Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

Tagpersonification

mirror ball mannequin
Male mannequin covered with slices of a mirror on a black background

Moving Pixels

Seductive Optics and Skeuomorphic Intelligence, Part II.
Whatever emotions we bring to the movie or to the game ourselves, our digital allies and enemies breathe no breaths, make no sacrifices, feel no lonely deaths. Living, dying, or respawning, they are as dead as a dead pixel. Read More ›
Herd of African elephants in National Park, Uganda

Elephants Who Fly — or Become “Persons” — Are Magic

Okay, it's impossible. But then why do thinkers who disbelieve the one believe the other?

For decades, researchers were transfixed with the idea of humanizing great apes by raising them among humans and teaching them language. Emerging from the ruins and recriminations of the collapse, philosophy prof Don Ross has a new idea: Let’s start with elephants instead.

Read More ›