No. 7 Story for 2025: World’s “Best-Known Journalist” Meets Michael Egnor

4th of July, americans, atheists, blueberries, Christof Koch, CNN, Denyse O'Leary, Discovery Institute, Faith & Science, faith and science, fireworks, Gaza, Independence Day, Israel, journalists, July 4, Medicine, Michael Egnor, Michael Shermer, near-death experiences, Neuroscience & Mind, neuroscientists, neurosurgeons, Piers Morgan, Piers Morgan Uncensored, Roman Catholics, scripture, Seattle, Skeptics, Sunday Times, The Immortal Mind, YouTube videos
Piers Morgan, who is Catholic, says he already believed in life after death from faith and Scripture. What he wanted, he said, was scientific evidence for it. Source
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French Authors Say Science Points to God; Scientists Listen

Atheism, Atheists Finding God, Ben Spencer, Big Bang, Christof Koch, cosmic microwave background radiation, cosmology, Daniel Dennett, Edward Feser, English, Ex-Skeptic (podcast), Faith & Science, France, Galen Strawson, genome, God the Science the Evidence, Intelligent Design, James Shapiro, Jana Harmon, materialists, Michel-Yves Bolloré, Nobel Prize, Olivier Bonnassies, origin of the universe, panpsychism, physics, quantum mechanics, relativity, Robert Wilson, Roman Catholics, United States, universe
Computer engineer Michel-Yves Bolloré, a lifelong Catholic, and Olivier Bonnassies, who came late to faith, argue that the universe must have had a creator. Source
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A Disagreement with Shermer on the Ethics of IVF

bioethics, chattel slaves, Children, Christian bioethics, Christof Koch, conception, Denyse O'Leary, Faith & Science, human beings, in vitro fertilization, industrial manufacture, IVF, Medicine, Michael Shermer, organ donors, persons, Piers Morgan, Roman Catholicism, sexual slaves, Skeptic (podcast), soldiers, The Immortal Mind
It is quite possible to seek good ends (children) by bad means (their industrial manufacture). These are very real concerns. Source
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What 1,000+ Brain Surgeries Taught About the Mind

brain, Christof Koch, consciousness circuit, David Chalmers, epilepsy, materialism, mathematics, Medicine, Michael Egnor, mind, music, neuroscience, Neuroscience & Mind, neurosurgery, Pat Flynn, philosophy, promissory materialism, seizures, Stony Brook University, Wilder Penfield
Michael Egnor continues his discussion with Pat Flynn, noting that neither seizures nor Penfield’s brain stimulation provoked abstract thought. Source
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What Is Pseudoscience? A Philosopher Tries to Figure It Out

astrology, Atheism, Christof Koch, creationism, David Chalmers, Evidence, fine-tuning, homeopathy, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Intelligent Design, Kåre Letrud, Massimo Pigliucci, Neuroscience & Mind, Nonsense on Stilts, parapsychology, philosophers, philosophical preference, Philosophy of Pseudoscience, pseudoscience, Skeptical Inquirer, UFOs
One is tempted to wonder whether “room for disagreement” is a polite term for Not Yet Cancelled. Source
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Is Darwinian Philosopher Daniel Dennett the End of an Era?

atheists, Christof Koch, Commentary, Consciousness Explained, Dan Falk, Daniel Dennett, Darwin's Dangerous Idea, Darwinians, David Berlinski, David Chalmers, Evolution, human mind, John Horgan, materialists, Nautilus, Neuroscience & Mind, Richard Dawkins, The Deniable Darwin, Uncommon Dissent, William Dembski
Dennett’s image of the human mind as a user-illusion was very fashionable but it never made any sense. Source
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Researchers: Goats Can Read Basic Human Emotions

Alan McElligott, anger, animal feed, Christof Koch, City University of Hong Kong, contentedness, Dogs, Edward Feser, emotions, fear, goats, Heaven, horses, Intelligent Design, livestock, Marianne Mason, mind, moral choice, Neuroscience & Mind, philosophers, Purzel, reason, soul, University of Hong Kong, University of Roehampton, voice
Readers may wonder at first whether this research was worth doing, but hang on. It turns out that goats can understand basic emotions by voice alone. Source
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Can Animal Minds Explain Human Minds?

Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness, Christof Koch, consciousness, crabs, dualists, Francis Crick, hard problem of consciousness, John Horgan, Kristin Andrews, Life Sciences, materialism, mind, nervous system, neurological capacity, neuroscience, Neuroscience & Mind, panpsychism, philosophers, philosophy, physiology, The Animal Mind, theists, York University
Kristin Andrews thinks consciousness researchers should discard the assumptions of “white, male and WEIRD” philosophy profs and study more crabs. Source
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Consciousness May Occur Near Time of Birth

abortion, baby, birth, Children, Christof Koch, consciousness, dreaming, fetuses, hard problem of consciousness, Icahn School of Medicine, infant experience, Integrated information theory, Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital, neuroscience, Neuroscience & Mind, newborn, philosophy, pregnancy, prenatal consciousness, Robert Wright, synaptic connections, Thomas Nagel, Trinity College Dublin, unborn humans
Researchers generally stress that the unborn child’s brain is in a rapid, ongoing, and little understood state of development. Source
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