What would machine consciousness look like? It is very difficult to describe what machine consciousness would look like because nobody really knows what a conscious machine would be. The biggest problem we have with this question is that we can only judge consciousness based on our own. On this planet, at the moment, as far […]
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Why did we evolve consciousness? We evolved consciousness because it gave us a greater chance of survival. Evolution is a chance machine, and it generally works in three ways. Every time creatures reproduce, there is a chance that a mutation will appear in the genes of their offspring. This change could help them in some
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What is consciousness? According to Merriam-Webster, consciousness is “the quality of state of being aware especially of something within oneself, the state of being characterized by sensation, emotion, volition, and thought, the upper level of mental life of which the person is aware as contrasted with unconscious processes.” An often quoted way to describe consciousness
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Why do people hoard? There is no one reason why someone becomes a hoarder and sometimes the reasons are not known at all. Let’s take a look at a few of the reasons that could apply to a hoarder. As with most things, there are different levels of hoarding. Somebody who keeps more than they
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Is there such a thing as true altruism? It depends on how you look at it. You could say no because people benefit through feelings of pleasure, and animals benefit by furthering the gene pool. You could say yes because people and animals make sacrifices that don’t benefit them personally. This is a very difficult
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What is the Myers Briggs personality test? The Myers Briggs personality test is a psychological test that categorizes people into one of 16 different personality types. It is a fun test to take, but it is not scientifically accurate. It’s official name is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The MBTI is named after Katharine Cook
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Why do people believe in conspiracy theories? People believe in conspiracy theories for a number of different reasons. They can give people a sense of being in control, of feeling special, or of belonging to a group. It is also much easier to believe in conspiracy theories today than at any point in history. Recently,
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Why do people procrastinate? The majority of people that procrastinate do so because they are trying to avoid the negative emotions that come with whatever task it is they are trying to do. The word “procrastinate” came into English via French, from Latin. The latin word was “procrastinare”. In Latin, “pro” means “forward” and “crastinus”
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Does the placebo effect work? The placebo effect works for things that are directly affected by the brain, but not for actual illnesses. Nobody understands exactly the mechanism behind the placebo effect, but there are some pretty good theories. The word “placebo” comes from Latin, and its origins give a clue to what it does.
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How does a lie detector work? Lie detectors work by recording breathing rate, pulse, blood pressure, muscular activity, and perspiration to look for any changes. They are not admissible in court because they don’t always work. The modern lie detector (polygraph) was created in 1945, but there were many steps along the way. The first
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