The Consequence of Matters

Aristotle believed the heart was all important and the brain was simply a radiator to keep the heart cool. Descartes, impressed by the hydraulic action of fountains in the royal gardens, developed a hydraulic analogy for the action of the brain. Thomas Henry Huxley thought of the brain as analogous to a steam engine. Now we think brains are computers and so, therefore, computers are brains. However, leaving aside the fact that if an argument is true, the converse argument does not have to be true, the fact is that there is exactly zero evidence and exactly zero theoretical reason to believe that computers can be what brains are. To believe it nonetheless is an article of faith, not an article of science. There are, in fact, some reasons to believe that they are not. The computer/brain analogy is compelling because computers are able to do some things we find extremely difficult and to which we attribute high intelligence to people who can do those things. Playing chess, for example. Mo...

  A brief list of Republicans who do not favor cutting Social Security. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI): Johnson denies President Biden’s claim that Republicans want to cut Social Security. But after saying this he then called Social Security a “legalized Ponzi scheme” and says that Congress should no longer automatically pay Social Security benefits each year but rather decide each year whether to pay them and how much the benefit should be. “That doesn’t mean putting on the chopping block,” Johnson told local radio. “That doesn’t mean cutting Social Security. But it does mean prioritizing lower priority spending.” Senator Mike Lee (R-UT): Mike Lee also denies President Biden’s claim that Republicans want to cut Social Security. But running for Senate in 2010 he told supporters: “It will be my objective to phase out Social Security, to pull it up by the roots and get rid of it.” Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA): Steve Scalise also denies President Biden’s claims that Republicans want ...