Denyse O’Leary

Denyse O’Leary is a freelance journalist based in Victoria, Canada. Specializing in faith and science issues, she is co-author, with neuroscientist Mario Beauregard, of The Spiritual Brain: A Neuroscientist's Case for the Existence of the Soul; and with neurosurgeon Michael Egnor of The Immortal Mind: A Neurosurgeon’s Case for the Existence of the Soul (Worthy, 2025). She received her degree in honors English language and literature.

Archives

More Scientists Are Talking About a Mind Behind the Universe?

_{An urban affairs analyst thinks so and he also suggests some reasons why}_{Denyse O'Leary
July 27, 2026}

If being a scientist means that one must refuse to consider the evidence for design, it’s no wonder if many are looking for alternatives.

Could This Be One of Science’s Biggest Mistakes?

_{Denyse O’Leary
July 27, 2026}

Actually, computers aren’t even the sort of thing for which consciousness is relevant. Dogs are, and maybe frogs, but not computers.

Is “The brain is a computer!” One of Science’s Biggest Mistakes?

_{If so, the mistake throws a wrench into claims that conscious computers can ever be built}_{Denyse O'Leary
July 24, 2026}

The messy processes of the brain that enable the various layers of consciousness bear no relationship to what happens in computers.

What’s an Explainaway? Here Is an Example from the Debate on Near-Death Experiences

_{Denyse O’Leary
July 24, 2026}

Explainaways, whether possum tales or optical illusions, exist to protect a system from unwanted evidence by ignoring or dismissing it.

A Genuine Science-Based Debate About Near-Death Experiences?

_{Such a debate seems to be developing. It would make materialism much hard to just take for granted}_{Denyse O'Leary
July 23, 2026}

Explainaways protect the system from unwanted evidence by ignoring or dismissing it. But when the weight of such evidence grows, they stop sounding persuasive.

Get Smart: Neanderthals Progress from Brute to Beaut

_{Denyse O’Leary
July 23, 2026}

We must be ready to ask some questions about many of the evolution stories we have taken for granted.

Are Fictionbots Triumphing Over Writers?

_{At The Spectator, Geoff Bagwell tells us that AI is destined to destroy the creative writing industry as bots take writers’ jobs}_{Denyse O'Leary
July 21, 2026}

Reading for entertainment alone will become increasingly rare. I expect we will return to a culture where people who read are mainly looking for new ideas.

Do Cats Have Souls? Some Reflections

_{At the close of his article, Richard Stevens asks, “As humans have an immortal mind, might some animals have such a mind beyond biology, too?"}_{Denyse O'Leary
July 17, 2026}

We can’t do more than wonder but the main thing to see here is that the special position of humans might enable it.

So What Went Wrong With Wikipedia?

_{The whole business strikes some of us as a wildly Woke example of what can go wrong in an information society}_{Denyse O'Leary
July 16, 2026}

As an editor, I have often quietly substituted more reliable sources for information than Wikipedia when preparing various authors’ work for publication.

Sanger Banned by Wikipedia: Diagnosing a Disease

_{Denyse O’Leary
July 16, 2026}

Sanger became a Christian, which probably got him crossed off a lot of people’s Santa list. But how did he get banned?

Sweeping Europe, a Pagan Religion Has Daggers Out for This Technology

_{Denyse O’Leary
July 12, 2026}

A religion that sees humans as merely “an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet” would consider these unnecessary deaths hardly worth noticing.

Human Consciousness, from Mud to Mind?

_{Denyse O’Leary
July 6, 2026}

If human language — which is unlike any other communication in nature — evolved from something, we simply have no idea what that something is.

Consciousness is not a problem to be solved

_{It’s not even a problem that CAN be solved. It is an experience to be lived and it did not randomly evolve}_{Denyse O'Leary
July 5, 2026}

Consciousness is an immaterial creation given only to human beings to enable us to have a relationship with a higher power and to understand our universe better.

Speech, Laughter, and Intelligent Design

_{Denyse O’Leary
July 5, 2026}

A widely publicized thesis around ape and human laughter falls so woefully short that it forces an evaluation of other possibilities.

Panpsychism: The Boundary Problem We Face With Uncountable Minds

_{Egnor notes that if all living things — or everything in the universe — is conscious, as many believe, we face a huge problem with point of view}_{Denyse O'Leary
July 4, 2026}

Egnor notes that intellect is the capacity to contemplate universals. In this respect, a human being is more different from an ape than an ape is from a virus.

A Case for the Special Creation of Human Language

_{A widely publicized thesis around ape and human laughter falls so woefully short that it forces an evaluation of other possibilities}_{Denyse O'Leary
July 3, 2026}

The people trying to manufacture human language from ape laughter simply don’t have a better hypothesis. But much seems to depend on pretending otherwise.

Is Government’s Relationship with Science “Crumbling”?

_{Denyse O’Leary
June 29, 2026}

The people who do not trust science today would probably like to be able to. And the people who do trust it may simply be unaware of the problems.

Is Government’s Relationship with Science “Crumbling”?

_{There are many issues out there on which science disciplines are not earning our trust and we can't properly evaluate the scene without confronting that}_{Denyse O'Leary
June 28, 2026}

The people who do not trust science today would probably like to be able to. And the people who do trust it may simply be unaware of the problems.

Science Can Fully Explain Consciousness? By 326 Theories…

_{To call consciousness studies a degenerating paradigm might be too charitable. How much of it rises to the level of falsification?}_{Denyse O'Leary
June 26, 2026}

It’s supposed to be a given that machines or brain organoids might be conscious despite not knowing what that is or how it works — but preborn children can’t be…

Got Any Theories of Consciousness? Sure, About 325 of Them

_{Denyse O’Leary
June 26, 2026}

Consciousness research may be a degenerating paradigm. Philosopher Imre Lakatos used the term to refer to a situation where science is not progressing.