One of the challenges of our day is the commonplace reduction of intelligent, insightful action to computation on a substrate. That’s not just Sci Fi, it is a challenge in the academy and on the street — especially as AI grabs more and more headlines. A good stimulus for thought is John Searle as he […]
Animal minds
Science media: Insects can reason logically! Researchers: We never said that…
Could legacy science media actually afford to get it right? Could they afford a serious discussion?
AI meets Eek! Eek!
This summer, AI will be put through virtual mazes designed to test the intelligence of lab animals.
Michael Egnor: Apes are NOT spiritual beings
Never mind what Jane Goodall thinks: In an otherwise silly article about the “evolution” of religion, journalist Brandon Ambrosino quotes primatologist Jane Goodall on the topic of… religious belief among apes: “The chimpanzee’s brain is so like ours: they have emotions that are clearly similar to or the same as those that we call happiness, […]
Beetles freeloaded off ants 100 million years ago
So what, you say? Well, consider: We have no evidence that the relationship “evolved.” We are informed that we ought to see it as evolution but—as so often—we find the same patterns prevailing in the past, without any evolution.
Breaking: Common sense statements about human vs animal intelligence
In a respectable venue. That’s so rare now. Noticing actual differences is radical in an age when politically correct nonsense is a form of virtue.
Neuroscientist: “Ultra social ability” makes humans smarter than apes
Maybe greater social intelligence is the outcome of a much higher order of underlying intelligence in humans?
Have Scientists in China “brain hacked” monkeys?
. . . By inserting human genes? The UK Daily Mail summarises news reports making the rounds: The report details: A new study into the unique evolution of human intelligence has raised ethical concerns after Chinese scientists implanted human brain genes into monkeys to boost their development. Researchers inserted human versions of MCPH1, a gene that […]
Rawr!! Cats DO recognize their names, researchers say!
But why was that a big issue anyway? Cats fare poorly overall in this either/or thinking. They are usually relegated to being “less intelligent than dogs.” Hence the researchers’ surprise that cats can learn their names. But if the cat can recognize and react to the household car pulling up the drive, a specific footstep […]
Researchers: When mates are rare, birds help their parents raise more offspring
Male birds are more likely to do so: After a five-year experiment, researchers from Florida State University and the Tallahassee-based Tall Timbers Research Station found that when fewer mates were available for brown-headed nuthatches, these small pine-forest birds opted to stay home and help their parents or other adults raise their offspring… Associate Professor of […]
Birds are found to plan like humans for their offsprings’ future
Popscience: No natural mechanism is remotely suggested, so we must assume that it is sheer mental power, of the sort that we species-ists once thought existed only in humans, that enables the hen bird to plan for her chicks’ future. Shame on us!
Your inner fish? Did fish really show self-awareness?
Yes, if you believe the mirror test proves it: The bluestreak cleaner wrasse has passed the famous mirror test for self-recognition (originally intended for primate apes and monkeys). According to a recent paper (open access), three out of four fish tested by researchers from Osaka City University in Japan were able to learn to identify […]
Michael Egnor: The Real Reason Why Only Human Beings Speak
Dr. Egnor explains, “Language is a tool for abstract thinking—a necessary tool for abstraction—and humans are the only animals who think abstractly”: In his discussion of why only humans have language, science writer Tom Siegfried gets a lot right, but he misses the crucial reason. … Siegfried is right that many non-human animals have the […]
Could the 2.1 billion-year-old organism have been like a slime mold?
The behavior of the slime mold (if that’s what it is) sounds altogether too modern for Dr. Cohen’s liking. That’s understandable. See, for example, “Is an amoeba smarter than your computer? (yes, in certain respects, it is) The trouble is, many forms of behaviour, like nest-sharing and parental care, have been found earlier than expected. We shall see.
Reader Pat Suwonpanich provides food for thought on hearing and consciousness
Pat Suwonpanich has made a comment on hearing and sound as a mental phenomenon leading to questions of conscious mind that I think is worth pondering by one and all, so let us headline (with slight edits): >>For those who wanna read less-technical article on hearing, I have tried to write my own article as […]