I wrote a Thing about quantum foundations spinning off my talk in Oslo last month because that was more fun than the many other things I should've been doing: open.substack.com/pub/chadorze...

Biological computation and the nature of software A new paper is been getting some attention. It makes the case for biological computation. Characterizing the debate between computational functionalism and biological naturalism as camps that are hopelessly... selfawarepatterns.com/2025/12/31/b...

Why I’m a reductionist The SEP article on scientific reductionism notes that the etymology of the word "reduction" is "to bring back" something to something else. So in a methodological sense, reduction is bringing one theory or ontology back to a simpler or more fundamental theory or ontology.…

Merry Christmas Happy Winter Solstice Season! The celebrations around the time that the sun's path in the sky starts getting higher again, and the days longer, seems to stretch back into prehistory. It's no accident that we observe many of our most cherished religious holidays and celebrate a new…

this paper on why biological computation is special (& necessary for consciousness) by @jaanaru.bsky.social, is as usual, very good & maybe the best one yet on the topic but why doesn't the argument apply to e.g. motor control too? 1/ linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0149763425005251

Everything is a quantum wave? In the last post, I discussed Amanda Gefter critique of Vlatko Vedral's view that observers have no special role in reality. Conveniently, Vedral published an article at IAI discussing his view: Everything in the universe is a quantum wave. (Warning: possible…

I have mixed feelings about this. I have a lot of formative memories reading mass market paperbacks. But I haven't bought one in fifteen years, so can't really complain.

Does reality require observers? Amanda Gefter has an article at Nautilus a couple of you have asked me about: Reality Exists Without Observers? Boooo! The title is an accurate summary of her thesis. Gefter is responding to a book by... selfawarepatterns.com/2025/12/13/d... #philosophy #philmind

Really enjoyed talking to @lanceindependent.bsky.social face to face. My first philosophy stream! Lance was a great host, my apologies for the poor audio on my end, especially the first half. www.youtube.com/live/z6OFkWz...

Sinners, and other TV notes Since I've been reviewing a lot of horror lately, I could see you being skeptical about my constant disclaimers that I'm not much of a horror fan. But the truth is some horror is so good in its non-horror elements that it's compelling even for people not into horror.…

Maybe we’re already part of a hive mind I recently discovered the new TV show Pluribus, about a scenario where the whole world gets turned into a hive mind, an annoyingly nice one, at least in the initial episodes, but where a few humans turn out to be immune to the virus that converts everyone…

Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus After watching the new Frankenstein movie this weekend, I decided to correct something. I'd never read the original novel by Mary Shelley. I was familiar with the overall story, but I think it came from reading a comic book adaptation at some point decades…

Frankenstein and other TV notes Last night I watched Guillermo del Toro's new version of Frankenstein. As I frequently point out on this blog, I'm not a big horror fan, but I've frequently been impressed with del Toro's work, and Frankenstein is a classic. And it strikes me as more of an…

Why I still think Turing’s insight matters Nature has an article noting that language models have killed "the Turing test" and asking if we even need a replacement. I think the article makes some good points. But a lot of the people quoted seem to take the opportunity to dismiss Turing's whole…

How do you know what it's like to be you?

The Dragons of Marrow and Hammerwing I've done a couple of posts on Robert Reed's Greatship series, about a giant spherical Uranus-sized megastructure moving through space at a third the speed of light. It's discovered in intergalactic space and claimed by humans, who then invite anyone who can…

Does consciousness require biology? Ned Block has a new paper out, for which he shared a time limited link on Bluesky. He argues in the paper that the “meat neutral” computational functionalism inherent in many theories of consciousness neglect what he sees... selfawarepatterns.com/2025/10/12/d...

Alien: Earth, and other TV notes I've noted on this blog many times that I'm not much of a horror fan. But the Alien franchise has always been kind of an exception. Space horror might be a little better than the garden variety, just because it's space. But mostly I just enjoy the sci-fi…

Marrow and The Well of Stars A few weeks ago, I talked about Robert Reed's story collection, The Greatship. It's about a spherical Uranus-sized megastructure moving through space at a third the speed of light. Humans manage to reach it first and claim it, and then decide to take it on a tour of…

The Shattering Peace, and aliens who have consciousness as an augmentation For people looking to dip their toe in the sci-fi literary genre, John Scalzi is often a good place to start. A lot of sci-fi literature assumes certain knowledge from the reader (such as what "burning at two gees" means).…

Exodus: The Archimedes Engine, and a different take on mind uploading I recently finished reading Peter F. Hamilton's book: Exodus: The Archimedes Engine. It takes place in a far future where humanity has fled the solar system in relativistic ark ships, looking for new homes. One group of arks…

The Technician I've described Neal Asher's Polity universe many times. It's a future interstellar civilization ruled by AIs, who took over in a basically bloodless "Quiet War", but who seem to rule humanity more or less benignly, providing a society where everyone is immortal, if they choose to…

Optimism for interstellar exploration There's been some attention lately to a contest on designing an interstellar generation ship, a large scale ship that humans live in for generations while it crosses interstellar space to another solar system. As Paul Gilster at Centauri Dreams notes,…

The Greatship In the last post I said I'd get back to Robert Reed's Greatship series. This week I read the main story collection for that series: The Greatship. This is a collection of novellas and novelettes, which seems to be the format Reed really shines in. These are all separate stories, but…

Sister Alice Multiple people have recommended Robert Reed's books over the years. I started to read his Greatship stories many years ago, but got distracted and never made it back. Recently I came across a recommendation for his book, Sister Alice, as an example of hard science fiction space…

Schild’s Ladder It's been a while since I've read a Greg Egan book. I often love the ideas he explores, particularly in Diaspora. But I sometimes find his stories difficult to get through. That was definitely true of a previous book I read, Incandescence, which takes place in the setting of an…

Reminder that before I started writing novels I didn't study writing at university, attended no workshops/conferences, knew absolutely no one in science fiction publishing circles, and didn't start going to conventions until after I got a contract for my novel. What I *did* do: Write. A lot.

Against the Fall of Night and its progeny When I was young I read a lot of Arthur C. Clarke's books. With one of them, I remember having a strong sense of deja vu. It seemed like I knew the story already, sort of. It was very familiar, yet surprising in many details. I don't remember which one I…

What physicists believe about quantum mechanics A few years ago David Bourget and David Chalmers did a follow up survey to the 2009 one polling philosophers on what they believe about various questions. One of them was quantum mechanics, particularly the measurement problem and its various…

The Algebraist When I picked up Iain M. Banks' book The Algebraist, I thought I was starting a Culture novel overlooked until now. (The way Amazon listed the book encouraged this belief.) However, while it is space opera on a grand scale similar to a typical Culture novel, it takes place in a…

The Left Hand of Darkness The other day I came across a video of Hank Green comparing Ursula Le Guin's Ekumen civilization to Iain Banks' Culture one. (I discussed the Culture a few weeks ago). It reminded me that I had never gotten around to reading Le Guin's classic Hugo Award winning book: The…

Shroud I was initially leery of picking up Adrian Tchaikovsky's latest book Shroud. It seemed to have a space horror vibe, and while I've enjoyed a lot of Tchaikovsky's work, I'm not a horror fan. I don't mind if a story has elements of it, but usually don't enjoy straight horror. Thankfully,…

Video Inserts Scientifically Accurate Velociraptors Into “Jurassic Park,” And The Result Is More Terrifying Than Fiction twistedsifter.com/2025/06/this...

A reread of Consider Phlebas Iain Banks' Culture setting is probably the closest thing to outright paradise in science fiction. It's an interstellar post-scarcity techno-anarchist utopia, where sentient machines do all the work and the humans hang around engaging in hobbies or other hedonistic…

Not Till We Are Lost Not Till We Are Lost is the fifth Bobiverse book by Dennis Taylor. I've been following these books for years. Although there's usually a delay in reading new releases because they're initially exclusive to Audible. I do listen to the occasional audiobook, but most of my…

The Forever War For some reason I had never read Joe Haldeman's The Forever War, and recently decided to remedy that. Like most classic sci-fi novels, it's a quick read, much shorter than most contemporary novels. It's often been called a Vietnam veteran's response to Robert A. Heinlein's Starship…

Hmmm … looking at the questions … I think I have a theory of consciousness. Ah well.

The Agent Cormac series A few weeks ago I reviewed Neal Asher's new book Dark Diamond. It takes place in his Polity universe, a future interstellar society ruled by AIs, where everyone is effectively immortal, but in a dangerous universe. That book featured Ian Cormac and other characters from his…

Mickey 7 A couple of weeks ago I reviewed the movie Mickey 17, which I found fairly intelligent. That movie is based on a book, Mickey 7, by Edward Ashton. The book turned out to be on Kindle Unlimited and didn't look long, and I needed a break from some of the other stuff I was reading, so it fit…

Is quantum immortality a real thing? In discussions about the Everett interpretation of quantum mechanics, one of the concerns I often see expressed is for the perverse low probability outcomes that would exist in the quantum multiverse. For example, if every quantum outcome is reality, then in…

Murderbot, Mickey 17, and other TV notes First a gripe. This week Amazon Prime announced that they were canceling The Wheel of Time. Amazon is in business to make money, and it makes sense to cancel shows that don't get viewership. But it seems like a lot of people didn't even know the third…

What’s in your brain when something is on your mind? open.substack.com/pub/petemand...

The 80-year recipe stoking America’s Prosperity: 1) Free-market capital investments in brilliant ideas… 2) enabled by Engineering Innovations… 3) based on Science Research in Universities… 4) funded by Grants from the US Government. It’s time more people understood this.

Dark Diamond Over the years I've recommended a number of Neal Asher's books. Although recently I haven't found his stuff as compelling. Dark Diamond represents something of a return to form for him: epic space opera. The story takes place in his Polity universe, one where Earth and its…

Interesting discussion.

Some relatable relationship humor today Bonus panel here: www.smbc-comics.com/comic/cup

What is it like to be you? In 1974, in a landmark paper, Thomas Nagel asks what it’s like to be a bat. He argues that we can never know. I’ve expressed my skepticism about the phrase “what it’s like” or “something it is like” before, and that... selfawarepatterns.com/2025/05/10/w... #philmind

I’m curious who has made this argument in print. It’s effectively a claim that a simulation of #consciousness would lack the relevant causal profile. But what is the causal profile of consciousness that a functionally equivalent simulation (appropriately hooked up to the world) would lack? #PhilAI

What is a non-functional account of consciousness supposed to be? I'm a functionalist. I think the mind and consciousness is about what the brain does, rather than its particular composition, or some other attribute. Which means that if another system did the same or similar things, it would make…

Would anyone be interested in attending a series of online introductory lectures on the philosophy of consciousness (the whole field, not just my views) Say, 2 x 90 min lectures a week for 8 weeks. If so, how much would you be willing to pay to attend the whole series? Please answer by dm only.