For AI, Human Hands Are Exceptional…For Now

Artificial Intelligence, Becca Rothfeld, ChatGPT, computers, copyright, critical thinking, DALL-E, digital art, Gary Smith, human exceptionalism, human form, human hands, images, intelligence, Intelligent Design, Jean Paul, job infringement, Kyle Chayka, Midjourney, Neuroscience & Mind, novels, The Point, visual arts, writing
In many artificially contrived images, the hands come up gnarled, disfigured, or otherwise anatomically incorrect. Source
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The Fear of Suffering Is Driving Us Crazy

abortion, American Pediatric Association, animal rights, animal welfare, Belgium, bioethics, birth, California, Canada, Culture & Ethics, doctors, ethics, Finland, France, Gender Dysphoria, gender-affirming care, geographical features, glaciers, Holocaust, human exceptionalism, human life, insects, Jews, Journal of Medical Ethics, Life Sciences, mastectomies, Netherlands, Ontario, Oregon, organ donation, peas, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, plants, rivers, Sweden, unborn children, United Kingdom, Voluntary Human Extinction Movement
Our suffering phobia has triggered a harmful societal neurosis that has both subverted human exceptionalism and undermined societal common sense. Source
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By Design: Storytelling Reveals Human Exceptionalism

addiction, Andrew McDiarmid, animals, Bible, Big Tech, Braveheart, characters, consciousness, Culture & Ethics, Dennis Prager, devices, Dogs, Eric Metaxas, Google, human exceptionalism, humans, Intelligent Design, Internet, Michael Medved, nature, New York Post, pets, plot, Sabbath, science, storytelling, Technology
That humans enjoy being made to wait seems to have been deliberately built into us. It’s unique in nature, an intelligent design. Source
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Can Animals Be Held Criminally Responsible?

American Philosophical Quarterly, animal rights, animals, bears, cannibalism, consciousness, crime, Culture & Ethics, defendants, Ed Simon, free will, human exceptionalism, humans, moral agency, moral capacity, morality, Neuroscience & Mind, Nonhuman Rights Project, plaintiffs, Psyche, Raegan Scharfetter, responsibility, science
While the idea is handled provocatively in philosophy literature, in practice, animals are envisioned as plaintiffs, not defendants, in animal rights cases. Source
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Berlinski, Metaxas in NYC: What Is a Human Being?

biological origins, Culture & Ethics, Darwinian theory, Darwinists, David Berlinski, dress code, Eric Metaxas, Events, human exceptionalism, human nature, Human Nature (book), Human Origins, Intelligent Design, jungle, materialism, New York City, philosophy, Psalms, Socrates in the City, Union League Club
The issues involved in the evolution debate derive their interest and importance largely from one question. Source
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Can Red Have “Redness” if No Self Perceives It?

apes, chimpanzees, Closer to Truth, genomes, human exceptionalism, illusion, inner feeling, Julian Baggini, lichens, neurons, neuroscience, Neuroscience & Mind, origin of life, philosophy, qualia, red, redness, religion, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, rocks, science, scientific explanation, self
Is not the fact that we are having these discussions the best available evidence that we are not “just overgrown apes or undergrown apes”? Source
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Marks: Non-Computable You Won’t Achieve Immortality Through an AI Machine

Alan Turing, algorithms, Baylor University, Church-Turing Thesis, computation, computer science, computers, consciousness, Creativity, Dallas Conference on Science and Faith, emotion, faith, Faith & Science, future, human exceptionalism, humans, immortality, Intelligent Design, machines, mathematicians, Neuroscience & Mind, Non-Computable You, qualia, Ray Kurzweil, Robert J. Marks, sentience, Singularity, speed, spirituality, Turing Machine, understanding, William Dembski
Dreams of achieving immortality by having your consciousness uploaded, merging man and computer in the predicted 2045 “Singularity,” are just that — dreams. Source
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Günter Bechly: Species Pairs Wreck Darwinism

African elephants, Asian elephants, biology, bison, Casey Luskin, cattle, chimps, Darwinian theory, donkeys, Evolution, Günter Bechly, Hawaiian Silverswords, horses, human exceptionalism, humans, ID The Future, Intelligent Design, mice, phenotypic plasticity, pygmy hippo, rats, river hippo, river hippos, species pairs, spectacled bear
Bechly and host Casey Luskin discuss cattle and bison, horses and donkeys, the Asian black bear and the South American spectacled bear, and more. Source
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Ecuador’s Highest Court Grants Rights to Wild Animals

animal rights, animals, bacteria, Climate News, Congress, courts, Culture & Ethics, deer, ecosystems, Ecuador, elephant, fish, forests, geological features, germs, habeas corpus, human exceptionalism, individual animals, insects, Laws, Life Sciences, nature right, New York State, plants, rivers, Switzerland, viruses, water
Nature rights apply to individual animals. And, one would assume, to be consistent, to individual plants, insects, water, and (what the hell) germs too. Source
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