I came across this tweet by Amanda Gefter: https://twitter.com/AmandaGefter/status/1083749205531942913 William James, the founder of American psychology was an illusionist? I only read the opening portions of the essay, but it appears so. However, even in 1904, illusionism, the belief that consciousness isn't what it seems, was a very nuanced thing: To deny plumply that 'consciousness' … Continue reading Is consciousness a thing or a process? Yes.
Category: Zeitgeist
Higher order theories of consciousness and metacognition
Some of you know, from various conversations, that over the last year or so I've flirted with the idea that consciousness is metacognition, although I've gradually backed away from it. In humans, we typically define mental activity that we can introspect to be conscious and anything else to be unconscious. But I'm swayed by the … Continue reading Higher order theories of consciousness and metacognition
Changing what makes us happy
from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (click through for the hovertext and red button caption) Greg Egan in his novel Incandescence posits an alien civilization whose ancestors, in order to survive, establish a series of space habitats. In order to ensure their descendants will be happy, they bioengineer those descendants to feel satisfaction and bliss working within … Continue reading Changing what makes us happy
How do we establish causation?
Ross Pomeroy at Real Clear Science discusses five logical fallacies that often get misidentified and abused in arguments. Identified by Steven Novella in his book The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe, one of these is the old Correlation and Causation fallacy: 2. Correlation and Causation. Correlation does not prove causation. To say that it does is a logical fallacy. … Continue reading How do we establish causation?
SMBC: Fixing social media
via Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (click through for red button caption) These days, I usually share these on Twitter, but this one seemed more relevant for this venue. Despite using Twitter to share interesting articles and sites, I've never found it to be a great platform for actually sharing complex thoughts or having long conversations. … Continue reading SMBC: Fixing social media
We entered the reputation age a long time ago
Aeon is currently highlighting articles from throughout 2018 that are editor favorites. This morning, they highlighted one by Gloria Origgi, Say goodbye to the information age: it’s all about reputation now: There is an underappreciated paradox of knowledge that plays a pivotal role in our advanced hyper-connected liberal democracies: the greater the amount of information that … Continue reading We entered the reputation age a long time ago
Sean Carroll on the Many Worlds Interpretation of quantum mechanics
Related to the post last week on quantum mechanics, here is a talk that got mentioned in the discussion thread. Warning: Carroll is a passionate advocate for the Many Worlds Interpretation, so don't expect a fair and balanced discussion. The video is about an hour long. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXRLDatmbgA A couple of points. Carroll notes that we … Continue reading Sean Carroll on the Many Worlds Interpretation of quantum mechanics
Merry Christmas
As some of you know, the last year was a tough one for me. My blogging frequency crashed to virtual nonexistence in late 2017 and early 2018, a result of switching to a new job and dealing with the fallout from my father's death. During that period, although I keenly missed our conversations, I had … Continue reading Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas
Still alive. As I mentioned in the previous post back in October, the new job and family issues have been keeping me busy. Hopefully I'll get more time in the new year for blogging. A couple of people have suggested that I consider shorter posts more to generate discussion rather than waiting until I have … Continue reading Merry Christmas
Why I haven’t been posting lately
It's been a while since I've posted. It's probably fair to say that my posting frequency has plummeted to the lowest level since I started this blog in 2013. I feel obliged to offer an explanation. First, we've been undergoing an epic reorganization at work. In the early stages, this endeavor left me very unsettled … Continue reading Why I haven’t been posting lately
SelfAwarePatterns 