TagRobert Epstein
Pulling the Strands Together to Chart Life After Google
In Part 9, we begin by looking at how the manipulation directly affects you when you search for information
What Public Policies Can Help Us Achieve a Less Biased Internet?
Part 8: Robert Epstein proposes a number of changes worth considering
How Google Can Control and Manipulate Public Opinion
In Part 7, Robert Epstein, former editor of Psychology Today, offers some disturbing information on how search engines can be manipulated for political purposes
It’s Becoming Clearer That the Mind Is Not the Brain
The “science of consciousness” not only has no workable materialist theory but it’s unclear what such a theory should look like or explainNot surprisingly, given that philosopher David Chalmers won the famous wager with neuroscientist Christof Koch last month, the topic of consciousness has been in the news a lot. In 25 years of research, no one has found a specific consciousness circuit, spot, wave, or whatever in the brain. Consciousness is still the “Hard Problem of Consciousness.” At Vox, Oshan Jarow, a writer who knows the field, tells us that the bet has been renewed for another 25 years and offers an interpretation of why scientists haven’t “cracked” consciousness so far: “we still lack a definitive, falsifiable explanation. We even lack consensus on whether one may ever exist.” Eventually, in this view, the field might coalesce around a unified theory and Read More ›
If Google Thinks For You, Use THEIR Search Engine. Otherwise…
Google’s monopoly affects the free exchange of ideas in the public square and our electoral processFor years, the internet has been dominated by the all-seeing Google. Google has been so successful in its execution and protection of its brand that we culturally understand that to “Google” something is to conduct an internet search, despite the existence of alternative search engines. Google holds a massive advantage over all other search engines. More than 88% of all web searches are conducted through Google while the second-largest web browser, Bing, claims not quite 6% of all web searches. While alternative search services have existed for years (such as DuckDuckGo, Ask, and Startpage), only two English language indexes exist – Google’s and Bing’s. Most of the familiar search “alternatives” pull from those two datasets. Alternative search engines, then, aren’t all that Read More ›
A Neuroscience Theory That Actually Helps Explain the Brain
Robert Epstein’s “transducer” theory is an instance of getting something rightMany of my posts here at Mind Matters News entail debunking nonsensical materialist theories of the mind–brain relationship. It is altogether fitting and proper that I do so. But, at times, thoughtful and very promising ideas are proposed by modern neuroscientists. One of those ideas is discussed in an essay in Discover Magazine by neuroscientist Robert Epstein. Epstein, the former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today Magazine, is a senior research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology in California and holds a doctoral degree from Harvard University. He proposes that we re-examine a theory that has had a number of prominent proponents over the past several centuries. It is the theory that the brain is a type of Read More ›
How Much Google Do You Really Need?
As more people are becoming concerned about Big Tech’s snooping and apparent political ambitions, practical responses are emergingGetting away from constant surveillance and dangerous little bubbles of manipulated information is easier than some users may realize, tech pioneers and experts say. You can make simple changes today.
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Prof: Google Must Not Choose the Next President
Robert Epstein, a Clinton supporter in 2016, thinks Big Tech meddling is a risk. And, he says, he isn’t planning on suicideHe doesn’t want Silicon Valley to use its near-monopoly power over search engines and social media to manipulate the information available to the lone voter in the booth.
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Google Engineer Reveals Search Engine Bias
He found Google pretty neutral in 2014; the bias started with the US 2016 electionThe algorithms—the series of commands to computers—“don’t write themselves,” Coppola says. People who have their own opinions may write them into an algorithm, knowingly or otherwise.
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