Category: Materialism
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Brain. Mind. The plagues of modern science...
An influential group of European neuroscientists is threatening to boycott the Human Brain Project (HBP), the hugely ambitious plan to map the entire human brain in computer models that is slated to receive up to €1 billion in funding from the European Union and its member countries. An open letter published today that has so…
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Scanning the brain. So what?
DARPA wants to build a computer that mimics the human brain. [1] At the same time scientists have shown that it is possible to reconstruct thoughts more accurately than ever before by analysing MRI images of the brain (along with the use of an elegant mathematical model). [2] In some years we will be able to…
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fMRI, brain, creativity, scientific stupidity.
For the first time, neuroscientists have used fMRI scanners to track the brain activity of both experienced and novice writers as they sat down — or, in this case, lay down — to turn out a piece of fiction. The researchers, led by Martin Lotze of the University of Greifswald in Germany, observed a broad…
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Primates, brain stimulation, free will, dogmatism...
When electrical pulses are applied to the ventral tegmental area of their brain, macaques presented with two images change their preference from one image to the other. The study is the first to confirm a causal link between activity in the ventral tegmental area and choice behavior in primates. (1) My dogmatic atheist friend, Free…
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Psychology, Materialism, Assumptions, Dogmatism.
IMAGINE you are a doctor before the advent of modern medical tests and your patient is gasping for breath. Is it asthma, a chest injury, or are they having a heart-attack? You don't know and have no idea how best to help them. Some would argue that's what it's like for doctors trying to…
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