2+ day, 21+ hour ago   (646+ words) At Fast Company, we learn that “Bill Gates has a dire warning about AI,” publicized at the Telluride Film Festival. He prophesied “mass unemployment and major social, political, and economic upheaval across the globe.” His solution? In a 6000-word essay,…...

4+ day, 17+ hour ago   (617+ words) First, getting past the drama: Data centers have a huge energy footprint. But so do cars and planes, if we look at the total environment bill for each. And there is no serious move to abolish either of them on…...

5+ day, 21+ hour ago   (217+ words) We’ve been writing about AI companies buying rare books and destroying them in order to keep feeding more information to the AI chatbots. We learned a new word for it too, destructive scanning. At the The Guardian, last month, Kathryn…...

5+ day, 22+ hour ago   (211+ words) The Institute for Theological Encounter with Science and Technology (ITEST) is sponsoring a webinar, “Revisiting ‘Computers, Artificial Intelligence, and Virtual Reality’ in Light of Pope Leo XIV’s Magnifica Humanitas,” on October 10, 2025, 11:00 am to noon EST. Magnifica Humanitas (25 May 2026), Leo’s first…...

2+ week, 22+ hour ago   (847+ words) You don’t have to spend much time skimming the voluminous philosophy of mind literature to come across the mind–body interaction problem. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy explains it thus: Originally, the problem of mental causation was that of understanding how…...

2+ week, 4+ day ago   (409+ words) Associated Press, founded in 1846, has been a staple of the news industry since then: old, large, mainstream, and respected. But the decline of traditional media in the age of the internet — when six stories, even on a comparatively minor event,…...

2+ week, 5+ day ago   (428+ words) At Epoch Times, Makai Elías Calles discusses recent findings about plants’ complex ability to perceive and react to their environments: Plants lack neurons, but they still readily communicate, including by relaying danger cues. When a caterpillar bites a plant, it…...

3+ week, 2+ day ago   (337+ words) This article by David Klinghoffer is republished from Science and Culture Today. SpudCell is the supposed artificial cell that left CNN, among others, hyperventilating: “Scientists say they have built a cell from scratch for the first time that can feed,…...

3+ week, 4+ day ago   (278+ words) At his Substack, Andrew McDiarmid offers some thoughts on the pioneer computer programmer Ada Lovelace (1815–1852). Daughter of British Romantic poet Byron, she became an associate of Charles Babbage (1791–1871), who built early computers — the difference engine and later the analytical engine....

3+ week, 4+ day ago   (781+ words) Everywhere from NextDoor to Quora to YouTube comments boxes, we hear people say: “Eyewitness testimony is the most unreliable evidence.” And they credit “scientists” for proving it. Sorry to discolor the decorum of Mind Matters News, but that’s my reaction....