06Mar 2023 by Post

Sean Carroll: “How Could an Immaterial Mind Affect the Body?”

amino acids, analgesic, Aristotle, arthritis, biology, body, causation, chirality, Darvon, documentary, efficient cause, enantiomer, final cause, formal cause, Francis Bacon, free will, individuation, Johns Hopkins University, libertarian free will, material cause, matter, mind, neuroscience, Neuroscience & Mind, penicillamine, philosophy, physics, Physics, Earth & Space, quantum mechanics, sculptor, sculpture, Sean Carroll, statue, trailer
Aristotle noted that when we think carefully about natural causes we see that there are four distinct ways that causes can lead to effects in nature. Source
Read More
21Jan 2023 by Post

Is Life After Death Incompatible with Physics?

Adam Frank, Bernardo Kastrup, Big Think, Bruce Greyson, Chronicle of Higher Education, Closer to Truth, consciousness, David Chalmers, death, hard problem of consciousness, life after death, moral choice, near-death experiences, neuroscience, Neuroscience & Mind, Neuroscience News, npr, physics, Physics, Earth & Space, reason, science, Scientific American, Sean M. Carroll, Standard Model
In 2011, Sean Carroll wrote an essay on why — from a science perspective — our minds must be extinguished at death Source
Read More
16Dec 2022 by Post

Can a Dog Be Bred to Be as Smart as a Human?

Albert Einstein, American Kennel Club, anatomy, Border Collie, brain, Charles Fawole, consciousness, Dogs, Flynn Effect, humans, intelligence, Jean Marie Bauhaus, Kurt Gödel, Marilyn vos Savant, neurological capability, neuroscience, Neuroscience & Mind, Payton Pearson, Psychology Today, science, Stanley Coren, University of British Columbia
An enterprising electrical engineer, Payton Pearson, thinks it can be done. There are reasons for doubt. Source
Read More
09Dec 2022 by Post

MicroRNAs: A New Clue About Octopus Intelligence?

apes, biology, brain, central brain, cognitive abilities, Cris Niell, crows, cuttlefish, Dogs, dolphins, elephants, Grygoriy Zolotarov, intelligence, MicroRNAs, miRNAs, nervous system, neuroscience, Neuroscience & Mind, neurotransmitters, Nikolaus Rajewsky, octopus, Oregon, RNA, science, squid, vertebrates, whales, William Rainey Harper
While octopus brains are very different from vertebrate brains, they share with vertebrates, a huge number of microRNAs. Source
Read More
15Oct 2022 by Post

How Frogs and Fish “Count”

algebra, ants, Brian Butterworth, calculus, Can Fish Count?, common ancestor, croaks, dyscalculia, fish, frogs, Gary Rose, geometry, humans, Intelligent Design, mathematics, neurons, neuroscience, Neuroscience & Mind, number sense, numbers, pallium, Psyche (journal), respiratory fitness, túngara frog, zebrafish
We’re beginning to find out more about how animals that don’t really “think” much can keep track of numbers, when needed. Source
Read More
08Sep 2022 by Post

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
Read More