Author: Denyse O’Leary

The concept of control and dictatorship over people

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
January 3, 2026

Categories
Ethics
Neuroscience & Mind
Tagged
, Alain Aspect, Anton Zeilinger, atheists, Benjamin Libet, Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will, free will, J. D. Vance, John F. Clauser, logic, meat puppets, Michael Egnor, Minority Report, neuroscience, neuroscientists, physics, readiness potential, Robert Sapolsky, Sam Harris, Soviet Union, Stanford University, The Immortal Mind, totalitarianism, United States, Wilder Penfield, Yuval Noah Harari}

Free Will vs. the Totalitarian Temptation

_{Denyse O’Leary
January 3, 2026

Ethics, Neuroscience & Mind

7}

If our thoughts and choices really are wholly determined, well then what follows? Read More ›

Person is looking for way out of psychedelic maze. A surreal labyrinth in magical forest. Human consciousness is at dead end, searching for solutions. Created with Generative AI

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
November 29, 2025

Categories
Faith & Science
Neuroscience & Mind
Physics
Tagged
, Bayesian reasoning, Carl Sagan, Christopher Hitchens, consciousness, COSM 2025, George Gilder, immaterial reality, information, Jay W. Richards, life after death, Michael Egnor, Michael Shermer, neurosurgeons, quantum mechanics, Roger Penrose, technology, The Human Advantage}

Does Quantum Mechanics Help Make Sense of the Soul?

_{Denyse O’Leary
November 29, 2025

Faith & Science, Neuroscience & Mind, Physics

5}

Quantum mechanics seems to be the game-changer that Albert Einstein (1879–1955) feared it would be. It is certain to liven up discussions about the soul. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
November 28, 2025

Categories
Faith & Science
Neuroscience & Mind
Tagged
, Bayesian reasoning, body, brain, COSM 2025, David Deutsch, Francis Crick, materialist paradigm, Michael Egnor, Michael Shermer, mind, near-death experiences, neuroscience, neurosurgeons, soul}

Skeptic Michael Shermer’s Non-Vision of the Soul

_{Denyse O’Leary
November 28, 2025

Faith & Science, Neuroscience & Mind

5}

Responding to Michael Egnor at COSM 2025, he said that the soul is an explanation but not a good explanation for our relationship to our bodies. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
November 26, 2025

Categories
Neuroscience & Mind
Zoology
Tagged
, apes, Apple, Aristotelianism, Aristotle, chimpanzees, chimps, deduction, Dogs, intelligence, logic, mind, rationality, researchers, Science Alert, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy}

So, Chimps Are Rational Now, Too? War on Human Exceptionalism Goes On

_{Denyse O’Leary
November 26, 2025

Neuroscience & Mind, Zoology

3}

The trouble many researchers go to in order to try to efface the stark reality of human exceptionalism is astonishing. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
November 20, 2025

Categories
Biology
Neuroscience & Mind
Tagged
, animal intelligence, ants, bears, biology, human intelligence, information, intelligent design, James Webb Space Telescope, Mihai Andrei, National Zoo, neuroscience, physiology, Science News, West Coast, wolf, ZME Science}

Does Animal Intelligence Point to a Platonic Realm of Pure Information?

_{Denyse O’Leary
November 20, 2025

Biology, Neuroscience & Mind

7}

How could a life form like an ant — not known for creative or independent thinking as such but rather for a hive mind — “evolve” such a strategy? Read More ›

Face in a PCB printed circuit board, transhumanism, singularity, universe simulation hypothesis, AI artificial intelligence

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
November 19, 2025

Categories
Computational Sciences
Intelligent Design
Tagged
, eliminative materialism, ideas, information, intelligent design, Isaac Newton, Kurt Gödel, Lawrence Krauss, logical positivism, materialist atheism, Michelle Starr, philosophers, physics, Plato, Platonic forms, Skynet, Terminator, universe, University of British Columbia}

Calm Down, the Universe as a Simulation Is Mathematically Impossible

_{Denyse O’Leary
November 19, 2025

Computational Sciences, Intelligent Design

5}

The idea that information underlies the universe is compatible with the very intelligent design theory that Lawrence Krauss has opposed in the past. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
November 18, 2025

Categories
Human Exceptionalism
Scientific Reasoning
Tagged
, chimps, crows, fungi, humans, John Horgan, Johns Hopkins University, Marc Bekoff, New Scientist, New York Times, New York University, octopuses, plants, prairie dogs, Psychology Today, tools, William Egginton}

On New Book, Elite Opinion Cuts Loose from Reality

_{Denyse O’Leary
November 18, 2025

Human Exceptionalism, Scientific Reasoning

6}

All these intellectual worthies, in deadly earnest virtue, choose to miss the point. Read More ›

Ancient footprint embedded in earth, showing detail of toes and sole

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
November 14, 2025

Categories
Genetics
Human Origins and Anthropology
Paleontology
Tagged
, arithmetic, DNA, egg cells, footprints, Homo sapiens, modern humans, Neanderthals, New Scientist, PIEZO1, sperm, Switzerland, University of Seville, University of Zurich}

The Neanderthal Story Keeps Evolving (Even if Nothing Else Does)

_{Denyse O’Leary
November 14, 2025

Genetics, Human Origins and Anthropology, Paleontology

5}

The University of Seville announces that Neanderthal footprints found along Portugal’s Algarve coast have led to unexpected insights about Neanderthal culture. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
November 14, 2025

Categories
Evolution
Human Origins and Anthropology
Tagged
, archaeologists, archaeology, art, Bible, Carly Cassella, cave art, caves, Darwinian paradigm, Darwinism, evolution, fire, human origins, King Tut, Neanderthals, Paul Pettitt, Rosetta Stone, Science Alert, subhumans, The Conversation, University of Durham}

Perhaps Neanderthals Never Truly Went Extinct

_{Denyse O’Leary
November 14, 2025

Evolution, Human Origins and Anthropology

5}

A critical part of the original tale of the Neanderthals is that, because they were stupid, we smarter, more evolved modern humans finished them off. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
November 13, 2025

Categories
Astronomy
Planetology
Tagged
, artificial intelligence, arXiv, astrobiology, astronomers, Avi Loeb, Big Think, Columbia University, David Kipping, extraterrestrial life, George Gaylord Simpson, Medium, technology, UFOs, Voyager spacecraft}

Astrobiology as a Secular Quest for Meaning

_{Denyse O’Leary
November 13, 2025

Astronomy, Planetology

7}

I don’t think this stuff does any harm — as long as it is understood as drama and not given undue importance in science or philosophy. Read More ›