^TagNature

Hiker walking in the Australian bushland

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
November 23, 2023

Categorized
Natural Intelligence

Tagged
AI, attention, Beauty, gratitude, Intelligent Design, math, Nature, Order, science, wonder}

Beauty is Non-Computable

_{Taking some time to reflect on the beautiful things in the world can lead to genuine thanksgiving.} _{Peter Biles

November 23, 2023

3

Natural Intelligence}

This Thanksgiving, what are you thankful for? Family, friends, a good job? Perhaps having a stable home, a good car, or a rich church community? Those are all wonderful things to reflect on and be thankful for during this season, and throughout the year, but what about the beauty of the natural world? Do we take enough time to pause and marvel at the wonder and intricacy of nature? In addition, who might we have to thank for such beauty? Philip Ryken, president of Wheaton College, wrote a book this year called Beauty is Your Destiny in which he calls readers to attend to creation with eyes of wonder. He also notes that many scientists, far from reducing the natural Read More ›

Top view on blue ocean waves. Nature background.

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post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
October 15, 2023

Categorized
Environment

Tagged
Earth, Human exceptionalism, Human rights, ideology, Nature, Nature Rights, ocean, ocean rights, United Nations, Wesley J. Smith}

The United Nations is Considering Granting “Ocean Rights”

_{Why is granting “rights” to oceans becoming a thing?} _{Wesley J. Smith

October 15, 2023

5

Environment}

The “international world order” is increasingly radical in its environmental engagement and anti-human in the policies it promotes. In the great cause of “saving the planet,” scientific precepts and empirical analyses are being cast aside in favor of a neo-earth religious mysticism. Latest case in point. Environmentalist ideologues were invited to promote a plan to grant “rights” to “the Ocean” (singular, with a capital O) at the recently concluded 2023 United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting in New York. “Ocean rights,” Wesley? Are they kidding? I wish. “Ocean rights” is a subset of the “nature rights” movement that elevates “Nature” (with a capital N) above human thriving and pursues a quasi-earth religion approach to managing the natural world. The “rights of nature” Read More ›

Armageddon. Nuclear bomb or asteroid impact creates a nuke mushroom

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
July 23, 2023

Categorized
Science

Tagged
AI, Biology, C.S. Lewis, John Horgan, Magic and Applied Science, Mathematics, Nature, Teleology, The Abolition of Man (book), Utilitarianism}

Science as Insight vs. Science as Power

_{What are the core purposes of science and math? Evaluating the idea of "knowledge as power" in the computer age} _{Peter Biles

July 23, 2023

2

Science}

Should machines replace mathematicians? This phrase is the headline of a new post by science writer John Horgan, who comments on the current state of mathematics and the growing potential of AI and computers to do all the “heavy lifting” of the mathematical enterprise. Horgan notes that mathematicians were the ones to develop computers in the first place, but now, with the advent of advanced computing and artificial intelligence, the role of human-driven mathematics is getting vague. However, maybe math is more about input and output but a “way of being human.” For Horgan, data and computation don’t get to the heart of scientific and mathematical endeavors. It needs to mean something more than an impersonal process geared towards calculable Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Andrew McDiarmid
Date
June 23, 2023

Categorized
Environment

Tagged
AI, Andrew McDiarmid, ChatGPT, Inventions, John Muir, Machinery, Nature, social media, Technology, Yosemite}

John Muir and the Pleasures of Nature

_{The inventor-turned-naturalist can teach us the benefits of loving the natural world} _{Andrew McDiarmid

June 23, 2023

8

Environment}

April 21 is John Muir’s birthday. Muir is typically remembered as one of America’s foremost naturalists, father of our national parks and a tireless defender of the wilderness. But he might very well have been none of those things. As a young man, Muir was gifted at building machines, and he was set to pursue a career in technology until everything went dark. Literally. Revisiting this little-known chapter of Muir’s life can inspire us to better navigate our own relationship to technology and give us a fresh reason to celebrate his work. In 1849, Muir left his homeland of Scotland and moved with his family to the backwoods of Wisconsin. Farm work, chores, and family Bible studies kept him busy Read More ›

COVID-19 coronavirus and crisis concept, US president Franklin`s eyes and face mask on 100 dollar money bill. Corona virus affects global stock market.

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post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
June 20, 2023

Categorized
Technocracy

Tagged
Biden, CDC, COVID-19, Fauci, Gas Stoves, Nature, Pandemic, Paris Accords, public health, Technocracy, Technology, W.H.O, WHO COVID-19 investigation in China}

Is the Public Health Technocracy Faltering?

_{Technocrats don’t rely on mandates but eagerly impose policies that render society less free} _{Wesley J. Smith

June 20, 2023

4

Technocracy}

In February, I warned about a treaty being negotiated to empower the World Health Organization to declare a pandemic, which would trigger governments assuming mandatory emergency powers. From, “Transforming WHO into a Public-Health Technocracy“: The WHO director-general would be granted the power to “declare pandemics,” at which point emergency provisions of the treaty to impose public-health policies would go into effect. . . . The WHO would be able to dictate policies if international consensus were not obtained by a vote of the two presidents and four vice presidents of the WHO CA+. . . The International Court of Justice would also be granted decisive power. . . . It would centralize pandemic planning and response into itself. . . Read More ›

Reflection of mountain range in lake, Grand Teton National Park

^{Type
post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
May 31, 2023

Categorized
Panpsychism, Science

Tagged
Environmentalism, Human exceptionalism, Law, Nature, Nature Rights, Panpsychism, Politics, science, Wesley J. Smith}

Should We Give Nature “Rights”?

_{The nature rights movement is more ideological than rational} _{Wesley J. Smith

May 31, 2023

5

Panpsychism, Science}

The major science journals are growing increasingly hard left politically. The prestigious journal Science, in particular, has swallowed progressive ideology–including supporting the “nature rights” movement. The rights of nature–which include geological features–are generally defined as the right to “exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution.” Nature is, of course, not sentient. So, this campaign is really about granting environmental extremists legal standing to enforce their policy desires through litigation as legal guardians serving nature’s best interests. But the movement has a problem. It is clearly ideological rather than rational. So now, three law professors and a biologist writing in Science urge scientists to promote the agenda by giving courts a scientific pretext to enforce nature rights laws, or even, impose the Read More ›

instagram filter Himalaya mountains nepal

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
May 12, 2023

Categorized
Addiction, Environment

Tagged
Boy Scouts, Culture, Digital media, Lawsuit, Mountains, Nature, Robert J. Marks, Technology, Trail Life, Wilderness}

Boy Scouts and Tech Addiction

_{You can't mimic the reality compared to what you see on the screen} _{News

May 12, 2023

2

Addiction, Environment}

The Boy Scouts of America once enjoyed a booming membership. But over the last decade especially, due to some policy changes, abuse scandals, and a giant lawsuit, the once great organization has seen a colossal decline. In last week’s podcast, Robert J. Marks sat down with former Boy Scout leader and his cousin Kent Marks. Together they talked about the tragic decline in the Boy Scouts program, which coincides with the enduring need to help boys navigate the many distractions and difficulties of growing up in a digitally mediated world. Today, Kent continues to lead boys on wilderness expeditions and believes that getting guys away from the screens and into the beauty of the outdoors is a key to their Read More ›

View of the Great Salt Lake at sunset, at Antelope Island State Park, Utah

^{Type
post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
March 30, 2023

Categorized
Human exceptionalism, Panpsychism

Tagged
Consciousness, Conservation, Great Salt Lake, Mysticism, Nature, Nature Rights, New York Times, Panpsychism, Terry Tempest Williams, Wesley J. Smith}

Should Great Salt Lake Have Rights?

_{The nature rights movement keeps making inroads into establishment thinking — and people keep ignoring the threat} _{Wesley J. Smith

March 30, 2023

5

Human exceptionalism, Panpsychism}

The nature rights movement keeps making inroads into establishment thinking — and people keep ignoring the threat. The concept has now been advocated in a major opinion piece in the New York Times. Utah’s Great Salt Lake is shrinking — a legitimate problem worthy of focused concern and remediation. Utah native and Harvard Divinity School’s writer-in-residence Terry Tempest Williams — who focuses on “the spiritual implications of climate change” — makes a strong case that the lake is in trouble. A Conservationist Approach Her proposed remedies reflect a proper conservationist approach worthy of being debated: Scientists tell us the lake needs an additional one million acre-feet per year to reverse its decline, increasing average stream flow to about 2.5 million acre-feet per year. A Read More ›

Cherry trees in full bloom at the University of Washington campus

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post

Author
Gary Smith and Jeffrey Funk
Date
January 30, 2023

Categorized
Education

Tagged
academia, Charles Goodhart, Corporate Lab, COVID-19, Nature, research, RNA, Scientific research}

Goodhart’s Law and Scientific Innovation in Academia

_{Many university researchers are leaving academia so they can actually get things done} _{Gary Smith and Jeffrey Funk

January 30, 2023

6

Education}

British economist Charles Goodhart was a financial advisor to the Bank of England from 1968 to 1985, a period during which many economists (“monetarists”) believed that central banks should ignore unemployment and interest rates. Instead, they believed that central banks should focus on maintaining a steady rate of growth of the money supply. The core idea was that central banks could ignore economic booms and busts because they are short-lived and self-correcting (Ha! Ha!) and should, instead, keep some measure of the money supply growing at a constant rate in order to keep the rate of inflation low and constant. The choice of which money supply to target was based on how closely it was statistically correlated with GDP. The Read More ›

Drawings of microbes in antique book with annotations on an abstract language, generative ai illustration

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
January 24, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
Academica, AI, ChatGPT, Large Language Models (LLMs), Nature, Paper, science}

ChatGPT Listed as “Co-Author” For Several Scientific Papers

_{Large language models can’t be authors of text because they can’t have responsibility, critics say} _{News

January 24, 2023

2

Artificial Intelligence}

ChatGPT was listed as a contributing author for at least four scientific articles, according to a report from Nature. The news arrives amid a flurry of debate over the place of AI in journalism and artistic and academic disciplines, and now the issue has spread to the scientific community. People are pushing back against the idea of ChatGPT “authoring” text, claiming that because AI cannot take responsibility for what it produces, only humans should be listed as authors. The article notes, The editors-in-chief of Nature and Science told Nature’s news team that ChatGPT doesn’t meet the standard for authorship. “An attribution of authorship carries with it accountability for the work, which cannot be effectively applied to LLMs,” says Magdalena Skipper, editor-in-chief of Nature in London. Authors using Read More ›