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Did my brain make me do it? Neuroscience and Free Will (2)

By on August 9, 2015 in Philosophy, Science/Technology 0

Brain make me do it

This post was originally published on Philosophical Disquisitions.

Part 1.

Discoveries in neuroscience, and the science of behaviour more generally, pose a challenge to the existence of free will. But this all depends on what is meant by ‘free will’. The term means different things to different people. Philosophers focus on two conditions that seem to be necessary for free will: (i) the alternativism condition, according to which having free will requires the ability to do otherwise; and (ii) the sourcehood condition, according to which having free will requires that you (your ‘self’) be the source of your actions. A scientific and deterministic worldview is often said to threaten the first condition. Does it also threaten the second?

That is what Christian List and Peter Menzies article “My brain made me do it: The exclusion argument against free will and what’s wrong with it” tries to figure out.… Read the rest

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Dark and marked: Strikingly colored new fleshbelly frog from the Andean cloud forest

By on August 7, 2015 in News, Science/Technology 0
IMAGE: A N. MADRESELVA FRESHBELLY FROG SHOWS A LARGE IRREGULARLY SHAPED WHITE MARK, STRETCHING FROM ITS CHEST TO ITS BELLY.

A N. madreselva freshbelly frog shows a large irregularly shaped white mark, stretching from its chest to its belly.
Dr. Vanessa Uscapi

Pensoft Publishers via EurekAlert:

Carrying itself around with a dark brown mask on its face and a broad shapeless white mark on its chest and belly, a frog had been jumping across the Peruvian cloud forests of the Andes unrecognised by the scientific world. Now, this visibly distinguishable species has been picked up by Dr. Catenazzi of Southern Illinois University and his team from its likely only locality, a cloud forest near Cusco in Peru, at 2350 m elevation by Drs. Catenazzi, Uscapi and May. Their research is published in the open-access journal ZooKeys.

The new fleshbelly frog species, called N. madreselva, was discovered by Peruvian researcher Vanessa Uscapi in January 2011 amid leaf litter in the humid montane forest of the Andes. Locally abundant and active during the day, the leaping amphibian was found to be small of size and leading a predominantly terrestrial life.

… Read the rest
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Warfighting Robots Could Reduce Civilian Casualties, So Calling for a Ban Now Is Premature

By on August 5, 2015 in Op-Ed, Politics, Science/Technology 0

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Ronald C. Arken via IEEE Spectrum:

This is a guest post. The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not represent positions of IEEE Spectrum or the IEEE. This article contains excerpts from “Lethal Autonomous Systems and the Plight of the Non-combatant,” published in AISB Quarterly, No. 137, July 2013.

I’ve been engaged in the debate over autonomous robotic military systems for almost 10 years. I am not averse to a ban, but I’m convinced we should continue researching this technology for the time being. One reason is that I believe such systems might be capable of reducing civilian casualties and property damage when compared to the performance of human warfighters. Thus, it is a contention that calling for an outright ban on this technology is premature, as some groups already are doing.

It must be noted that past and present trends in human behavior in warfare regarding adhering to legal and ethical requirements are questionable at best.

… Read the rest
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Clavis Artis — Over A Skin Of Dragon

By on August 5, 2015 in Art, History, Literature/Poetry, Mystery, Philosophy, Science/Technology 0

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Clavis Artis is the title of an alchemy manuscript created in Germany in the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century, attributed to the Persian Zoroaster (Zarathustra). The work is in three volumes of medium format, two of which are illustrated here. The text is in German Gothic script cursive and is accompanied by numerous illustrations in watercolor depicting alchemical images. There are also some pen drawings depicting laboratory instruments.

There are 3 copies of the manuscript, of which only two are illustrated. The most well-known is the Biblioteca dell’Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in Rome. Another copy is kept in Trieste at the Public Library Attilio Hortis. A different version, in a single volume and without illustrations, is located at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, of Monaco of Bavaria.

A copy of the manuscript was also present at the Duchess Anna Amalia Bibliothek, of Weimar, but was destroyed in the 2004 fire that hit the German library.… Read the rest

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Nick Bostrom & Ray Kurzweil – Could Our Universe Be a Fake?

By on August 4, 2015 in Mystery, Science/Technology 0

A word from the experts…

Robert Lawrence Kuhn, creator and host, “Closer To Truth” via Space.com:

It’s like the movie “The Matrix,” Bostrom said, except that “instead of having brains in vats that are fed by sensory inputs from a simulator, the brains themselves would also be part of the simulation. It would be one big computer program simulating everything, including human brains down to neurons and synapses.”

Bostrom is not saying that humanity is living in such a simulation. Rather, his “Simulation Argument” seeks to show that one of three possible scenarios must be true (assuming there are other intelligent civilizations):

  1. All civilizations become extinct before becoming technologically mature;
  2. All technologically mature civilizations lose interest in creating simulations;
  3. Humanity is literally living in a computer simulation.

His point is that all cosmic civilizations either disappear (e.g., destroy themselves) before becoming technologically capable, or all decide not to generate whole-world simulations (e.g., decide such creations are not ethical, or get bored with them).

… Read the rest
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The Future Will Be Full of Lab Grown Meat

By on August 4, 2015 in News 0

Here’s another one of those lab-grown meat boosting articles, this time from Gizmodo. I think I’ll stick to tofu.

In 2013, the world’s first lab-grown burger was unveiled to the world. It carried a $330,000 price tag, and apparently, it wasn’t all that tasty. But the scientists behind the idea have been hard at work, and artificial meat that’s both cost-effective and palatable may arrive sooner than we think.

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It’s not just cow-free beef burgers on the future menu — several groups around the world are attempting to clone chicken breasts and fish fillets, as well. Why do scientists want to grow meat in vats instead of on animals, and how close are we to actually accomplishing it?

The Big Resource Hog

The arguments for growing so-called ‘cultured’ meat are as wide-ranging as the reasons people decide to become vegetarian or vegan. If you’re not vegetarian or vegan, you’ve probably received a mouthful on this subject from a friend or family member before, so I’m going to keep it brief and focus on the argument cultured meat proponents seem to embrace the most: Sustainability.

… Read the rest
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How do you know you’re going to have a bad trip?

By on August 2, 2015 in News, Science/Technology 0

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Sophie Weiner at Hopes&Fears:

Hopes&Fears answers questions with the help of people who know what they’re talking about. Today, we try to parse how to tell if you are going to have a negative psychedelic experience.

Though they’re illegal as ever, psychedelic drugs no longer have quite the bad rap they accumulated in the decades after the 1960s. Though memories of the notorious brown acid of Woodstock still haunt young trippers, scientists recently have been more focused on the positive, even healing effects these substances can produce when they’re used in controlled settings. But, as many music festival attendees know, bad trips can still happen. We asked experts what circumstances conspire to produce these difficult experiences, and how we can avoid them in the first place.

Frederick Barrett, Faculty Member at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Department

Let me preface the following by saying that I am willing to share and represent the science on these compounds, and I am trying to reflect the best practices for research administration of these compounds, but I am not in any way encouraging or supporting the use of these compounds outside of controlled and sanctioned settings.… Read the rest

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