The Approaching Singularity: If further research into artificial intelligence may result in the extinction of the human race, should it be allowed to continue? A Brief History of Intellectual Discussion of Accelerating Change
( http://www.accelerationwatch.com/history_brief.html )
From Henry Adams to Vernor Vinge, this article looks at Singularity discussion through the ages. Existential Risks: Analyzing Human Extinction Scenarios and Related Hazards
http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=/articles/art0194.html?
Nick Bostrum assesses threats to human survival, including the threats posed by the singularity and super artificial intelligence. How to Avoid a Robot Takeover: Political and Ethical Choices in the Design and Introduction of Intelligent Artifacts
(http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/users/blayw/BlayAISB00.html)
Blay Whitby and Kane Oliver discuss the possibility of a “robot takeover” and the human choices that may affect its likelihood. The Singularity: a Beginning.
http://www.futurist.com/portal/future_trends/singularity.htm
A discussion of the approaching singularity from Futurist.com. Living in the Matrix: Is it possible that you are living in a computer-generated
dream world as depicted in the movie The Matrix? Are you living in a computer simulation?
(http://www.simulation-argument.com/simulation.html)
Nick Bostrum’s argument that we may be living in a computer simulation. What's So Bad about Living in the Matrix?
(http://whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com/rl_cmp/new_phil_fr_pryor.html)
Article on the Matrix by James Pryor The Matrix Metaphor
(http://www.zenzibar.com/Articles/matrix.asp)
Political implications of the Matrix The Biblical Conception of the Person: Does
the Bible support the view that people have an immortal soul? Is Your Soul Immortal? What does the Bible say about the immortality...
(http://www.truechristian.org/are_you_a_t_c/soul.htm)
Interpretation of the Bible Animal Soul: Do animals have minds or souls? Animal Consciousness
(http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consciousness-animal/)
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article Animal Intelligence
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A582275)
General BBC guide with overview of issues such as symbolic complexity, tool
use, etc. NATURE: Inside the Animal Mind
(http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/animalmind/)
Collection of articles and video clips to accompany PBS television special. Animal Cognition and Learning
(http://www.pigeon.psy.tufts.edu/psych26/)
Course web site with numerous links by Robert Cook (Tufts University) ANIMAL SOUL
(http://www.human-nature.com/rmyoung/papers/paper59h.html)
Encyclopedia of Philosophy article on animal soul Heaven without Bodies: Would eternal existence as an immaterial soul be desirable? Problems with Heaven
(http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/michael_martin/heaven.html)
Michael Martin looks at the incoherence of the concept of heaven In Heaven There Is No Pez
(http://www.i-cynic.com/weekly_31.asp)
Rick Bayan on existence as an immaterial soul. Bodies, Minds, and Death:
Do those in a permanent vegetative state have minds? If not, should they
be declared dead? Care of PVS Patients
(http://www.op.org/domcentral/study/kor/pvscare.htm)
Catholic view of those in a permanent vegetative state An alternative conceptual
structure for the resolution of end-of-life
(http://homepage.eircom.net/%7Eroche/PVSThesis/index.html)
Thesis on the problems associated with those in a permanent vegetative state Mental
Relay Stations: Is the brain nothing more that a mental relay station sending
and receiving signals from the mind? How does your soul fit into your brain?
(http://www.abarnett.demon.co.uk/atheism/brain.html)
Article by Adrian Barnett identifying problems with the traditional doctrine
of the soul The Brain vs. the Soul
(http://www.rnw.nl/science/html/brain2000215.html)
Article by Dan Falk on the problems neurophysiology raises for the traditional
doctrine of the soul Causal arguments for materialism
(http://www.princeton.edu/~jimpryor/courses/intro/notes/causalargs.html)
Lecture notes by James Pryor (Princeton University) outlining problems faced
by the soul theory Intelligent Robots: Should intelligent robots be given the same rights as humans? The Rights of Robots: Technology, Culture and Law in the 21st Century
(http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=/articles/art0265.html)
Phil McNally looks at the issue of robot rights. A Jurisprudence of Artilects: Blueprint for a Synthetic Citizen
(http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=/articles/art0270.html)
Frank W. Sudia 's article considers robot rights in light of the fact that robot intelligence may significantly exceed our own. The Rights of Your Robots: Exclusion and Includion in History and Future
| (http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=/articles/art0266.html)
Sohail Inayatullah on robot rights in the grand historical context of the “progressive expansion of rights.” Speciesism:
If you found that a loved one was not made out of flesh and blood, would
you love them less? Revenge of the Zombies
(http://members.aol.com/lshauser/zombies.html)
Article by Larry Hauser
(Alma College) considering the possibility that your mother's a zombie What
Robots Can and Can't Be
(http://psycprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/archive/00000418/)
Book summary by Selmer Bringsjord (Rensselear Polytechnic Institute) arguing
that robots cannot be persons Robot Servants
(http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/future/robots.html)
Article by John McCarthy (Stanford University) on the effects of using
robots as servants Neural Prostheses: Would you replace damaged brain cells with
computer chips? Neural Prosthesis Program
(http://www.ninds.nih.gov/npp/)
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Neural Prostheses:
Brain
(http://www.scholars.nus.edu.sg/cpace/prosthesis/stein/brain.html)
Discussion of how neural prostheses may affect us Brain Implantable Bio-mimetic
Electronics As the Next Era in Neural Prosthetics
(http://bmsr.usc.edu/Research/pubs/vzm/993.pdf)
Article by Ted Berger et. al. (Adobe file) Computerized Resurrection: If the
program running on your brain was run on another computer sometime after you
died, would you be resurrected? Modern Cosmology, God, and the Resurrection of the Dead
(http://www.math.tulane.edu/~tipler/tipler/tipler3.html)
Theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg (University of Munich) defends Tipler's view
of resurrection The
Physics of Immortality
(http://www.santafe.edu/~johnson/reviews.tipler.html)
Review of Tipler’s The Physics of Immortality by George Johnson
for the
New York Times Virtual Immortality for Everyone Alive Today
(http://www.globalideasbank.org/creend/CRE-40.HTML)
Review of Tipler’s The Physics of Immortality by John Wren-Lewis The
Physics of Immortality
(http://www.disinfo.com/archive/pages/dossier/id100/pg1/)
A collection of links to reviews of Tipler's book maintained by Disinformation The Internet Evolution: Could the Internet – consisting of billions of networked computers – actually evolve into a conscious mind? The Soul of the Ultimate Machine
http://www.racematters.org/selfawarecomputer.htm
Larry Smarr on the emerging planetary supercomputer. Artificial Intelligence in the World Wide Web
(http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=/articles/art0137.html)
David Stork on the Internet as a platform for intelligence. The Evolution of Spam-Consciousness
(http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2006/05/25/the-evolution-of-spam-consciousness/)
Tim Boucher's take on the Internet's attempts to communicate with us. Is Data a Person: Can a robot that has no feelings or emotions be considered a person? The Science of Star Trek
( http://ssdoo.gsfc.nasa.gov/education/just_for_fun/startrek.html )
David Allen Batchelor (NASA) explores the feasibility of many devices used on Star Trek Can Robots be People?
( http://www.aubreyrhea.com/value/report.htm )
Article by Aubrey O'Fallon ( Illinois State University ) Synesthesia: Does the existence of Synesthesia support the claim that functionalism can't account for conscious experience? Evidence against functionalism from neuroimaging of the alien colour effect in synaesthesia
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=retrieve&dopt=abstract&list_uids=16683506
Abstract of a study on Synaesthesia that lays out the case against functionalism. Synesthesia in the Media
http://astrid.9cy.com/synaesthesia/media.html
Links to articles dealing with synesthesia. The Synesthetic Experience
(http://web.mit.edu/synesthesia/www/)
Factual information, individual anecdotes, and interactive activities which simulate synesthesia. Synesthesia: Phenomenology And Neuropsychology
(http://psyche.cs.monash.edu.au/v2/psyche-2-10-cytowic.html)
A review of current knowledge on synesthesia. How are qualia coupled to functions?
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:dFedfBLKmqkJ:www.cs.colorado.edu/~mozer/courses/consc/readings/Gray2003.pdf+synesthesia+functionalism&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=20 Gray on functionalism and the implications of Synaesthesia. Scroll down a bit to see the article. The Loebner Prize: Is the Loebner Prize a good implementation of the Turing test? Lessons from a Restricted Turing Test
(http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/shieber/Biblio/Papers/loebner-rev-html/loebner-rev-html.html)
An anti-Loebner article arguing that “the competition has no clear purpose, that its design prevents any useful outcome, and that such a competition is inappropriate given the current level of technology.” In Response
(http://loebner.net/Prizef/In-response.html)
Hugh Loebner himself responds to the criticism. A Wager on the Turing Test: The Rules
(http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=/articles/art0373.html)
An explanation of the rules for a non-Loebner version of the Turing Test. Chatbots
http://simonlaven.com/
Links to many different chatbots on the internet. Total Turing Test: Is passing the Total Turing Test either necessary or sufficient for being intelligent and thus having a mind? Other Bodies, Other Minds: A Machine Incarnation of an Old Philosophical Problem
(http://cogprints.org/1578/00/harnad91.otherminds.html)
Stevan Harnad on his Total Turing Test and its relation to the Mind/Body Problem. Reaping the Whirlwind: Reply to Harnad's 'Other Bodies, Other Minds'
(http://members.aol.com/lshauser/harnad3.html)
Larry Hauser responds to Harnad and criticizes his “Total Turing Test” idea. The Age of Intelligent Machines: Can Machines Think?
(http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=/articles/art0099.html)
Daniel Dennett on the problem of machine intelligence. Can a robot that has no feelings or emotions be considered a person? The Science of Star Trek
(http://ssdoo.gsfc.nasa.gov/education/just_for_fun/startrek.html)
David Allen Batchelor (NASA) explores the feasibility of many devices used
on Star Trek Can Robots be People?
(http://www.aubreyrhea.com/value/report.htm)
Article by Aubrey O'Fallon (Illinois State University) Devout Robots: Should
a robot that passed the Turing test and asked to be baptized be baptized? Will Man-made Robots Rise Up and Demand Their Rights
(http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/tt/2000/sep13/robots.html)
Article by Rodney Brooks (Director of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory) Turing and the Computer View of the Mind
(http://www.mdx.ac.uk/www/psychology/cog/psy1100/turing.htm)
Lecture notes by Steve Torrance (Middlesex University) Rethinking Deep Blue:
Why a computer can't reproduce a mind
(http://www.arn.org/docs/odesign/od182/blue182.htm)
Article by Erik Larson The Rights of Robots
(http://www.metafuture.org/Articles/TheRightsofRobots.htm)
Article by Phil McNally and Sohail Inayatullah (World Futures Studies Federation) Zombies on the Web
(http://www.u.arizona.edu/~chalmers/zombies.html)
Collection of zombie links compiled by David Chalmers (University of Arizona) Zombies Invade Philosophy
(http://members.aol.com/lshauser/zomboid.html)
Collection of zombie links maintained by Larry Hauser (Alma College) Conversations
with Zombies
(http://www.imprint.co.uk/Moody_zombies.html)
Article by Todd Moody (St. Joseph's University) arguing that zombies could
not do everything we do You Can't Argue with a Zombie
(http://www.well.com/user/jaron/zombie.html)
Article by Jaron Lanier (founder of virtual reality) arguing that it is
possible to distinguish a zombie from a real person Zombies
(http://host.uniroma3.it/progetti/kant/field/zombies.htm)
Article by Tom Polger (Duke University) from the Field Guide to the Philosophy
of Mind Seeing Color for the First Time: Does the real-world case of Kevin bolster Jackson 's claim that qualia are not physical properties? Qualia: The Knowledge Argument
(http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qualia-knowledge/)
Extensive entry on the Knowledge Argument in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Vision in a Complete Achromat: A Personal Account
(http://consc.net/misc/achromat.html)
A personal account of life as an achromat. Pan-en-theism: Is it plausible to believe that we are living
inside God’s
brain? Panentheism
(http://www.templeton.org/humbleapproach/Panentheism/default.asp)
Report on a symposium sponsored by the Templeton Foundation Science and the
Future of Theology--Critical Issues
(http://www.ctinquiry.org/publications/peacocke.htm)
Article by Arthur Peacocke (Oxford University) describing the relationship
between science and theology God in Relation to Nature
(http://www.ctinquiry.org/publications/polkinghorne.htm)
Article by John Polkinghorne (Queens College) criticizing Peacocke's panentheism Placebos:
Does the effectiveness of placebos lend credence to the claim that the mind
has a downward causal effect on the body? How Could Conscious Experience Affect Brains?
(http://cogprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/archive/00002750/01/JCSVelmans2001.final.htm)
Article by Max Velmans (University of London) outlining a model for understanding
mental causation | 