On this bingecast archive episode of Mind Matters News, guest host Pat Flynn welcomes Dr. Winston Ewert to the show to discuss Ewert’s chapter in the volume Minding the Brain.
In his contribution, titled “The Human Mind’s Sophisticated Algorithm and Its Implications,” Dr. Ewert argues that the human mind’s problem-solving cognition can be modeled as a sophisticated algorithm. Ewert explains that any cognitive task can be expressed as a version of the halting problem from computer science, where an algorithm either halts or continues infinitely. He suggests that humans are able to solve a large and sophisticated subset of these problems, but are limited in the same way that no algorithm can solve all halting problems. Ewert contends that this algorithmic view of human cognition has implications that challenge reductive materialist and neo-Darwinian views, despite resistance from some thinkers who believe human abilities transcend any algorithm.
On this episode of the Mind Matters News podcast, guest host Pat Flynn welcomes Dr. Robert Marks and Dr. Michael Egnor to the show to critique Integrated Information Theory (IIT), a popular mathematical model that attempts to explain consciousness through computational complexity.
AI is having impact everywhere. But what about global outreach initiatives? And specifically Christian missions? How are those in the mission field using artificial intelligence? On this episode of Mind Matters News, host Robert J. Marks and co-host Jonathan Swindell welcome Dr. Don Barger to the show. Barger is the Director of Innovation and Artificial Intelligence at the International Mission Board. Don works with new technology, especially AI, and helps people use it in smart and responsible ways. He thinks a lot about how AI can help in real-life situations, especially in global missions. He also understands the limits of AI and what it cannot do. In this conversation, we’ll discuss how AI is changing the world, how AI should be used responsibly in global outreach initiatives to other cultures and peoples, and what it all means for the future.
In this bingecast installment of the Mind Matters News podcast, host Robert J. Marks welcomes economics professor and author Gary Smith to discuss the hype around artificial intelligence and its impact on the market. Smith is the Fletcher Jones Professor of Economics at Ponoma College and a frequent contributor to Mind Matters News. Smith argues that generative AI, embodied in services like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, exhibits many characteristics of past market bubbles, including excessive hype, lack of profitability, and unrealistic expectations. Smith holds that generative AI models have limited practical economic value. They may be good at finding statistical patterns but struggle to distinguish meaningful, useful correlations from coincidental ones. Smith describes the fundamental challenge of teaching machines true understanding that goes beyond mere pattern recognition. A number of examples and stories are shared throughout.
On this episode of Mind Matters News, host Robert J. Marks is joined by Bradley Norris as they welcome Hal Philipp, the man behind the modern touchscreen and a prolific inventor with an impressive 98 U.S. patents. Hal shares his story and some of the lessons he’s learned over a career in invention.
As Dr. Joseph Green tells his podcast hosts, although scientists can observe all 302 nematode worm neurons, they cannot fully explain how the worm moves or finds food
Michael Egnor sees the failure to find a “material center of consciousness” in the brain as a science success, not failure. It points to an important truth about us
As prominent neuroscientist Christof Koch’s recent difficulties with Cancel Culture show, the cracks in materialist neuroscience are getting harder to paper over.
The Turing Test 2.0 is based on the view that intelligence is the ability to extract new knowledge from existing information and apply it consistently across time and context
The Turing Test 2.0 mirrors the way good teachers test students — not asking for memorized answers but for concepts to be applied in unfamiliar situations.
Hal Philipp’s inventions underpin automatic faucets, door sensors, and the capacitive touchscreens that made the smartphone era possible. In this podcast, he offers a candid field guide to turning ideas into impact. The discussion ranges from startup structure and venture capital to patent warfare, corporate brinkmanship, and the social aftershocks of the iPhone. Philipp is interviewed by Robert J. Marks and Bradley Norris. Engineering education Marks opens with a challenge to engineering education. Universities excel at training graduates for Boeing or Motorola, but seldom spotlight entrepreneurship as a viable path. Philipp agrees and then complicates the picture. If he could rewind, he says, he would “get a little more assistance,” likely allying with a larger organization to gain leverage. In Read More ›
In Part 2 of a 3-part interview, Philipp — inventor of the modern touchscreen — tells Robert J. Marks and Bradley Norris about his struggles with Apple
When we swipe a phone or tap a touchscreen, few of us realize how much engineering — and legal grit — underlies that simple gesture. In an interview with Mind Matters podcasting, inventor Hal Philipp traces the path from lone tinkerer to successful founder, and finally to weary veteran of patent warfare. Philipp, a key inventor behind modern capacitive sensing and touchscreens, delivers a sober message for innovators: invention is only half the battle; defending your invention can define your company’s fate. From Single-Point Touch to a Full Touchscreen Philipp’s early work focused on single-channel capacitive sensors — one-button touch or proximity detection. The breakthrough came when he generalized the idea into linear touch sliders and then into a circular Read More ›
