Kevin Mitchell’s Agency

Agency is the subject of this talk by Kevin Mitchell (Trinity, Dublin) outlining the arguments in his upcoming book “Free Agents – How Evolution Gave Us Free Will” (Oct 4th) – already on order on my book list. Been following and plugging his thinking into mine for a couple of years now, since his previous … Continue reading “Kevin Mitchell’s Agency”

Innate by Kevin Mitchell – Review

Kevin Mitchell (2018) “Innate – How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are” [This repeats and adds to relevant content from an earlier partial review.] Several of the more important books I’ve read recently have felt mostly like syntheses and restatements of things I already felt I knew one way or another – … Continue reading “Innate by Kevin Mitchell – Review”

Innate by Kevin Mitchell

I’ve just taken possession of Kevin Mitchell’s (2018) “Innate – How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are”. No idea why it’s taken me so long to acquire a copy, he’s been on my book list for some time and I’ve been following him for a few years on Twitter – he’s a … Continue reading “Innate by Kevin Mitchell”

The Rules of Freeze Peach

This is a version of my Rules of Engagement / Rules of Discourse page. Being updated to make it more explicitly obvious that these are also the rules of free-speech, more generally than lip-service to “freeze peach”. The mantra being parroted by followers of Elon Musk – topical in 2024 because he made it his … Continue reading “The Rules of Freeze Peach”

Evolutionary Psychology – Again?

Evolutionary psychology just is what happens to us. “Evolutionary Psychology” as a self-identified political “ought” interpretation of evolutionary reality and the political reaction to brand it pejoratively as “EvoPsych” are just that – identitarian political movements, not to be confused with reality. I said as much just in the title of the first long piece … Continue reading “Evolutionary Psychology – Again?”

Whiteheadian or Not?

Just to capture a couple of new “process view” resources for me. Naomi de Ruiter in the first and Dan Nicholson in the second: The Dissenter Podcast on Spotify And Brain Inspired on YouTube Hat tip to Kevin Mitchell’s timeline for both. Obviously Whitehead is an inspiration, an important reference used, but Dan claims not … Continue reading “Whiteheadian or Not?”

Determinist Reductionism Sucks – Yet Again

I may have posted this before (from Aug 2022) but was prompted to read and share it today since Kevin Mitchell re-tweeted it. Like the original Twitterstorm the prompt was a heated dialogue involving Sabine Hossenfelder, this time with Philip Goff (all publicity is good publicity if you’re selling a book I guess) – but … Continue reading “Determinist Reductionism Sucks – Yet Again”

Gap between Technical Specialisms & Systems Thinking

Just a quick holding post to capture the link. Hat tip to Kevin Mitchell for sharing this 15 minute “Lightning Talk” by Johannes (Yogi) Jaeger It’s short but I’ve only skimmed first few mins. Already loving it. Don’t know any more about Ronin Community or Vienna Uni Philosophy, but I see Templeton sponsorship. Evolutionary Systems … Continue reading “Gap between Technical Specialisms & Systems Thinking”

Is Dennett an Illusionist?

No, he’s not. He does not say that “Consciousness is an Illusion”. End of. In short: Dennett’s position is that: Consciousness and conscious will are as real and evolved as anything else in the world. The powerful (useful, but misleading) ILLUSION is the Cartesian theatre / video screen with the homunculus viewer / user as … Continue reading “Is Dennett an Illusionist?”

Systems-101

Kevin Mitchell and his colleagues at Trinity Dublin recently created and ran an introduction to systems course for their students in multiple disciplines. Last week Kevin posted a comprehensive blog reflecting on the whole process and outcomes. Reflections on Systems – the Science of Everything By Kevin Mitchell – May 22, 2023 There’s plenty of detail of what … Continue reading “Systems-101”