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Today’s Free Will Debate Shows How Science Culture is Changing

_{The fact that this Sapolsky–Mitchell debate is still raging shows that eliminative materialism and physicalism are experiencing setbacks in our philosophy of science culture today}_{News
June 22, 2025}

Interestingly, Mitchell uses evolution to establish free will. Most uses of the concept would be to deny or diminish it, as in “We evolved to be violent,” etc.

An Experimental Physicist Reacts to Pop Physics Re the Big Bang

_{Physicists Brian Cox and Sir Roger Penrose make a number of claims about infinite and endless universes. But how much of this is really physics? We asked Rob Sheldon}_{News
June 14, 2025}

We hear so much these days about the need for more trust in science. Making science sound like a carnival of unlikely stories is not helping.

Podcast: Free Will, Determinism, and the Immortal Soul

_{Michael Egnor explains, to claim, “There is no free will,” is to make a rational argument while denying the very capacity that makes rational argument possible}_{News
June 13, 2025}

In an intellectually rich discussion on Mind Matters News, neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Egnor and host Dr. Robert J. Marks explore the scientific, philosophical, and theological dimensions of free will, determinism, and the immaterial nature of the soul. The conversation centers around contents of the new book The Immortal Mind by Egnor and Denyse O’Leary. What emerges is a compelling case not only for the reality of free will, but also for the immortality of the human soul, grounded in reason and neuroscience. Neuroscience, Free Will, and the Soul The self-refuting nature of free will denial The conversation begins with an analogy: If a spilled bottle of ink coincidentally formed the words “It’s going to snow,” no one would believe that message had real meaning. …

Excerpt from The Immortal Mind: As Death Nears, a Sudden Light…

_{These widely recorded lucid episodes imply that the mind is more than the disjointed activities of a failing brain}_{News
June 11, 2025}

Should a neuroscience approach to terminal lucidity merely mean reassuring the world that someday we will prove that it is just random brain noise?

Michael Egnor on Faith, Reason, and the Architecture of Reality

_{In this week’s podcast, discussion with Robert J. Marks, he talks about the relationship between arguments from philosophical reasoning and faith}_{News
June 6, 2025}

Egnor describes faith as a deep relationship that may not always yield happiness about life circumstances but fosters lasting joy, independent of circumstances.

Information, Evolution & AI: A Conversation with William Dembski

_{In discussion with neurosurgeon Michael Egnor, Dembski stresses that AI is a tool, not a mind. Treating it otherwise leads to addiction, manipulation, and cultural decline}_{News
June 1, 2025}

Information isn’t free, Dembski says, and machines aren’t magic. By remembering what makes us human, we can use technology without losing ourselves to it.

Michael Egnor: Science Offers Evidence of an Immaterial Mind

_{At the Knight and Rose show, he and co-author Denyse O’Leary talk about how split-brain surgeries, veridical near-death experiences, and terminal lucidity challenge materialist views of the mind.}_{News
May 31, 2025}

In their book, The Immortal Mind, Egnor and O'Leary argue that an immaterial, immortal soul best explains human consciousness, free will, and abstract thought.

The Skeptic, the Neuroscientist and the Neurosurgeon Walk Into a…

_{… most interesting discussion by all accounts. Skeptical science writer Michael Shermer hosted sometimes-controversial neuroscientist Christof Koch and Christian neurosurgeon Michael Egnor}_{News
May 30, 2025}

The fate of consciousness studies may depend on how committed researchers are to finding the facts vs. how committed they are to protecting a materialist view.

Philosopher George Gilder Talks About AI and Real Innovation

_{Host Wesley J. Smith asks, “Should we be excited or fearful, optimistic or quaking in our boots?”}_{News
May 28, 2025}

Gilder offers a down-to-earth interpretation. Much has changed but reality hasn’t.

1960s Chatbot Pioneer Was Right to Worry About What He’d Created

_{AI “companions” may be dumbing us down intellectually and emotionally}_{News
May 28, 2025}

MIT’s Joseph Weizenbaum was only one of many pioneers but he saw how readily people came to depend on the bots as if they were real people.

The Immortal Mind: How Neuroscience Points Beyond Materialism

_{Andrew McDiarmid interviews neurosurgeon Michael Egnor on the ways in which the mind is more than the brain}_{News
May 25, 2025}

After defining terms, Egnor begins exploring the compelling evidence he has gathered across four decades of practice in neurosurgery.

Michael Egnor: Your Spiritual Soul Has No Off Switch

_{Here is Dr. Egnor’s talk at the Dallas Conference last February, where he discussed some themes from The Immortal Mind, to be published June 3}_{News
May 22, 2025}

He makes the case—based on 40 years of practice and over 7,000 brain surgeries—that science has gotten it all wrong about the soul.

The Mind Beyond the Brain: Insights from a Neurosurgeon

_{Dr. Michael Egnor argues, “There’s something about the relationship between the mind and the brain that’s not in the textbooks.”}_{News
May 22, 2025}

Egnor’s work invites readers to reconsider the mysteries of the mind, urging a more open and curious approach to understanding human consciousness.

Why the Human Mind Is Not and Cannot Be a Meat Computer

_{On this week’s podcast, Robert J. Marks and Eric Holloway explain why that claim — sometimes called computationalism — is not even mathematically possible}_{News
May 16, 2025}

f minds cannot be reduced to computers, then AI will never replicate human cognition in full. Realizing this fact will affect how we approach education, governance, and economics.

Companies Spending A Lot on AI Are Not Seeing A Big Return

_{Target and WalMart are reversing course, cutting back on self-checkout}_{News
May 13, 2025}

Perhaps it is worth keeping in mind that bots not only don’t buy things themselves but may be chasing away humans who do.

Philosopher: There Is No Mystery of Consciousness

_{Galen Strawson points out at even young children a completely general conception of what consciousness is}_{News
May 11, 2025}

People offer different accounts of how it comes to exist but that is a different matter.

AI Large Language Models: Real Intelligence or Creative Thievery?

_{AI lacks originality because it cannot originate. It can only borrow. This is as true of impressive chatbots (large language models or LLMS) as of all other types}_{News
May 9, 2025}

The real danger lies not in what AI can do, but in forgetting what only humans can do.

Here’s Neurosurgeon Mike Egnor on Sean McDowell’s Show

_{With a couple of revealing excerpts from the transcript}_{News
May 7, 2025}

The soul can seem a bit of a mystery because the popular idea of the soul, as a sort of “ghost” is not the traditional philosophical (or Christian) one.

Artificial Intelligence Is Nothing Like a Brain — or a Mind

_{Neurons share basic mechanisms, but almost all other features vary both between types of neurons and individual ones}_{News
May 7, 2025}

The brain can be modeled as a computer, but that does not mean that thought is computation. AI is human intelligence, disguised and leveraged by computation.

Can Evolutionary Processes Take Credit for Human Creativity?

_{Does the evolution of brain chemistry simply explain novels, speeches, and innovative ideas?}_{News
May 1, 2025}

The genius of the human mind requires an external, intelligent source beyond the material world.