15May 2024 by Post

Consciousness BEFORE Life? These Scientists Say Yes

Alexander Oparin, Anirban Bandyopadhyay, asteroids, Bennu, brains, consciousness, Dante Lauretta, Darwinian materialists, Evolution, genes, Institute for Arts and Ideas, mind, Murchison meteorite, Neuroscience & Mind, philosophers, quantum collapse, quantum superpositions, Roger Penrose, scientists, solar system, Stuart Hameroff, wave function
One key way life differs from non-life is that life forms have goals. For example, the amoeba seeks to protect itself. Source
Read More
05May 2024 by Post

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
Read More
29Apr 2024 by Post

Do Fungi Have Free-Will?

agency, automaton, biology, Chemistry, Complexity, consciousness, decision-making, Evidence, Evolution, free will, fungal mind, genetics, human behavior, hyphae, imago Dei, intelligence, Intelligent Design, Internet, Judeo-Christian tradition, learning, Life Sciences, materialism, memory, Miami University, mind, mycelium, mycology, Neuroscience & Mind, Nicholas P. Money, Ohio, physics, randomness, science writers, scientists, sensitivity
Whenever a new hypothesis like this is published and calmly debated in scientific journals without arousing any furor, your first instinct may be to scoff. Source
Read More
21Mar 2024 by Post

A Philosopher Investigates Near-Death Experiences

atheists, brain, Bruce Greyson, cancel culture, cardiac patients, death, dementia, dissertation, dying, Gary Habermas, imminent death, Kristle Merzlock, Mark Shelvock, medical interventions, Medicine, Minding the Brain, Monika Mandoki, near-death experiences, Neuroscience & Mind, philosophers, Psychology Today, Research, terminal lucidity, University of Western Ontario
Monika Mandoki did not experience efforts to get her canceled. That may be for several reasons. Source
Read More
03Mar 2024 by Post

War on Human Exceptionalism Turns to Tool Use

Abigail Desmond, abstraction, animals, archaeologists, bragging rights, capuchin monkeys, chimpanzees, crows, debris, dolphins, environment, hands, Harvard University, human exceptionalism, Human Origins, life forms, Michael Haslam, monkeys, Neuroscience & Mind, octopuses, Oxford University, Saturn V rocket, sea urchins, tool use, tools
As the academic war on human exceptionalism motors on, researchers’ thinking sometimes shorts out — and they don’t even notice. Source
Read More
22Feb 2024 by Post

Reply to Free Will Deniers: Show Me

auto accident, behavior, Belief, brains, Chemistry, choice, Clarence Darrow, Culture & Ethics, Darwinian evolution, deterministic free will, faith, free will, free will deniers, ham sandwich, human beings, Jerry Coyne, LARPing, Ludwig Wittgenstein, materialists, Meaning, Neuroscience & Mind, parking lot, philosophers, physics, physiology, Politics, rain, Robert Sapolsky, Sam Harris, Stephen Cave, The Blue Book
If you carelessly dent a genuine free will denier’s car in a parking lot, he wouldn’t hold you responsible any more than he’d hold your car responsible. Source
Read More