The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. This well-circulated quote is often attributed to Albert Einstein. I find it somewhat strange in that that is clearly not “the definition of insanity”. Insanity has multiple definitions. “Sane” and “insane” come from the Latin word for health. In…
Tag: Philosophy
I don’t think consciousness is a byproduct
I’m not an expert and you shouldn’t particularly care what I think, but I’ll tell you anyway. Physicalists aka materialists are often presented with the challenge of the so-called hard problem of consciousness. That is, essentially, how and why does subjective experience arise from physical brains? In general, I have the impression that most physicalists…
Why we should be nice to (some) AI
While modern “chat bots” (large language models or LLMs) like ChatGPT are far from sentient, they are amazing in their capability and their development has prompted greater public discussion around the future of AI and humanity’s relationship with AI. Some, even some experts in the field, are fearful of making rapid progress without first resolving…
Possibility, necessity, and imagination
In philosophy, specifically in metaphysics, we often speak of what is “possible” or “contingent” and what is “necessary”. If something is necessarily true, then it cannot possibly to be false. An example of necessary truth might be mathematical theorems. If something is contingent, then it’s true but possibly could have been false. We often talk…
What it means to say “lobsters are conscious”
The creationist site Evolution News recently posted an article entitled What Does It Mean to Say “Lobsters Are Conscious”? The thrust of this article is to use research about animal sentience to uphold mind-body dualism while simultaneously downplaying the similarities between human and animal minds. In short, the author Denyse O’Leary is trying to have…
A response to Catholicism on “What is truth?”
The following question was asked on catholic.com: I got into a discussion about truth, and I had the opinion that there is only one Truth and that is God. So what is truth? Is it something we believe in completely, body and soul? Or is it something God reveals to us? How do we know…
The natural-artificial and natural-supernatural dichotomies
Humans often see ourselves as being separate from nature, but we’re not. Since humans are animals, anything humans do to the environment is a natural process. Skyscrapers and beaver dams differ fundamentally in their scale, material, and function, but not in their nature. Things that are artificial are still natural. The true dichotomy, then, is…
What it’s like to be a bat
Bats are a very ancient and diverse group of mammals, evolving over 50 million years ago and making up a fifth of all living mammal species (Simmons et al. 2008). They are notable for multiple distinctive adaptations, including being the only true flying mammals and using echolocation to “see” in the dark. Echolocation requires several…
Disagreement and subjectivity
Why do people disagree? In many cases, it’s due to differences in preferences and values, things that are entirely subjective. However, people also frequently disagree about facts, which should be objective. How does this happen and how can it be resolved? First, we don’t have direct access to physical facts, we only have access to…
thoughts on mind 