This humdinger comes from Jim McNeely: I recently listened to episode 93 of the Partially Examined Life podcast (you can listen to it or read about it here). It is a fascinating listen; these are not rabid militant “New Atheism” people, just fun and thoughtful agnostic/atheists who love philosophy. I have found that it is […]
Does Neuroscience Spell the End of Free Will? You Decide!
An interesting devil’s advocate piece appeared in The NY Times recently, addressing the question “Is Neuroscience the Death of Free Will?” Here author and philosopher Eddy Nahmias argues that recent discoveries about brain function do not in fact equate to the death of free will, that they really only speak to our faulty operating definitions […]
Another Week Ends: Parental Blindspots, Damsel Reviews, Rand Abolishing Lewis, Doublethink, Higher Ground and The Magnificent Ambersons
1. A couple of regretful if relevant instances of control backfiring when it comes to children. The first was reported in The NY Times Motherlode blog: “A newly released poll from the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital finds that parents look at their children with blinders on, while looking at other children accusingly.” […]
Don’t Let Free Will Slow Your Roll
Via Wired, a new study on the relationship between belief in free will and basic motor skills finds that, apparently, “disbelieving free will makes brain less free.” Illustrating the key difference a title/interpretation can make, Lifehacker reports on the same article saying, “believing in free will gives you more power to take action.” Hmmm…. It […]
