Author: Denyse O’Leary

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
July 6, 2026

Categories
Life Sciences
Neuroscience & Mind
Tagged
, art, atoms, calculus, Carlo Rovelli, chimpanzees, consciousness, Daniel Dennett, Dogs, electrons, great apes, higher power, human consciousness, human language, humans, intelligent design, language, laughter, literature, Michael Egnor, mud, panpsychism, Patricia Churchland, Paul Churchland, sand dollar, speech, squirrels, trees, universe}

Human Consciousness, from Mud to Mind?

_{Denyse O’Leary
July 6, 2026

Life Sciences, Neuroscience & Mind

5}

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

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post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
July 5, 2026

Categories
Intelligent Design
Linguistics
Neuroscience & Mind
Tagged
, Bantu, bonobos, Chiara De Gregorio, chimpanzees, Communications Biology, DuckDuckGo, English, French Academy, Genesis, gorillas, great apes, human speech, humans, intelligent design, isochrony, Japanese, laughter, metronome, Nature (journal), orangutans, origin of language, primates, Shigeru Miyagawa, University of Warwick, Why Agree? Why Move?, ZME Science}

Speech, Laughter, and Intelligent Design

_{Denyse O’Leary
July 5, 2026

Intelligent Design, Linguistics, Neuroscience & Mind

5}

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

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
June 29, 2026

Categories
Medicine
Political Science
Tagged
, Andrea Gawrylewski, Armageddon, arXiv, autoethnography, Carole LaBonne, Colin Wright, COVID-19, Democrats, Gallup, government, Grant Witness, grants, H. Winet, hallucinations, Harvard University, Keir Starmer, NIH, Northwestern University, references, Republicans, Research, researchers, Science Alert, Scientific American, Scott Delaney, Today in Science, Vannevar Bush, Vitomir Kovanovic}

Is Government’s Relationship with Science “Crumbling”?

_{Denyse O’Leary
June 29, 2026

Medicine, Political Science

6}

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. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
June 26, 2026

Categories
Life Sciences
Neuroscience & Mind
Tagged
, brain organoids, cancel culture, chickens, Christof Koch, consciousness, Copernican Principle of Consciousness, Debrief, degenerating paradigm, Essentia Foundation, falsifiability, Frontiers in Science, Hans Busstra, Imre Lakatos, machines, Marxism, neuroscientists, predictions, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Science Daily, testability, Tim McMillan, Wiliam Hunter}

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

_{Denyse O’Leary
June 26, 2026

Life Sciences, Neuroscience & Mind

5}

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

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post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
June 23, 2026

Categories
Cultural Anthropology
Zoology
Tagged
, AI bots, bugs, consumers, DuckDuckGo, Duke University, economists, fast food, food, food products, hypocrisy, insects, investment, Jeffrey A. Tucker, Nature (journal), nutrition, pasta, preference cascade, preference falsification, protein, protein bars, self-censorship, Sentient Media, Seth Millstein, social pressure, soldiers, Timur Kuran, United Nations}

To Be Honest, Most Humans Don’t Want Insect Burgers

_{Denyse O’Leary
June 23, 2026

Cultural Anthropology, Zoology

3}

What’s going on here may well be a case of preference falsification, a concept developed by Duke University economist Timur Kuran. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
June 22, 2026

Categories
Cosmology
Physics
Scientific Reasoning
Tagged
, Dean Rickles, dual aspect monism, fine-tuning, Graham Phillips, illusion, John Archibald Wheeler, Leonard Susskind, many universes, materialism, materialists, multiverse, Paul Davies, Princeton University, quantum mechanics, Sydney University, Templeton Ideas, theoretical physicists, universe}

Quantum Mechanics Has Destroyed Classical Materialism

_{Denyse O’Leary
June 22, 2026

Cosmology, Physics, Scientific Reasoning

5}

Whatever this fundamental level of reality that combines mind and matter is, it is — by definition — deeper than human thought can reach. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
June 19, 2026

Categories
Life Sciences
Philosophy of Science
Scientific Reasoning
Tagged
, animism, Annaka Harris, cabbage, Cambridge University, chauvinism, consciousness, dandelions, Hard Problem, human consciousness, information, lunacy, materialism, Natalie Lawrence, neurons, Paco Calvo, panpsychism, philosophy, Planta Sapiens, plants, ResearchGate, Sam Harris, slime molds, vertebrates}

The Latest: Plants as “Non-Human Persons”

_{Denyse O’Leary
June 19, 2026

Life Sciences, Philosophy of Science, Scientific Reasoning

5}

The need to see humans as equivalent to animals has now spread to the need to see us as equivalent to plants. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
June 16, 2026

Categories
Bioethics
Computational Sciences
Tagged
, accelerationism, Alex Williams, artificial intelligence, death, Elon Musk, Grokipedia, human beings, human exceptionalism, human life, machines, Monash University, Netscape, Nick Land, Nick Srnicek, philosophy, Ray Kurzweil, Silicon Valley, Singularity, superintelligence, tech entrepreneurs, transhumanism, Tucker Carlson, Vincent Lê}

“Accelerating” Toward a Post-Human Future, and Loving It

_{Denyse O’Leary
June 16, 2026

Bioethics, Computational Sciences

5}

There is a lot of AI Apocalypse Now! and AI Utopia Soon! in the news these days. Read More ›

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post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
June 13, 2026

Categories
Neuroscience & Mind
Scientific Reasoning
Tagged
, Alex Rosenberg, brain, Carlo Rovelli, Cheshire Cat, David A. Oakley, Duke University, eliminative materialism, folk psychology, George Orwell, Harry G. Frankfurt, illusion, intelligentsia, Joe Gough, Michael Egnor, mind, naturalism, neuroscience, Patricia Churchland, Peter L. Halligan, philosophers, The Immortal Mind, Thomas Metzinger, University of Mainz}

“Mind as an Illusion” Makes No Sense

_{Denyse O’Leary
June 13, 2026

Neuroscience & Mind, Scientific Reasoning

5}

Philosophers of mind using their minds to prove that there is no mind do not help the credibility of their discipline. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
June 12, 2026

Categories
Neuroscience & Mind
Philosophy
Philosophy of Science
Tagged
, Adam, Anil Seth, animals, Baruch Spinoza, Carlo Rovelli, Charles Darwin, David Chalmers, earth, eliminative materialism, evolution, Genesis, hard problem of consciousness, heavens, humans, inanimate matter, Karl Popper, matters, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, neuroscientists, New York University, Noema, philosophers, soul, theoretical physics, Thomas Kuhn, Tim Bayne}

Prominent Physicist Wishes Away the Hard Problem of Consciousness

_{Denyse O’Leary
June 12, 2026

Neuroscience & Mind, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science

5}

Recently Carlo Rovelli fell into an all-too-common trap for creative thinkers. He offered an opinion on a subject outside his discipline. Read More ›