Dennettian Creature
@dennettiancreature.bsky.social
Darwinian->Skinnerian->Popperian->Gregorian->Dennettian
We can learn about the evolution of human society by studying neurodivergent people. The "opposite of autism" - Williams syndrome - is "...giving clues to our evolutionary past – and what makes us human".
www.bbc.com/future/artic...
www.bbc.com/future/artic...
Williams Syndrome: The people who are too friendly
People with Williams Syndrome treat strangers as their new best friends. Now the condition is revealing clues to our evolutionary past – and what makes us human.
www.bbc.com
January 12, 2026 at 6:02 PM
We can learn about the evolution of human society by studying neurodivergent people. The "opposite of autism" - Williams syndrome - is "...giving clues to our evolutionary past – and what makes us human".
www.bbc.com/future/artic...
www.bbc.com/future/artic...
I strongly disagree that "Integrated Information Theory brings science closer to the mystery than most frameworks ever have." The reason it cannot address felt experience is because it ignores evolution, which provides context for why anything matters, and thus why any being should feel anything.
Integrated Information Theory offers structure, not felt experience. What’s missing?
dualisticunity.com/what-integra...
#IIT #PhilosophyOfMind
dualisticunity.com/what-integra...
#IIT #PhilosophyOfMind
What Integrated Information Theory Suggests About Consciousness — and Why It Still Can’t Explain Experience - Dualistic Unity
Integrated Information Theory (IIT) offers one of science’s most ambitious explanations of consciousness. This article explores what IIT reveals about awareness—and why structural, information-based models still can’t account for lived experience itself.
dualisticunity.com
January 11, 2026 at 6:04 PM
I strongly disagree that "Integrated Information Theory brings science closer to the mystery than most frameworks ever have." The reason it cannot address felt experience is because it ignores evolution, which provides context for why anything matters, and thus why any being should feel anything.
Reposted by Dennettian Creature
More than 5,000 people here in Powderhorn Park protesting ICE’s occupation of Minneapolis.
#FuckICE #iceout #mpls #FuckTrump
#FuckICE #iceout #mpls #FuckTrump
January 10, 2026 at 7:58 PM
More than 5,000 people here in Powderhorn Park protesting ICE’s occupation of Minneapolis.
#FuckICE #iceout #mpls #FuckTrump
#FuckICE #iceout #mpls #FuckTrump
Reposted by Dennettian Creature
10,000 people honoring Renee Nicole Good
at the site of her murder
at the site of her murder
January 8, 2026 at 3:09 AM
10,000 people honoring Renee Nicole Good
at the site of her murder
at the site of her murder
This article by Benzon from a decade ago about Dennett's idea of the free-floating rationale starts off in a critical tone, but overall he appears to agree with it:
www.replicatedtypo.com/in-search-of...
www.replicatedtypo.com/in-search-of...
In Search of Dennett’s Free-Floating Rationales
I’ve decided to take a closer look at Dennett’s notion of free-floating rationale. It strikes me as being an unhelpful reification, but explaining just why that is has turned out to be a tricky mat…
www.replicatedtypo.com
December 25, 2025 at 6:59 PM
This article by Benzon from a decade ago about Dennett's idea of the free-floating rationale starts off in a critical tone, but overall he appears to agree with it:
www.replicatedtypo.com/in-search-of...
www.replicatedtypo.com/in-search-of...
Reposted by Dennettian Creature
I'm here to tell you that this is generational levels of damage.
Generational in that it will take a generation or two to fix the damage. Some damage will be unrecoverable, and that makes us all lesser.
This is not making America "great"... This is a self-inflicted wound that is mortal to many.
Generational in that it will take a generation or two to fix the damage. Some damage will be unrecoverable, and that makes us all lesser.
This is not making America "great"... This is a self-inflicted wound that is mortal to many.
The Trump administration caused seismic disruptions to the world's premier scientific superpower in 2025
go.nature.com/4qjlBmK
go.nature.com/4qjlBmK
Grant cuts, arrests, lay-offs: Trump made 2025 a tumultuous year for science
Nature - How the Trump administration caused seismic disruptions to the world’s premier scientific superpower.
go.nature.com
December 19, 2025 at 5:05 PM
I'm here to tell you that this is generational levels of damage.
Generational in that it will take a generation or two to fix the damage. Some damage will be unrecoverable, and that makes us all lesser.
This is not making America "great"... This is a self-inflicted wound that is mortal to many.
Generational in that it will take a generation or two to fix the damage. Some damage will be unrecoverable, and that makes us all lesser.
This is not making America "great"... This is a self-inflicted wound that is mortal to many.
Science will prevail.
"...the ongoing strength of science globally: its ability to transcend national borders and nurture collaboration, and its power to save and improve lives, satisfy curiosity and spark innovation."
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
"...the ongoing strength of science globally: its ability to transcend national borders and nurture collaboration, and its power to save and improve lives, satisfy curiosity and spark innovation."
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Despite all the negatives, 2025 showcased the power, resilience and universality of science
There were huge disruptions to the global scientific enterprise this year — but immense bright spots for health, discovery, innovation and research collaboration.
www.nature.com
December 15, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Science will prevail.
"...the ongoing strength of science globally: its ability to transcend national borders and nurture collaboration, and its power to save and improve lives, satisfy curiosity and spark innovation."
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
"...the ongoing strength of science globally: its ability to transcend national borders and nurture collaboration, and its power to save and improve lives, satisfy curiosity and spark innovation."
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Why do some of us push back so hard when people bring up the possibility of LLM's having self-awareness? It's because we have an agenda beyond merely debating about AI. Humans are naturally vulnerable to imitations of awareness or understanding, even among other humans. We must be vigilant.
December 12, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Why do some of us push back so hard when people bring up the possibility of LLM's having self-awareness? It's because we have an agenda beyond merely debating about AI. Humans are naturally vulnerable to imitations of awareness or understanding, even among other humans. We must be vigilant.
The evolution of cognition and intelligence parallels the evolution of bodies and coordination.
December 11, 2025 at 4:52 PM
The evolution of cognition and intelligence parallels the evolution of bodies and coordination.
Reposted by Dennettian Creature
As a species we see reality through mental models, the deepest rooted is the socially constructed one we feel like we live inside which we call our own “mind”. Seeing ourselves outside of the models we currently live inside will be one of the greatest challenges for science in the coming centuries
November 7, 2025 at 9:19 PM
As a species we see reality through mental models, the deepest rooted is the socially constructed one we feel like we live inside which we call our own “mind”. Seeing ourselves outside of the models we currently live inside will be one of the greatest challenges for science in the coming centuries
Future thought experiment: (1) Society fragments more as the internet disrupts our ability to develop consensus; (2) More people accept atheism; (3) Catholicism devolves into a cultural museum; (4) The climate crisis radicalizes believers in Earth's health to the point of becoming a new religion...
December 5, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Future thought experiment: (1) Society fragments more as the internet disrupts our ability to develop consensus; (2) More people accept atheism; (3) Catholicism devolves into a cultural museum; (4) The climate crisis radicalizes believers in Earth's health to the point of becoming a new religion...
The following paper on "niche construction", co-authored by @thomscottphillips.bsky.social, dovetails with a key idea explained in Dennett's From Bacteria to Bach. Unfortunately, Dennett is not cited at all. He elaborates on...
static1.squarespace.com/static/64e38... .....
static1.squarespace.com/static/64e38... .....
December 2, 2025 at 6:14 PM
The following paper on "niche construction", co-authored by @thomscottphillips.bsky.social, dovetails with a key idea explained in Dennett's From Bacteria to Bach. Unfortunately, Dennett is not cited at all. He elaborates on...
static1.squarespace.com/static/64e38... .....
static1.squarespace.com/static/64e38... .....
Dennett's "feral neuron" is a provocative take on domestication. Every neuron in your brain is descended from a lineage of neurons that date back to the earliest proto-brains in primitive animals. In fact every cell in your body is descended from a lineage of cells that date back to a time when...
November 30, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Dennett's "feral neuron" is a provocative take on domestication. Every neuron in your brain is descended from a lineage of neurons that date back to the earliest proto-brains in primitive animals. In fact every cell in your body is descended from a lineage of cells that date back to a time when...
Human = a rapidly-evolving hybrid from animal to posthuman. Erase essential categories and artificial thresholds: view human technology as emerging within nature, as an accelerated extended phenotype. Animal->human->posthuman = a bumpy continuum.
November 29, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Human = a rapidly-evolving hybrid from animal to posthuman. Erase essential categories and artificial thresholds: view human technology as emerging within nature, as an accelerated extended phenotype. Animal->human->posthuman = a bumpy continuum.
Reposted by Dennettian Creature
14 years since we lost Lynn Margulis (November 22, 2011). Still can’t believe she’s gone.
A giant of biology, through her co-creation of the Gaia Hypothesis, & her endosymbiotic theory, she changed the way we see life, evolution, our planet, ourselves. I feel so privileged to have known her.
🧪
A giant of biology, through her co-creation of the Gaia Hypothesis, & her endosymbiotic theory, she changed the way we see life, evolution, our planet, ourselves. I feel so privileged to have known her.
🧪
November 22, 2025 at 7:36 PM
14 years since we lost Lynn Margulis (November 22, 2011). Still can’t believe she’s gone.
A giant of biology, through her co-creation of the Gaia Hypothesis, & her endosymbiotic theory, she changed the way we see life, evolution, our planet, ourselves. I feel so privileged to have known her.
🧪
A giant of biology, through her co-creation of the Gaia Hypothesis, & her endosymbiotic theory, she changed the way we see life, evolution, our planet, ourselves. I feel so privileged to have known her.
🧪
The human brain evolved to support human language. When I about it this way instead of asking how language emerges from the brain, the picture shifts from a reductionist, mechanistic position to a more systemic vision of memes (units of cultural evolution) co-evolving with genes.
November 20, 2025 at 2:59 AM
The human brain evolved to support human language. When I about it this way instead of asking how language emerges from the brain, the picture shifts from a reductionist, mechanistic position to a more systemic vision of memes (units of cultural evolution) co-evolving with genes.
#physics #math #reality
Quanta Magazine is desperate to wrap a narrative around every math idea they cover, even if there's no real story there. Complex numbers are no less real than real numbers. Math != nature. It's a tool used to describe nature.
www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-t...
Quanta Magazine is desperate to wrap a narrative around every math idea they cover, even if there's no real story there. Complex numbers are no less real than real numbers. Math != nature. It's a tool used to describe nature.
www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-t...
November 15, 2025 at 9:12 PM
#physics #math #reality
Quanta Magazine is desperate to wrap a narrative around every math idea they cover, even if there's no real story there. Complex numbers are no less real than real numbers. Math != nature. It's a tool used to describe nature.
www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-t...
Quanta Magazine is desperate to wrap a narrative around every math idea they cover, even if there's no real story there. Complex numbers are no less real than real numbers. Math != nature. It's a tool used to describe nature.
www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-t...
A rare and admirable take on Zen Buddhism in the context of biological evolution - two subjects that are rarely woven together, and are often at odds with each other. The author starts with the unfortunate cliches of "redness" and Chalmers' hard problem, but then tackles some interesting...
How did evolution build a prison for our minds, and how do we escape it? Zen Buddhism shows us we were never imprisoned in the first place, freeing us by helping us realize we are free.
#Zen #Buddhism #Evolution #Mindfulness #Mind #Philosophy #PhilosophyOfMind #PhilosophyOfReligion
#Zen #Buddhism #Evolution #Mindfulness #Mind #Philosophy #PhilosophyOfMind #PhilosophyOfReligion
Zen and Evolution: The Seeds of Liberation
How did evolution build a prison for our minds? Zen Buddhism shows us we weren’t imprisoned in the first place, freeing us by helping us realize we are free.
www.blankettheory.blog
November 15, 2025 at 5:48 PM
A rare and admirable take on Zen Buddhism in the context of biological evolution - two subjects that are rarely woven together, and are often at odds with each other. The author starts with the unfortunate cliches of "redness" and Chalmers' hard problem, but then tackles some interesting...
This is revealing on many levels. Let's take it all the way from late-breaking news to millions of years of evolution. @ddiamond makes an important point: inaccurate information spreads quickly in the social media-fueled news cycle. While this particular event is not consequential, it is easily...
A man collapsed in the Oval Office yesterday. The internet got the story wrong.
My experience struggling to correct the record — including on Bluesky! — and the warning signs as AI, aggregation, and social media increasingly drive our news consumption.
My experience struggling to correct the record — including on Bluesky! — and the warning signs as AI, aggregation, and social media increasingly drive our news consumption.
A man collapsed in the Oval Office. The internet got the story wrong.
A case study in how bad information can spread — and how hard it is to correct it.
dandiamond.substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:49 PM
This is revealing on many levels. Let's take it all the way from late-breaking news to millions of years of evolution. @ddiamond makes an important point: inaccurate information spreads quickly in the social media-fueled news cycle. While this particular event is not consequential, it is easily...
As I awkwardly evolve personally in my rhetoric to criticize #panpsychism, I find myself forgiving panpsychists in the way an illusionist might forgive one who falls for Cartesian dualism (the often-unstated and unexamined belief that mind/consciousness occupies a different realm than physical...
November 4, 2025 at 6:09 PM
As I awkwardly evolve personally in my rhetoric to criticize #panpsychism, I find myself forgiving panpsychists in the way an illusionist might forgive one who falls for Cartesian dualism (the often-unstated and unexamined belief that mind/consciousness occupies a different realm than physical...
Sorry to be critical but I think this article is tone-deaf and unnecessarily negative. It is built on straw man arguments. The author makes assumptions about what reality consists of in order to paint a bleak picture. Our evolved human reality has very little to do with the ultimate thermodynamic...
October 31, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Sorry to be critical but I think this article is tone-deaf and unnecessarily negative. It is built on straw man arguments. The author makes assumptions about what reality consists of in order to paint a bleak picture. Our evolved human reality has very little to do with the ultimate thermodynamic...
In philosophy of mind, I understand functionalism in general to mean that mental states, consciousness, etc. are independent of the material/physical constitution of the entity possessing these states. So, some people then ask if AI can be conscious. They often are referring to LLM's and...
October 30, 2025 at 5:39 PM
In philosophy of mind, I understand functionalism in general to mean that mental states, consciousness, etc. are independent of the material/physical constitution of the entity possessing these states. So, some people then ask if AI can be conscious. They often are referring to LLM's and...
beasts of burden
www.nature.com/articles/nco...
www.nature.com/articles/nco...
Light controlled 3D micromotors powered by bacteria - Nature Communications
Bacteria are able to propel themselves and thus drive systems out of equilibrium. Here the authors aim to control this motion and exploit it in microengineered motors which are powered by genetically ...
www.nature.com
October 26, 2025 at 8:24 AM
beasts of burden
www.nature.com/articles/nco...
www.nature.com/articles/nco...
Memes (as defined by Dennett) are the code of the native manifest image. The original author is Natural Selection and authorship gradually transfers to human society, norms, practices, and institutions, which domesticate us. We are forever apes. The scientific image must ultimately win out.
October 23, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Memes (as defined by Dennett) are the code of the native manifest image. The original author is Natural Selection and authorship gradually transfers to human society, norms, practices, and institutions, which domesticate us. We are forever apes. The scientific image must ultimately win out.