Mind Matters

On this episode, host Pat Flynn concludes a three-part conversation with Dr. Selmer Bringsjord about all things related to AI, consciousness, and rationality. In Part 3, Flynn and Bringsjord summarize their points about integrated information theory and an alternative view, cognitive consciousness. The discussion explores the challenges of explaining consciousness from a materialist or physicalist...

It’s tempting to think that human trafficking is a problem in a far-away land. Unfortunately, it’s much closer. Like in our back yard closer. On this episode, host Robert J. Marks speaks with Charlie Crockett, head educational trainer with Unbound Now, an organization that works to combat human trafficking through education, training, victim services, and partnerships with law enforcem...

On this episode, host Pat Flynn continues a three-part conversation with Dr. Selmer Bringsjord about all things related to AI, consciousness, and rationality. In Part 2, the discussion turns to Integrated Information Theory (IIT) and its claims about consciousness. IIT proposes that consciousness arises from the degree of informational integration in a system, so more integrated systems would have...

On this episode, host Pat Flynn begins a three-part conversation with Dr. Selmer Bringsjord about all things related to AI, consciousness, and rationality. Dr. Bringsjord has been studying and debating issues related to AI and the nature of consciousness for decades, and he shares his predictions about the capabilities and limitations of AI systems. He believes that while AI systems Read More &#82...

What kind of being must exist for consciousness to exist? On this episode, hosts Robert J. Marks and Angus Menuge conclude their discussion with Dr. Mihretu Guta about his contribution to the recent volume Minding the Brain. The first half of this conversation centered on the amazing nature of consciousness and how it really doesn’t reduce to anything physical. In Part Read More › Sour...

On this episode, hosts Robert J. Marks and Angus Menuge welcome Dr. Mihretu Guta to discuss his contribution to the recent volume Minding the Brain. Dr. Guta discusses the nature of consciousness and the challenges in understanding it from a philosophical perspective. He argues that consciousness is a unique property that is deeply subjective and personal, making it difficult to study Read More &#...

On this episode out of the vault, neuroscientist Dr. Michael Egnor welcomes Dr. Joshua Farris for a discussion about his recent published paper “Descartes’ New Clothes: Cartesian Thought in Philosophy, Neuroscience and Theism.” Descartes is famous for his dictum “I think, therefore I am.” Farris and Egnor discuss this statement and its implications for the mind-body d...

Is your mind the same thing as your brain? Or are there aspects of mind that are external to the biology of the brain? This is the mind-body problem, and it has captivated curious minds since the dawn of human contemplation. Today many insist that the mind is completely reducible to the brain. But is that claim justified? On this Read More › Source

In this recent radio interview, prefaced by a brief introduction from Discovery Institute representative Dr. Tom Winkler, host Mark Davis speaks with Dr. Robert Marks, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Baylor University and director of Discovery Institute’s Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence. Marks discusses his book Non-Computable You: What You...

In this episode, Pat Flynn and Dr. Michael Egnor conclude their discussion of Dr. Egnor’s contribution to the recent volume Minding the Brain. Flynn and Dr. Egnor discuss Thomistic dualism and its relation to neuroscience and the soul. Thomistic dualism is the belief that the soul is a separate entity from the body and that the rational aspects of the soul, Read More › Source

In this episode, lawyer and Mind Matters News contributor Richard W. Stevens is on the show to discuss the legal issues and challenges around copyright, fair use, and the use of copyrighted material by AI systems. They discuss the implications of a recent Supreme Court case, Warhol vs. Goldsmith, that tackles the legal concepts of “derivative work” and “transformative work.&#8221...

In this episode, Pat Flynn and Dr. Michael Egnor continue their discussion of Dr. Egnor’s contribution to the recent volume Minding the Brain. Flynn and Egnor discuss various criticisms of materialism in neuroscience. They touch on topics such as near-death experiences, the limitations of the computational theory of mind, and the nature of artificial intelligence. Dr. Egnor also address...

On this episode, host Pat Flynn begins a wide-ranging conversation with Dr. Michael Egnor about topics such as mind, brain, dualism, the nature of the human person, neuroscience, and the soul. Dr. Egnor argues for dualism, stating that there are aspects of the mind that are not generated by the brain. They also discuss research on split-brain patients and its Read More › Source

On this episode, software engineer and author Doug Smith concludes his conversation with host Robert Marks about the false promises of technologies like VR (virtual reality) and AI. Smith and Marks discuss the Apple Vision Pro VR headset and the promotion of spirituality in its marketing. They explore the idea of AI spirituality and the belief in the singularity. The Read More › Source

On this episode, software engineer and author Doug Smith discusses the growing problem of virtual reality (VR) pornography and its negative effects. He also talks about Apple’s new VR headset, Vision Pro, and raises concerns about its potential impact on users. Smith criticizes Apple’s marketing of Vision Pro, highlighting the false vision, false connection, and false control it promot...

How can we best compassionately relate to those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease? Is there more to the mind than just the brain? On this episode of Mind Matters News, neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Egnor interviews Dr. Stephen Post. They discuss topics such as memory, consciousness, medical ethics, and the care of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Post emphasizes the importance of...

Are we on the verge of an era of incalculable human progress because of the power of AI, or are we threatened with being made obsolete and perhaps extinguished in an age of intelligent machines? In this episode, Robert J. Marks and author Zoltan Istvan debate secular transhumanism and artificial intelligence (AI). Marks argues that AI can never be creative Read More › Source

In this episode of Mind Matters News, hosts Robert J. Marks and Angus Menuge continue their discussion with Dr. Jonathan J. Loose, author of the chapter “The Simple Theory of Personal Identity and the Life Scientific” in the book Minding the Brain. They explore thought experiments that challenge the idea that personal identity is solely determined by physical and psychological continui...

In this episode of Mind Matters News, co-hosts Robert J Marks and Angus Menuge interview Dr. Jonathan Loose, another featured author included in the recent volume Minding the Brain. The book delves into the age-old question is the mind more than the brain? Loose’s chapter is titled “The Simple Theory of Personal Identity and The Life Scientific.” The trio discuss the Read More &#...

Are there any trusted organizations today that can help boys avoid the pitfalls of digital technologies while encouraging them to develop positive character traits? On this double episode from the archive, host Robert Marks speaks to former Eagle Scout and businessman Kent Marks about the problems facing young men today and the organization he co-founded to help remedy those problems. Read More &#...

In this episode, Dr. Eric Jones, a professor of psychology at Regent University, concludes his discussion of the concept of the relational person and its implications for psychology. He explains that the traditional materialistic and atomistic view of the individual is insufficient to explain social thought and behavior. Instead, he argues for a relational model that emphasizes the interconnectedn...

In this episode, host Robert J. Marks and guest Dr. Eric Jones continue to discuss the concept of the relational person and its implications for psychology research. They explore two competing models of the person: the atomistic, egoistic model and the relational model. Dr. Jones highlights examples of researchers who approach psychology research from an atomistic, egoistic perspective, rooted in...

On this episode of Mind Matters News, host Robert J. Marks interviews Dr. Eric Jones, a professor of psychology at Regent University, about the concept of the relational person. Jones contributed a chapter on the topic to the recent volume Minding the Brain. Jones explains that the dominant view in psychology is the atomistic individual, which sees individuals as self-contained entities Read...

In this panel discussion from the COSM technology conference, the panelists address the limits and possibilities of artificial intelligence (AI). George Montañez, an Assistant Professor of Computer Science, discusses generative AI models and how they work by encoding relations between text and images. He also mentions the phenomenon of model collapse, where AI systems degenerate when trained on th...

Does quantum mechanics, properly understood, point to the fundamentality of mind in the universe? In this episode, Michael Egnor concludes a conversation with philosopher of physics Bruce Gordon about the relationship between idealism and quantum mechanics. Gordon argues that quantum mechanics points to mind as the fundamental unit of the universe, as it is irreducibly probabilistic and exhib...