We live in a world that is highly complex and full of nuances and intricacies. To use the words of poets, there are many shades of gray to almost everything. That said, we seem to want things much simpler, so we tend to choose black or white. You’re either with us or against us. It’s bath or shower, Apple or Microsoft, blue or red, shoes or sandals, juice or coffee, and so on. In other words, when presented with a choice, we choose. Why? Black and White Thinking There is ... Read More
In this week’s spotlight, I wish to further our discussion from last week’s show regarding brain/mind and consciousness. Many people think of the brain/mind as a matter of emergent properties. That is, the parts of the brain act as greater than the whole, and in this way mind or consciousness arises. In other words, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Emergent Property Emergence is basically part of system theory. Emergence theory is used to explain many things in nature ranging from the activity of ants to ... Read More
In this week’s spotlight I want to discuss emotion. Many people believe that intellect should rule emotion while others are convinced that emotion must be married to mind in order to maximize both. Even at that, there are a few who insist emotion should trump all else. Logic or Emotion? The fact is hard research has a place for all. There are times that emotion should rule and times that emotion should not enter the equation. Balancing the two is something that sounds simple but is quite difficult in many ... Read More
In this week’s spotlight, I want to discuss intelligence. What exactly do we mean by intelligence? Do you have to be human to be intelligent? If animals possess intelligence, do plants? Do we think that feeling is part of intelligence? Awareness—is that a measure of intelligence? Is the universe itself, as many philosophers and mathematicians believe, intelligent? Intelligent? Webster defines intelligence this way, “The ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills. The act of understanding—comprehension.” Now think about that while I turn to some controversial research regarding plant intelligence. ... Read More
In this week’s spotlight I wish to discuss the chasm between our sciences and ethical concerns as they guide our public policies. We have discussed on this show the lack of ethical guidelines for matters such as genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, the use of machine learning for manipulation purposes, and so forth; but there are many other areas where science has reached a capability that the world is not prepared to deal with, and/or is ignorant of the possible ramifications given the deployment of some of these technologies. Given that ... Read More
