Alva Noë : NPR

Can Consciousness In Brain-Injured Patients Be Restored?

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Opinion

13.7: Cosmos And Culture

Can Consciousness In Brain-Injured Patients Be Restored?

September 29, 2017 • Facing unresponsive brain-injury victims is a real-world example of the fact that we are locked out of the minds of others — but new research shows promise in restoring consciousness, says Alva Noë.

City workers drape a tarp over the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Emancipation park in Charlottesville, Va., on Aug. 23. Steve Helber/AP hide caption

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Opinion

13.7: Cosmos And Culture

What, Really, Is A Monument?

September 24, 2017 • Monuments play a different cultural role than do other kinds of artworks: To let a monument stand, or to take it down, is to take a political stand on its subject matter, says blogger Alva Noë.

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13.7: Cosmos And Culture

Do Letters Show You How They Sound?

September 22, 2017 • It is a principle of most modern thought about language that the relation between signs and meanings is arbitrary. But a new study finds a connection between sounds and ink on "paper," says Alva Noë.

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13.7: Cosmos And Culture

Can A Machine Tell Whether You Are Gay?

September 15, 2017 • A new study shows that deep neural networks, DNNs, can determine sexual orientation from facial photos with high accuracy. Blogger Alva Noë examines what this might mean — and the potential pitfalls.

Taxis park along the footpath in Adelaide, Australia. Alva Noe asks: Do taxi apps make people interact less — or better — with their drivers? sasimoto/Getty Images/iStockphoto hide caption

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Opinion

13.7: Cosmos And Culture

Can We Eliminate The Human Element?

September 1, 2017 • Musician David Byrne invites us, in an MIT Technology Review essay, to see that we have a choice: We don't need to opt for more isolation. Alva Noë asks: As humans, is more isolation even an option?

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13.7: Cosmos And Culture

Science 'Gone Wrong' Can Teach Us

August 25, 2017 • Pandora's Lab stresses that for science to work, it needs to base claims on data, studies need to be replicable, and scientists must be more attached to science than to their own ideas, says Alva Noë.

Is AI More Threatening Than North Korean Missiles?

In this April 30, 2015, file photo, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk unveils the company's newest products, in Hawthorne, Calif. Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP hide caption

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