Up till now, we can suppose, nervous systems solved the 'Now what do I do?' problem by a relatively simple balancing act between a strictly limited repertoire of actions - if not the famous four F's (fight, flee, feed, or mate), then a modest elaboration of them.

Darwin's idea of natural selection makes people uncomfortable because it reverses the direction of tradition.

You can't get through seminary and come out believing in God!

Words have a genealogy and it's easier to trace the evolution of a single word than the evolution of a language.

People are afraid of being more ignorant than their children―especially, apparantly, their daughters.

I am a philosopher, not a scientist, and we philosophers are better at questions than answers.

If the best the roboticists can hope for is the creation of some crude, cheesy, second-rate, artificial consciousness, they still win.