Vale Wheeler, and Libet updated 14 Apr 2008 Daniel Holz at Cosmic Variance has a beautifully written obit for John Wheeler. We are grateful for the time the great thinkers spend on us students. Wired has an article on the updating of the classic experiments by Benjamin Libet on the fact that conscious choices occur after the brain has already begun a task. General Science History
General Science Orb spiders 26 Oct 200818 Sep 2017 I love golden orb spiders – they are among the prettiest spiders you will find in Queensland, and the largest [click on the pic for information]. You’ll come across them in the oddest places, too. I once nearly stepped on one on a footpath (sidewalk to non-English speakers) in the… Read More
History Darwinism now affects intelligent design film! 13 Apr 200818 Sep 2017 Following on from my demonstration that Darwinism is entirely responsible for anti-Semiticism back on 1 April, comes this discussion of how Darwinism has even infected the morals of anti-Darwinians, via John Lynch; in this case Maciej Giertych, one of the pro-ID “scientists” interviewed by the film Expelled, and a notable… Read More
Ecology and Biodiversity What is “life”, again? 8 Sep 200718 Sep 2017 Now we turn to the modern accounts of life. In 1828, Friedrich Wöhler produced uric acid without using “kidney of man or dog”. Prior to that time, there was considered to be something different between organic chemistry and inorganic chemistry. Living things had some “vital fluid” that other things lacked…. Read More
This (Libet) seems to be another nail in the coffin of mind/body dualism. If the brain is busy doing the requisite work for a decision long before we’re aware of our decision, then it can’t been a separate mind doing the decision making. Brain functioning seems to be the mind. This is what my psych unit teaches anyway. Add to that the fact that a immaterial brain has to violate the law of conservation of energy to affect a material brain/body and dualism seems in trouble. Or have I misunderstood everything?
This (Libet) seems to be another nail in the coffin of mind/body dualism. If the brain is busy doing the requisite work for a decision long before we’re aware of our decision, then it can’t been a separate mind doing the decision making. Brain functioning seems to be the mind. This is what my psych unit teaches anyway. Add to that the fact that a immaterial brain has to violate the law of conservation of energy to affect a material brain/body and dualism seems in trouble. Or have I misunderstood everything?
Shades of Ted Chiang’s “What’s Expected of Us” — though (@Brian) he uses it to make a point about determinism, not dualism.
What a piece of bunk. You can see a more concise description under http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nn.2112.html and the supplementary figures under http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/suppinfo/nn.2112_S1.html The prediction accuracy before the conscious decision is 60% and jumps to 75% when SMA is activated (which is *after* the conscious decision). That is lousy and doesn’t legitimate the wording “Taken together, the patterns consistently predicted whether test subjects eventually pushed a button with their left or right hand”. Dear friends, 60% isn’t a “consistent prediction” and telling that “not completely accurate” is a severe understatement.