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Falling In Love With AI

https://theness.com/neurologicablog/falling-in-love-with-ai/

Published: February 12, 2026 14:25

There are many ways in which our brains can be hacked. It is a complex overlapping set of algorithms evolved to help us interact with our environment to enhance survival and reproduction. However, while we evolved in the natural world, we now live in a…

Uranium and Motivated Reasoning

https://theness.com/neurologicablog/uranium-and-motivated-reasoning/

Published: February 9, 2026 14:06

This post is only partly about uranium, but mostly about motivated reasoning – our ability to harness our reasoning power not to arrive at the most likely answer, but to support the answer we want to be true. But let’s chat about uranium for a bit. In the…

The AI Slop Problem

https://theness.com/neurologicablog/the-ai-slop-problem/

Published: February 5, 2026 13:50

Mark Zuckerberg said a few months ago that AI is ushering in a third phase of social media. First social media was used to connect with family and friends, then it became a platform for content creators, and now creativity is being further unleashed with…

Forgetting History

https://theness.com/neurologicablog/forgetting-history/

Published: February 3, 2026 15:06

Engaging on social media to discuss pseudoscience can be exhausting, and make one weep for humanity. I have to keep reminding myself that what I am seeing is not necessarily representative. The loudest and most extreme voices tend to get amplified, and…

A Fully Renewable Grid?

https://theness.com/neurologicablog/a-fully-renewable-grid/

Published: February 2, 2026 13:38

My long-stated position (although certainly modifiable in the face of any new evidence, technological advance, or good arguments) is that the optimal pathway to most rapidly decarbonize our electrical infrastructure is to pursue all low-carbon options. I…

Rethinking the Habitable Zone

https://theness.com/neurologicablog/rethinking-the-habitable-zone/

Published: January 26, 2026 14:21

As we continue the search for life outside of the Earth, it helps if we have a clear picture of where life might be. This is all a probability game, but that’s the point – to maximize the chance of finding the biosignatures of life. One limitation of this…

The AI 2027 Scenario

https://theness.com/neurologicablog/the-ai-2027-scenario/

Published: January 22, 2026 14:56

A group of AI experts have released a paper that explores (or “predicts”) the possibility of a near-term AI explosion that ultimately leads to the extinction of humanity. This has, of course, sparked a great deal of discussion, feedback, and criticism.…

Moon Landing Hoax In School

https://theness.com/neurologicablog/moon-landing-hoax-in-school/

Published: January 19, 2026 14:22

Last week a child of one of my cohosts on the SGU, who is in fifth grade (the child, not the cohost), came home from school and declared, rather dramatically, “Mom, Dad – did you know that we never went to the Moon? It was all fake.” They found this to be…

Is Donut Lab’s Solid State Battery Legit?

https://theness.com/neurologicablog/is-donut-labs-solid-state-battery-legit/

Published: January 13, 2026 15:47

The tech world is buzzing with the claims of a startup battery company out of Finland called Donut Lab. They claim to have created the world’s first production solid state battery. At first blush the claims are exciting but seem in line with the promises…

Challenging the Acceleration of the Universe

https://theness.com/neurologicablog/challenging-the-acceleration-of-the-universe/

Published: January 5, 2026 16:28

South Korean astronomers are challenging the notion that the universe’s expansion is accelerating, an observation in the 1990s that lead to the theory of dark energy. This is currently very controversial, and may simply fizzle away or change our…

Biological vs Artificial Consciousness

https://theness.com/neurologicablog/biological-vs-artificial-consciousness/

Published: December 29, 2025 14:24

Definitely the most fascinating and perhaps controversial topic in neuroscience, and one of the most intense debates in all of science, is the ultimate nature of consciousness. What is consciousness, specifically, and what brain functions are responsible…

Animals Adapting to Humans

https://theness.com/neurologicablog/animals-adapting-to-humans/

Published: December 15, 2025 14:21

As human civilization spreads into every corner of the world, human and animal territories are butting up against each other more intensely. This often doesn’t end well for the animals. This is also causing evolutionary pressures that are adapting some…