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Tag Archives: mind
Why Are There No Molecule/Water Dualists?
The question. I had a question pop into my head yesterday morning: Why are there no molecule/water dualists in the same way that there are brain/mind dualists? The obvious answer: Because there is nothing at stake religiously. We all presume … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, dualism, free will, God, mind, philosophy, psychology, religion, science
4 Comments
David Chalmers on Consciousness
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Tagged apologetics, atheism, consciousness, mind, philosophy, science
1 Comment
Free Will and the Origin of Consciousness
Am I missing something here? If contra-causal free will does not exist–and most non-dualist philosophers and scientists insist that it doesn’t, then how did consciousness ever evolve? It’s logically possible that we could all be zombies–though we’re not–without the least … Continue reading
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Tagged apologetics, atheism, awareness, Buddhism, consciousness, Darwin, evolution, free will, mind, theism
7 Comments
Is Mind a Fluke of Nature?
According to atheist and University of Chicago biologist Jerry Coyne, probably: As for mind being nothing but a fluke of nature, well, that’s probably true, at least the human mind, since I don’t see our evolution as inevitable (it may … Continue reading
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Tagged agnosticism, apologetics, atheism, creation, God, mind, philosophy, psychology, theism
56 Comments
Neuroscience for Buddhists: Externalism Nicely Explained
At the New York Review of Books, Tim Parks recounts his experience of having a beer with Riccardo Manzotti, a man who believes that consciousness does not reside in the brain. Monzotti is an externalist who thinks the subject-object split … Continue reading
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Tagged brain, consciousness, externalism, mind, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, science
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Quantum Dieting: Change Your Measurements, Change Your Life
An article in Seed surveys some recent research on quantum physics’s implications for common sense reality. Here’s the problem: [N]one of us perceives the world as it exists fundamentally. We do not observe the tiniest bits of matter, nor the forces … Continue reading
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Tagged consciousness, diet, free will, mind, paradox, quantum dieting, quantum physics, science, the body
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I Connectome, Therefore I Am?
Sebastian Seung is Professor of Computational Neuroscience and Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and in his new book, Connectome: How the Brain’s Wiring Makes Us Who We Are (Houghton Mifflin 2012), he defines a connectome in the following manner: … Continue reading
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Tagged Ayn Rand, brain, consciousness, individuality, life, mind, naturalism, neurobiology, neurons, Sebastian Seung
3 Comments
The Grain of Sand Argument for God’s Existence
Here are some famous lines from William Blake: To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour. It’s one thing … Continue reading
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Tagged agnosticism, apologetics, atheism, atheist, doubt, God, mind, philosophy, physics, reason, sand
5 Comments
Global Debt Slavery Watch: Economic Anthropologist David Graeber Thinks Slavery and Debt Slavery May Be a Distinction Without Much of a Difference
At Naked Capitalism, Dublin-based journalist Philip Pilkington asks economic anthropologist David Graeber an intriguing question: We know that in many Western countries over the past few years households have been running up enormous debts, from credit card debts to mortgages … Continue reading
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Tagged class warfare, david graeber, debt, debt forgiveness, economics, globalism, jubilee, materialism, mind, philosophy, social psychology
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Critical Thinking Watch: Why Atheism is as Question Begging As Theism
Is the atheist conclusion that matter preceded mind from the very “beginning” of the universe more plausible, evidence-based, or rational than the theist conclusion (that mind preceded matter)? I say no. Here’s why. As a matter of logic, if you reject the … Continue reading
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Tagged apologetics, atheism, atheist, critical thinking, God, Jesus, matter, mind, philosophy, psychology, question begging, reason
66 Comments
Sun Salutation
_____ True shield of Aten, color of Van Gogh’s Beard, in an eggy apron of aloes My skin I present to you. O mushroom Atomic; aureola at noon; yolk; bloom Atop Earth’s dome of blue: meet your black pupil (That … Continue reading
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Tagged body, imagination, life, literature, matter, mind, poem, poetry, summer, sun salutation, the sun, yoga
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Near Death Experience (NDE) Watch: Waiting for Dr. Sam Parnia
Late last year, the Wall Street Journal had an interesting piece on near death experiences (NDEs), and it included an aspect on the phenomenon that I’d never heard of before: near death awareness: In his book, “Visions, Trips and Crowds,” David … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, atheist, body, cancer, death, God, life, mind, NDEs, near-death experiences, psychology, skeptic
21 Comments
Something Good about America: Not Oil Wells, But Mind Wells
Notice in this 60 Minutes segment that Indian geniuses are not flocking to oil-rich Arab countries where a conformist religion like Islam dominates the culture. Instead, they come to Enlightenment-based secular California, to Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley is a mind well … Continue reading
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Tagged America, brain drains, California, India, mind, mind wells, oil, reason, science, silicon valley
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God: The Ghost Writer Who Isn’t There?
At Slate this month, Jesse Bering reflects on the human inclination to project mental properties (such as beliefs and purposes), not only onto people, but animals, inanimate objects, and God: When others violate our expectations for normalcy or stump us with … Continue reading
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Tagged apologetics, authors, authorship, critical theory, God, Islam, Jesus, mind, Mohammad, philosophy, psychology
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Stanley Fish on What Distinguishes Us from Computers
At the New York Times this week, Stanley Fish offers the following as a key distinction between himself and a computer: [I]ts procedures do not track my practice. I am not self-consciously generating a pattern of statistical frequencies. I am … Continue reading
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Tagged artificial intelligence, calculation, computers, consciousness, life, mind, robots, stanley fish, the soul, turing test
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Is the Placebo Effect a Problem for Atheism?
Catholic journalist Denise O’Leary seems quite persuaded that the placebo effect stubbornly resists any plausible materialist explanation, and so is a problem for atheists. (O’Leary wrote, with a neuroscientist by the name of Mario Beauregard, an interesting book a few years back … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, atheist, denise o'leary, intelligent design, mind, neuroscience, placebo effects, psychology, the soul
3 Comments
The self-made soul? Do you make a soul as an author makes a novel, one moment of awareness at a time?
I’m not sure what, exactly, the soul is (“I am that I am?”), but I do think I’m closing in, at least for myself, on what the soul does. Here’s the theory I’m working with. Please help me refine it if you think I’m missing something … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, Buddhism, consciousness, dualism, God, meaning, mind, mind and body, soul
10 Comments
David Chalmers on Hard v. Soft Emergence with Regard to Consciousness
David Chalmers discusses hard v. soft emergence and why consciousness falls into the former category:
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Tagged atheism, brain, cognitive science, david chalmers, dualism, emergence, God, materialism, mind, philosophy, qualia
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Spectres of Reality or the Reality of Spectres?
Shane McCorristine’s new book on ghosts titled Spectres of the Self: Thinking about Ghosts and Ghost-Seeing in England, 1750-1920 (Cambridge 2010) receives a good review from Jonathan Barnes in The Times of London: What interests McCorristine about these alleged outbreaks of the paranormal is … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, atheists, books, consciousness, david chalmers, ghosts, God, mind, psychology, spectres, spirit
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Prometheus Unbound 