Ponderings of science, philosophy, history, society, and many other topics
Nicolas Rouleau and Michael Levin have a new preprint out: Brains and Where Else? Mapping Theories of Consciousness to Unconventional Embodiments. The gist of the paper is that we should be open to seeing consciousness in places other than brains. While I'm onboard with that general premise, they take it to places that don't seem … Continue reading Fundamental and naturalistic panpsychism
This is an unusual topic for me. This year I worked to wean myself off of caffeine and artificial sweeteners, and given the trouble I had finding information on how to do it, thought I'd put notes out on what worked for me. Why bother? After all, most of us have our addictions, and are … Continue reading A way to wean off coffee and diet sodas
I think the problem of consciousness is primarily one of definition. The word "consciousness" can refer to a range of concepts. Some of the concepts are scientifically tractable, while others, once we clarify them, are metaphysical assumptions that we can either choose to hold or dismiss. This is one of the reasons I find exploring … Continue reading Manifest and fundamental consciousness
It's been awhile since I've done a TV notes so this one is going to cover a lot of territory. I enjoyed the first season of The Rings of Power, but was an outlier. Most people hated it. Some have come around for the second season due to its increased action, but it remains pretty … Continue reading Dune Prophecy and other TV notes
Happy Newtonmas, Happy Hanukkah, a belated Happy Solstice, and overall Season's Greetings! This was another low volume year as far as blogging went. The principle reason was work and the epic project we've been working on in the last few years, which is entering its most intense period. By this time next year, it won't … Continue reading Merry Christmas
People often worry that our civilization may be in decline, or even about to fall. And there's something to be said for not being complacent about this. Historically, every civilization eventually fails. Entropy always wins in the end. So it isn't a matter of if but when. Whether it happens tomorrow or in 500 years, … Continue reading Factors in the fall of civilizations
This is the fourth in a series of posts on Jonathan Birch’s book, The Edge of Sentience. This one covers the section on artificial intelligence. Birch begins the section by acknowledging how counter intuitive the idea might be of sentience existing in systems we build, ones that aren't alive and have no body. But he urges us to … Continue reading The edge of sentience in AI
This is the third in a series of posts on Jonathan Birch's book, The Edge of Sentience. This one covers the section on animal sentience. I think it's fair to say that this is the section Birch is most passionate about. It's definitely the one where I feel his activism most keenly. A concept he … Continue reading The edge of sentience in animals
Some thoughts on the US election. First, there's no way to sugarcoat this. It's a Trump win. Not only did he win the electoral college, but it looks like he will win the popular vote this time. However we feel about it, it is a decisive win. Strangely enough, I'm not as shell shocked as … Continue reading Election 2024
This is the second in a series of posts on Jonathan Birch's book, The Edge of Sentience. This one is on borderline cases of sentience in humans. Birch looks at cases involving humans with disorders of consciousness, such as those in vegetative or minimally conscious states, as well as fetuses, embryos, and neural organoids made … Continue reading The edge of sentience in humans
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