Tag Archives: philosophy humor

S&F & Philosophy Now: Integration & Consciousness

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The following cartoon accompanied the print article on “The Integrated Information Theory of Consciousness”, or ITT (Dr. H. Morch, Issue 121 Philosophy Now). To wit, “IIT is now one of the leading theories of consciousness in neuroscience” and is linked to the concept of integrated information, denoted by a mathematical quantity called Φ (‘phi’).

S&F integration Morch - web

As per the article, “Systems with a low Φ have a small amount of consciousness – they only have very simple and rudimentary experiences. Systems with zero Φ are not conscious at all. [This implies that] IIT has radical implications. If IIT is true, we could in principle build a ‘consciousness-meter’ that tells us whether any system is conscious, and to what level: from comatose patients to infants; from simple animals and plants to robots and next generation AI.” 

Check out the (radical theory!) article and Philosophy Now’s fantastic new website: https://philosophynow.org/issues/121/The_Integrated_Information_Theory_of_Consciousness

Also, see the following WIRED interview (and quote) with Christof Koch: https://www.wired.com/2013/11/christof-koch-panpsychism-consciousness/

 

 

 

S&F & Philosophy Now: Bertrand Russell!

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Issue 120 of Philosophy Now is all about Bertrand Russell; who wouldn’t jump at the chance to illustrate that! The following cartoon accompanied an article “The Passionate Bertrand Russell” by Peter Stone. For more BR as seen through the eyes of Ernie, feel free to visit Ernie & The Conquest of Happiness.

S&F stringtheory045 -web

S&F and Philosophy Now – “Camus & the Myth of Sisyphus”

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This piece was published in the Camus issue of Philosophy Now.

Bonus for S&F followers!  The Easter Egg in the strip (where easter egg refers to the gamer term for a hidden message or joke) is that the song they are singing at the end is the refrain for.. click here to find out!  🙂

S&F Camus3

Media memory loss

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S&FPhilosophy&MediaThis is a rejected Philosophy Now submission from back in March intended to accompany an article around philosophy and the media.  Looking back, the drawing and the writing could have been better, I was tired when I did this one.  That said, I still agree with the premise of superficiality of most news stories – perhaps an S&F topic for another time.

Happy long weekend everyone!

Haresute

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Ben2 smallOk.. So I’m still undecided re: the final strip title name here and have been enjoying the dialogue and great ideas !  There is a name in “reserve” that I’m going to spring on you all on the next strip…  the trick has been trying to find a good name that’s not taken. 😦

(Also, there was supposed to be more bunnies on his head but I scanned and coloured the wrong image.. sorry about that, hope the joke still worked.  Because he’s a bear he could technically have hares elsewhere, right?  🙂 )

Entering… Ben (or possibly Bean)

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testSimon & Finn are taking a well-deserved holiday and this little furry chap wanted to meet you all.. so here I’m delighted to introduce you to the inaugural “Ben” (or possibly Bean).  I might post a few more of these to see what you guys think –

Horseburger 1

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S&Fhorseburger1 Sized

I know, I know.. the time for bad horse meat jokes is past due… but someone’s gotta close the barn door after.  🙂

A Finn-y Friendship 3

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S&FFinnyFriendship3-1

Ok, so this week – in addition to taking a final cheap shot at psycho-analyzing Finn – I’m still playing around with formatting. It’s been tricky to find a middle ground between gigantic and miniscule (aka the Goldilocks conundrum).

I also am trying out a new version of Gimp, an open-source (i.e. free) alternative to PhotoShop.

Conclusion?  Don’t try too many new things at once.

Anyhow, here’s my latest attempt, hope it translates ok on your screens.  🙂