2020

George Ellis: If you seriously believe that fundamental forces leave no space for free will, then it’s impossible for us to genuinely make choices as moral beings. We wouldn’t be accountable in any meaningful way for our reactions to global climate change, child trafficking or viral pandemics. The underlying physics would in reality be governing our behaviour, and responsibility wouldn’t enter into the picture. “Theoretical physicist defends free will” at Mind Matters News

It sounded like such a great idea, right? Robert J. Marks: Well, actually, that’s very interesting because I think there’s a presupposition on Musk’s part that we are indeed algorithmic. That we can actually be represented by an algorithm, by a computer code… There’s good foundations and algorithmic information theory and computer science, which suggest that there are indeed non-algorithmic phenomena and there’s a strong evidence that the qualities such as creativity and understanding and qualia, are above and beyond the capabilities of algorithms and computability. “Can we really cheat death?” at Mind Matters News Better read this before you buy your ticket to transhumanism. .

Treated as if it were a big surprise: For Martisius’ tiny lissoir fragments, the nondestructive plastic bag method seemed perfect. You get fewer molecules to analyze, says Frido Welker, who performed the ZooMS analysis for Martisius, but at least it provides the possibility of identifying a species without having to take a sample. “For bone artifacts, we should probably always try this approach first,” he says. The results that Martisius got (recently published in Nature’s Scientific Reports journal) were intriguing. In the archaeological layers where the bone tool pieces had been found, the majority of the animal bones were identified as belonging to reindeer. However, ZooMS identified every one of the lissoir pieces as coming from bison or aurochs (a Read More ›

Explained: To prevent double vision, the brain exploits a feedback system, which it uses to finely tune the lengths of the muscles controlling the eyes. This produces phenomenally precise eye movements, Guyton said. Each eye has six muscles regulating its movement in different directions, and each one of those muscles must be triggered simultaneously in both eyes for them to move in unison, according to a 2005 review in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. “It’s actually quite amazing when you think about it,” Guyton told Live Science. Bemjamin Plackett, “Why eyes move together” at LiveScience Hat tip: Philip Cunningham

There are few things more disgusting than a morally weak man who will pay any price to avoid making enemies. He is so worried about how he is perceived that he cannot be trusted to make sound judgments in any moral conflict. Almost always, he takes a knee when he should be standing firm; almost always, he gives up ground that he should be holding. If only he would realize that a pound of early resistance is worth a ton of counter revolutionary warfare. Of course, he doesn’t get the point because his main concern is to remain popular with the people who are supposed to matter. Consider a contemporary social problem. Violent mobs are destroying parts of cities, tearing Read More ›