Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

TagTechnology

a-cute-robot-holding-a-notepad-with-a-pencil-set-against-a-t-1204269652-stockpack-adobestock
A cute robot holding a notepad with a pencil, set against a teal background, symbolizing creativity and technology.

AI Still Can’t Think

It can only create the appearance of thought
AI, as a tool, can have a lot of benefits and uses, but as we’ve witnessed time and time again, it often makes mistakes. Read More ›
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Two children, sitting in a dark, playing with gadgets

Adult Content Site Leaves France Due to Age Verification Law

Will other countries follow suit?
People are likely to encounter online pornography even if they don't actively seek it out. That's how pervasively adult content inundates the internet. Read More ›
positive-cute-robot-pointing-at-a-space-copy-space-ai-genera-559871209-stockpack-adobestock
Positive cute robot pointing at a space. Copy space, ai generated

Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4 Can Deceive and Blackmail

Is AI getting out of control?
In a bizarre twist, Opus threatened to expose a fictional affair if it were to lose its spot to another AI system. Read More ›
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Concept of artificial intelligence for industrial revolution and automation robots

AI: The New Industrial Revolution?

Experts try to guess where AI is heading over the next few years
Perhaps the human conversation alone is argument enough on why AI can never replace us. Read More ›
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Podcasting and radio concept with retro microphone and headphones on empty wooden table and dark blank wall background with place for your logo or text. 3D rendering, mock up

Is “New Media” Really the Answer?

Old and new media and the crisis of trust and expertise
Some might say we are introducing a new oral culture, where people have switched from reading words, arguments etc. to listening and watching the screen. Read More ›
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Youth creating prayer post on Snapchat

Snapchat Has Been Totally Exposed

Employees admit the harms of the camera app
Losing a streak, for the hyperconnected fifteen-year-old, may feel tantamount to losing a friendship. Read More ›
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Template collage of weird alive hand hold pencil write fiction storytelling book use vintage typewriter

Famed Reclusive Novelist to Release New Novel in the Fall

How can writers and creators today attain success in their fields?
The challenge today is finding the quiet apart from the online world needed to create valuable work while leveraging the new digital ecosystem for its benefits. Read More ›
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Classical Sculpture Displayed in Art Gallery - Elegant Frame Backdrop Perspective

AI Slop is Invading the Culture, Replacing Writers

The antidote to AI slop is a renewal of aesthetic and literary taste
These soulless data-churning machines are spitting out nonsense so pervasively that they’re beginning to shape the way we actually see the world. Read More ›
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set of books

Are We Experiencing a Universal Cognitive Decline?

People are increasingly having trouble reading, focusing, and solving complex problems.

A new study shows that people are struggling more than ever to read, concentrate, and solve problems. The research comes just a few months after Oxford’s indicative decision to make “Brain Rot” its 2024 “Word of the Year.” Common experience itself lends itself to the conclusion that we are struggling to focus, that our attention is fragmented, and that simply thinking about one issue for more than a few seconds is difficult. The Financial Times reported that intelligence and reasoning capacities have declined since the early 2010s. While the COVID-19 pandemic is commonly blamed for the plummet and is indeed responsible for much of the cognitive decline, the downward trend preceded the crisis according to the study. John Burn-Murdoch reports: Read More ›

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Man choosing which hamburger to eat from fast food restaurant

A New McDonald’s PlayPlace Doesn’t Look Very Fun

A virtual playground doesn't offer kids genuine play
Hopefully the McDonald’s corporation will realize that the PlayPlace is a big part of what makes its restaurants so appealing. Read More ›
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Intelligence artificielle

Podcast Guest Claims He Won’t Die, Says We’re Creating God With AI

Got immortality? This man says he has the secret.
Johnson’s views on AI sound crazy, but they reflect a burgeoning hope that computerized superintelligence will somehow solve all the enigmas of existence. Read More ›
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Girl watching the stars in night sky

Re-enchanting the Secular West

More writers and intellectuals recognize the need for right-brain thinking
While there might not be a culture-wide renewal of faith yet, some significant voices are heralding a new way forward. Read More ›
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darken drone on blue warm background

The Drones Continue to Hover

Mystery drones have been sighted in New Jersey and other states
Finally, the FBI and Homeland Security is starting to investigate, and we will hopefully have a transparent answer about the origin of the drones. Read More ›
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Illustration featuring a surreal arrangement of floating media screens

Scott Galloway: Get Men Off the Screens

The conversation revolved around one big question: What happened to men?
Galloway also resists the notion that one needs to “find their passion” to lead a fulfilling life: Those who say that to young people are “already rich.” Read More ›
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Businessman working on a laptop in an office, with a transparent overlay showing a modern cityscape of buildings and skyscrapers. Ideal for themes of technology, business, and urban life. Ai Generate.

AI Adoption is Slowing Amidst the “Biggest Gamble in Business History”

Workers and companies aren't buying the AI hype
In the case of AI, knowledge workers are trying to tell us something. They don’t like AI as much the top managers do, and their excitement is falling. Read More ›
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'Wide angle shot of a desolate movie set at dusk, old Western style buildings and vintage film cameras'

Why Do We Have So Many Live-Action Remakes?

Whether a cartoon or live-action, what we really want is a good story

A couple of days ago, I chanced upon a trailer for the live-action version of How to Train Your Dragon. The original film, based on the book of the same name, premiered in 2010 and follows the heartfelt adventure story of a young Nordic lad, Hiccup, and his friendly dragon Toothless (who does, in fact, have teeth). The original movie got great reviews and remains one of my personal favorite animated films. It has memorable and funny characters, a good storyline, and is well animated. So why do we need a live-action version of the movie? A Loss of Originality Disney led the charge with its realistic remakes with live-action representations of Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, and Cinderella, Read More ›

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books in a library

What’s Happening to Literature?

Why aren't students reading anything anymore?
Consider the great literary tradition, which still calls out with its timeless voice, reminding us that it’s still there for the taking for those who eyes to see and ears to hear. Read More ›
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iPhone

Report: Large Language Models Don’t “Think”

Also, Apple Intelligence might not be so intelligent after all

A research team at Apple is now sharing that “state-of-the-art” AI bots are failing basic arithmetic problems according to Los Angeles Times. Michael Hiltzik writes, The Apple team found “catastrophic performance drops” by those models when they tried to parse simple mathematical problems written in essay form. In this example, the systems tasked with the question often didn’t understand that the size of the kiwis have nothing to do with the number of kiwis Oliver has. Some, consequently, subtracted the five undersized kiwis from the total and answered “185.”  Human schoolchildren, the researchers posited, are much better at detecting the difference between relevant information and inconsequential curveballs. Apple has recently been rolling out tons of new advertisements promoting the iPhone Read More ›

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Teen girl bullied through social media

Are Phones to Blame for a Spiritual Crisis?

Technology is often impersonal magic. It makes things easy, but erodes personal formation

Phones block access to spiritual depth. That’s what social psychologist Jonathan Haidt writes in his newest bestseller The Anxious Generation. The frenetic, distractible nature of the screen-based existence most of us live in every day is eroding our ability to pursue meaning, transcending values, and empathy for other people. Haidt was recently joined in conversation by Andy Crouch, a Christian author who has written extensively on technology and culture in books like The Tech-Wise Family and The Life We’re Looking For: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World. “My life is full of convenience,” Crouch writes in the latter title mentioned. It is full of transaction, at its best a mutually beneficial exchange of value, a kind of arm’s-length benign use Read More ›