When Humans Prefer a Machine: Warnings from a 1960s Chatbot Creator
Weizenbaum wondered, “what can the psychiatrist’s image of his patient be when he sees himself, as therapist, not as an engaged human being acting as a healer, but as an information processor following rules?”
Brave New Biology: Intelligence Trumps DNA - with Dr. Michael Levin and Dr. John Vervaeke
More evidence that genes don’t encode the form of an organism (at least not deterministically). The example given is that Dr. Levin’s team has figured out how to convince a flatworm to create two heads per segment when it is divided up, instead of a head and tail — but if you sequenced the genome it would be identical to a normal flatworm. Other examples include the spontaneous generation of novel organisms given certain “promptings” that reconfigure them as an “interface” for what Levin proposes are patterns (ancient Christians would say logoi) for physical organisms that exist in a non-physical “space” which can be explored scientifically. Basically he has rediscovered morphic resonance, or what I would call symbolic realism.
A perspective on Charlie Kirk and TPUSA from Matt Trewhella that exposes some very troubling issues:
The Sins of Different Sub-Cultures
Savage:
That’s all for this month.
Bnonn