In recent weeks, UD has been looking at the logic of being of minded intelligence, especially, embodied intelligence. One of the pivotal insights is outlined by Victor Reppert — pardon a bit of review: . . . let us suppose that brain state A [–> notice, state of a wetware, electrochemically operated computational substrate], which […]
Mind
New robotic device is controlled only by thought, no brain implant
If the mind is an illusion, how can it act directly on external things, by the force of decision-making alone?
Next! Is vivid imagination “helping explain consciousness”?
Imagine a scene in an intellectual property office where a lineup is trying to patent a theory of consciousness…
If Shakespeare is right about imagination, robot Sophia will certainly break some hearts
And they could be turned on and off. What are the implications of that?
Jonathan Bartlett: Consciousness as the “first instantiation of a new law of nature”
If consciousness is indeed a first instantiation of a new law of nature, there should be laws associated with its workings. They should relate to the laws of information theory.
Kurt Gödel demonstrated that the mind is not just a computer
And Alan Turing tried to live with it. Maybe that’s not the story you heard, but …
Psychology prof: Consciousness is real
In the second edition of Jonathan Bartlett and Eric Holloway ‘s journal, Communications of the Blyth Institute.
Inferring onward, from design to designer
One of the notorious talking points used by inveterate objectors to design theory, is that it is about stealth creationism. Closely tied, is the suggestion (or, assumption) that the claim that design inference on empirical sign only warrants inference to design as process is a dishonest stalking horse. Given a long saddening track record of […]
Materialism’s secret of success, Hint: It’s not evidence
Materialism enables irrational ideas about ourselves to compete with rational ones on an equal basis. It won’t work
Jonathan Bartlett: The key to machine learning is not machines but mathematics
People forget that finger counting is machine learning too. (as far as your mind is concerned, your fingers are machines.)
Machines won’t think like people—how do we deal with the disappointment?
Jonathan Bartlett (our johnnyb) offers some thoughts on a new model of machine intelligence
Michael Egnor: Can animals “reason”? My challenge to Jeffrey Shallit
Could Shallit be replaced by even the most talented and methodical of counting ravens?
Woke U fires prof, hires chimp ;)
A light-hearted look by neurosurgeon Michael Egnor at what would happen if we really thought that unreason is better than reason.
Logic & First Principles, 21: Insightful intelligence vs. computationalism
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 […]
Michael Egnor: It’s a matter of fact, not belief, that only humans reason
Readers may remember philosopher Justin Smith, who thinks that we can understand life better if we “give up the idea of rationality as nature’s last remaining exception.” Neurosurgeon Michael Egnor weighs in, responding point by point to the essay, for example: Material states of the brain can, of course, influence our power of reason—an ounce […]