Yes, but they are not self-aware With Hurricane Ian in the news these days, it provides an interesting, albeit devastating, example of the differences between what we generally mean by “sentient”, “self-aware”, “conscious”, and “living”. …

What we look like and how we talk has as much effect as what we say We humans are very unusual social animals. In addition to having extraordinary ability to communicate with language, we have abilities to alter our physical appearance — mainly with clothing, but also by applying colors…

All social animals have them As we and all other animals experience, our bodies are subject to numerous repetitive urges or needs — to breathe, to drink, to eat, to eliminate, to sleep, to move, to mate, and so on. …

We humans provide the most complicated example that we know of so far Out of the fundamental force fields described by our physical theories, more and more elaborate structures have grown in the universe that we know, including atoms, molecules, and biological structures such as neural networks, as well as…

It’s too soon to tell, but it’s not looking good for us The main thing that modern science has taught us is that the universe consists of an almost endless variety of forms, all built from a small, finite set of fundamental components. …

Are they often effective? Sometimes the solutions to complex problems in our human past have seemed, in retrospect, to be surprisingly simple. I could mention many examples, from the legend of Alexander the Great cutting the Gordian Knot with his sword, to Copernicus and Galileo simplifying our understanding of the…

Evidence can accumulate or evaporate We can all be subject to suspicions. Like many people I have suspicions about the 1963 assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. It’s hard to believe that Oswald alone did it, and many other people seem to have had motives for killing Kennedy. …

Meetings for people who suffer from social anxiety and loneliness As many others have written, there are different kinds of introverts. Some introverts, possibly even most, enjoy their time alone. It gives them freedom from the distractions and demands of other people — freedom to be creative and to pursue…