research in the last couple of decades has been the use of fMRI Read More ›

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post

News
Date
March 7, 2021

Categorized
Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
After (book), brain, Bruce Greyson, Christof Koch, mind, Near-death experiences, Near-death experiences (prevalence)}

Physician Explains Why He Takes Near-Death Experiences Seriously

_{Near-death experiences don’t fit easily into traditional science categories because they occur — often with life-changing effects — when the brain is damaged or unconscious} _{News
March 7, 2021

6

Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind}

Health and science writer Markham Heid recounts a story from psychiatrist Bruce Greyson’s book After (2021) that typifies the near-death experiences (NDEs) that have excited research interest: The truck driver’s story sounded far-fetched. The man claimed that in the middle of his quadruple bypass heart surgery — during which he was fully anesthetized and his eyes were taped shut — he had “come to” and found that he was looking down at his own body and the doctors preparing to operate on it. He described the scene in detail, and he recalled that his surgeon had waved his elbows in the air as if he were mimicking a bird flapping its wings. Later, when asked about his patient’s peculiar account, Read More ›

Vice grip tool squeezing a plank with the word free will

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post

Michael Egnor
Date
February 7, 2021

Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Aristotle, Benjamin Libet, brain, Featured, free will, Sam Harris, Thomas Aquinas}

A Reader Asks: Does Neuroscience Disprove Free Will?

_{Materialists sometimes misrepresent the evidence for free will, especially Benjamin Libet’s work} _{Michael Egnor
February 7, 2021

6

Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind}

Here’s the question: I have a question regarding free will. Sam Harris in his interview with Dan Dennett said that “If we decide to do go to somewhere we experience it later but our brain decided it much earlier than our experience to this decision. If we scan the brain at that time we will tell you before you came to know” Now it raise a question because we decide through intellect. You said that free will is due to intellect so intellect is challenged here. It’s an excellent question. The answer in brief is that we most certainly do have free will. We can see this from three perspectives: scientific, philosophical, and logical. The scientific evidence The scientific evidence Read More ›

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post

News
Date
December 19, 2020

Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
brain, Consciousness, Hidden Spring (book), Mark Solms, mind}

Psychologist: Consciousness Is Not a Thing But a Point of View

_{Mark Solms attempts to explain consciousness in his new book, Hidden Spring} _{News
December 19, 2020

3

Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind}

Anyone who thinks about consciousness soon realizes that it is a Hard Problem. It means being a subject of experience, rather than an object to which experiences happen. A dog has consciousness. He yelps when in pain. But a rock does not care about becoming sand. In an interesting article in Psychology Today, neuropsychologist Mark Solms outlines some thoughts from a book he has written on the subject, The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness (Norton, 2021): Physiological processes do not produce consciousness in the sense that the liver produces bile. Consciousness is not a thing but rather a point of view. What we perceive objectively as physiological processes in the brain we perceive subjectively as conscious Read More ›

A girl in a hat on top of a hill in silence and loneliness admires the calm natural landscape and balloons.

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post

Michael Egnor
Date
December 7, 2020

Categorized
Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Closer to Truth (video series), design inference, Featured, Franz Brentano, intentionality, Materialism, Matter, mind, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Teleology, Thomas Aquinas, William Dembski}

Why Consciousness Shows That Materialism Is False

_{The mind refutes materialism in a rather straightforward way} _{Michael Egnor
December 7, 2020

5

Philosophy of Mind}

My friend and colleague Bill Dembski, a leading advocate of intelligent design of the universe and life forms, has done a superb short interview with Robert Lawrence Kuhn on Closer to Truth. Bill takes a position that will surprise many fellow Christians—he doesn’t believe that consciousness represents an insurmountable challenge to materialism: Bill makes the point that much of the popular argument hinges on shifting meanings of “materialism” and “consciousness.” By contrast, he argues, the design inference in biology is a much more effective challenge to materialism. I agree that design in nature is an effective challenge to materialism. But I also believe that the mind refutes materialism in a rather straightforward way—and in much the same way that evidence Read More ›

Cat looking to little gerbil mouse on the table. Concept of prey, food, pest.

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Denyse O'Leary
Date
November 20, 2020

Categorized
Information Theory, Neuroscience, Science

Tagged
Agency, Animals, Erwin Schrödinger, hard problem of consciousness, Information, mind, Philip Ball, Plants, Purpose}

Can We Find Purpose in a Universe With No Underlying Purpose?

_{That’s the ambitious goal of a prominent science writer} _{Denyse O'Leary
November 20, 2020

8

Information Theory, Neuroscience, Science}

British science writer Philip Ball offers us a guide to a very interesting project: an attempt to “naturalize” the idea of agency, that is, make the desire to do things—the mouse’s desire to escape the cat— explainable from a fully materialist perspective. That’s much harder than it seems. Rocks don’t desire anything. So we can’t just start from the bottom. It’s also not enough to say that the mouse wants to avoid getting killed. That’s true but it doesn’t really explain anything. For example, a person looks both ways before crossing the street to avoid getting run over. But, by itself, that doesn’t explain why she tries to avoid getting run over. One must factor in her memory, background knowledge, Read More ›