This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
Below are posts I’ve written for this blog on neuroscience, psychology, artificial intelligence and other fields that investigate the brain and mind. Please let me know about missing stories, broken links or other problems. See also my books The End of Science and The Undiscovered Mind.
NEUROSCIENCE
Can Integrated Information Theory Explain Consciousness?
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Bayes’ Theorem: What’s the Big Deal?
Do Big New Brain Projects Make Sense When We Don't Even Know the "Neural Code"?
Two More Reasons Why Big Brain Projects Are Premature.
Why You Should Care about Pentagon Funding of Obama’s BRAIN Initiative.
If religion is a side effect of sex, does that mean God doesn't exist?
Can Neuroscience Counteract Faith in God?
Can a Single Brain Cell “Think”?
Christof Koch on Free Will, the Singularity and the Quest to Crack Consciousness.
Why Optogenetic Methods for Manipulating Brains Don’t Light Me Up.
Why Optogenetics Doesn’t Light Me Up: The Sequel.
Neuroscientists Don’t Believe in Souls—But That Doesn’t Mean They Can’t Sell Theirs.
“Neuroframing” the Global Warming Issue Won’t Win Converts.
Can brain scans help us understand Homer?
Artificial brains are imminent… not!
My Testy Encounter with the Late, Great Gerald Edelman.
The Forgotten Era of Brain Chips (Scientific American Magazine).
PSYCHOLOGY
Why B. F. Skinner, Like Freud, Still Isn't Dead.
Why Buddha Isn't Dead--and Psychology Still Isn't Really a Science.
Beware the Military-Psychological Complex.
Are Shifts in Child-Rearing Making Modern Kids Mean?
What “Monster Porn” Says about Science and Sexuality.
Darwinian Giant Robert Trivers Riffs on Toddler Tantrums, Homophobic Denial and Other Lies.
Is Robert Trivers Deceiving Himself about Evolutionary Psychology’s Flaws?
Is “Social Science” an Oxymoron?
BEHAVIORAL GENETICS
Have researchers really discovered any genes for behavior?
My Problem with “Taboo” Behavioral Genetics? The Research Stinks!
Hype of “Feel-Good Gene” Makes Me Feel Bad.
New York Times Hypes "Infidelity Gene."
Quest for Intelligence Genes Churns out More Dubious Results.
Should Research on Race and IQ Be Banned?
"Gene-whiz" science strikes again: Researchers discover “liberal gene.”
How Christian homophobes misuse my "gay gene" report.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND THE SINGULARITY
Hi-tech Moguls and The New York Times May Buy the Singularity, But You Shouldn’t.
Can the Turing Test Help Us Know Whether a Machine Is Really Thinking?
What’s the Biggest Science News? We’re Still Human, for Ill or Good.
The Many Minds of Marvin Minsky.
Can the Singularity Solve the Valentine's Day Dilemma?
OLIVER SACKS
An Appreciation of Oliver Sacks, Anti-Theorist of the Mind.
Oliver Sacks and the Binding Power of Rhythm.
FREE WILL
Need a New Year’s Resolution? Believe in Free Will!
Will This Post Make Sam Harris Change His Mind about Free Will?
Our Wills Aren’t As Free as We (or I) Would Like to Believe.
New Year’s Resolution: I Will Believe in Free Will.
Scientific Seeker Stuart Kauffman on Free Will and Other Mysteries.
Christof Koch on Free Will, the Singularity and the Quest to Crack Consciousness.
MISCELLANEOUS MIND-RELATED STUFF
A Bloomsday Appreciation of James Joyce, Greatest Mind-Scientist Ever.
Stream of Thought Description of Teaching James’s “Stream of Thought.”
What a Science Writer Thinks about on His Morning Commute.
Is Scientific Materialism "Almost Certainly False"?
The film Inception Is a Clunker, but Lucid Dreaming is Cool.
Copernicus, Darwin and Freud: A Tale of Science and Narcissism.
