complexitystudies

In these days it is the duty of every scientist to go against superstition, belief in the paranormal, supernatural and unphysical. Here something about past lives (they’re just a case of bad recall of information source, it turns out):
Remember a Previous Life? Maybe You Have a Bad Memory: Scientific American

Technorati Tags: cognitive science

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A blog post about a new phenomenon similar to dyslexia: Discovering Biology in a Digital World
A big BUT: mathematics is not (only) about numbers - mathematics is about patterns, structures, regularities; about thinking consistently and diligently; about beauty.
David Hilbert, one of the greatest mathematicians of the last century who worked and lived in Göttingen was [...]

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Here is a nice post on differences between brains and computers: Developing Intelligence : 10 Important Differences Between Brains and Computers
To make one thing clear: I do not think that artificial intelligence is impossible, on the contrary, I do think that we will be able to develop an artificial intelligence. But paramount to this effort [...]

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Here some more links devoted to rational thinking, which I found on the site mentioned in the previous post and which are simply excellent:
Chance Welcome Page
Fallacy Files
Argument Mapping Tutorials

Technorati Tags: bias, cognitive science, rationality, statistics

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One of the most important skills today is critical thinking. We live in an information overflow society - the problem is not information access, but information filtering, and yes, even drawing conclusions contrary to the information being presented (because it is false/dumbed down/rests on false assumptions etc etc).
I recently read a good paper by [...]

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On Sentient Developments there is a nice email exchange about a few questions and answers about buddhism.
For me, buddhism is interesting not as a religion (real buddhism is more of a philosophy) but as guidance for doing and thinking. Important concepts are mindfulness (being aware of the moment) - one could also say self-reflexion [...]

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Ok, the word ist out: some people are very sceptical about the singularity,
but maybe it’s time to broaden your horizon:
Technology Review: Building the Cortex in Silicon
“Instead of running a thousand software instructions, it’s just current running through transistors, just like real neurons,” says Boahen.

Technorati Tags: artificial intelligence, cognitive science, singularity

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A very good article from one of my favourite blogs, which sums up quite nicely some metaphysical positions on consciousness.
Sentient Developments: Protopanpsychism and the consciousness conundrum, or why we shouldn’t assume uploads
Protopanpsychism and the consciousness conundrum, or why we shouldn’t assume uploads

Technorati Tags: cognitive science, physics

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Check this out, awesome!
What do we hear with our eyes? | Science & Consciousness Review
The McGurk Effect demonstrates that we integrate sensory information unconsciously, reminding us that there is a lot more going on inside our heads than we may think.

Technorati Tags: cognitive science

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As I always have to cite this when communication miserably fails, I might as well put it on my blog. Be sure to read the commentary from Korpela.
Four Principles of Interpersonal Communication
Osmo Wiio gives us some communication maxims similar to Murphy’s law (Osmo Wiio, Wiio’s Laws–and Some Others (Espoo, Finland: Welin-Goos, 1978):
* If communication can [...]

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