Tag Archives: Thought

How do you separate the objective from the subjective?

Posted on March 20, 2014 by

So, I’m a skeptic, and I’ve had my share of debates on comment threads with people about purported phenomena without scientific evidence.  One of the claims often asserted is that so many people have experienced it, there must be something … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy | Tagged , , , , , , | 52 Comments

Is consciousness in control? Does it matter?

Posted on March 17, 2014 by

A new scientific paper claims to describe an experiment that shows that consciousness controls our actions.  From the paper: These results indicate that conscious intentions govern motor function… until today, it was unclear whether conscious motor intention exists prior to … Continue reading →

Posted in Mind and AI | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

The scope of objective facts and morality

Posted on February 13, 2014 by

Our recent discussions, particularly on the thread about Jonathan Haidt’s response to Sam Harris’s challenge, left me thinking about the various scopes of objective facts.  In retrospect, it’s a bit obvious to me now that a key question in moral … Continue reading →

Posted in Morality, Philosophy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

TED and unrealistic expectations

Posted on January 1, 2014 by

Benjamin Bratton’s TED talk appears to be getting a lot of attention: The Guardian also has a transcript. It seems to me that Bratton’s talk can be summarized as, you’re all not thinking hard enough, not making real impacts, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Society | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Consciousness is in the eye of the beholder

Posted on November 20, 2013 by

Alan Turing was a pioneer in the field of computer science.  One of the things he is famous for is the Turing test.  At its core, this is a test about whether or not a machine, a computer, can convince … Continue reading →

Posted in Mind and AI | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 28 Comments