Tag Archives: Emergence

01Nov/26

The Dangers of Counterfeit Humans

November 1, 2026TechnologyAcademic disciplines, Anil Seth, Articles, Artificial intelligence, Avatar, Cognitive science, Computer graphics, Consciousness, Daniel Dennett, Deep learning, Deepfake, Emergence, Griffin, Henry VIII, Microsoft, Mustafa Suleyman, Netflix, New York, Philosophy of artificial intelligence, Popeadmin

From Deadbots to Deception: How Hyper-Realistic AI Exploits Human Vulnerability

Sun, Nov 01 2026 /Mpelembe Media/ — Neuroscientist Anil Seth contends that engineering digital avatars that are indistinguishable from real human beings is a hazardous development with potentially catastrophic societal consequences. Sparked by the announcement of Griffin—a “human interaction model” from the company Tavus that reportedly passes a video-based Turing Test—Seth warns that hyper-realistic avatars will enable widespread financial fraud, exploit loneliness, and severely fracture the public’s ability to separate reality from fabrication. He traces the progression of this technology from early concepts designed to preserve survivor testimonies to commercialized “deadbots” that mimic deceased family members, emphasizing that such systems threaten to paralyze natural human grieving processes. Continue reading →

29Oct/26

Why Positive Thinking Backfires

October 29, 2026HealthcareAcceptance and commitment therapy, Alan Watts, Articles, Behavioural sciences, Cognitive behavioral therapy, Cyril Connolly, dopamine, Emergence, Experiential avoidance, Flexibility, Frank Bond, G.W.F. Hegel, Human behavior, Iglesias, Implementing Evidence, Jack, Jacobus Johannes van der Leeuw, John Welwood, Kierkegaard, Levitt, Mental health, Mind–body interventions, Mindfulness, Psychologyadmin

Cultivating Psychological Flexibility: Synthesizing Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive Science, and Existential Thought

Thu, July 29 2026 /Mpelembe Media/ — Psychological Flexibility and Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) Psychological flexibility—defined as consciously contacting the present moment as a human being and guiding action based on chosen values—serves as the foundational mechanism of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Derived from Relational Frame Theory (RFT), ACT addresses the core problematic process of experiential avoidance, wherein individuals expend immense energy attempting to suppress, escape, or alter unpleasant thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations. Cognitive fusion occurs when literal language and internal verbal rules dominate behavior, pulling individuals away from direct contingencies in their environment. Through core processes such as cognitive defusion, acceptance, present-moment awareness, self-as-context, values clarification, and committed action, ACT fundamentally alters an individual’s relationship to their internal experiences rather than attempting to forcibly modify cognitive content. Empirical research confirms that workplace interventions increasing psychological flexibility enhance employee health, innovation, software mastery, and performance targets while outperforming traditional individual-difference constructs like Emotional Intelligence or the Big Five personality traits. Continue reading →

25Oct/26

How Choice Architecture Shapes Your Decisions

October 25, 2026ScienceAcademic disciplines, Articles, Coca-Cola, Cognitive science, Emergence, Emotion, Joshua Chimakula Ngoma, Methods of neuro-linguistic programming, Mind, Nelson Mandela, Neuropsychological assessment, Neuroscience, Odor, Sensory cue, Sensory systems, South Africa, Subjective experienceadmin

See the Prime, Break the Spell: Reclaiming Cognitive Agency in an Automated World

Sat Oct. 24, 2026 /Mpelembe Media/ — Joshua Chimakula Ngoma’s book, Primed: The Hidden Power That Shapes What We Do, Buy and Believe, explores how subtle environmental micro-cues shape human decision-making, commercial behavior, and socio-political beliefs. Rooted in dual-process cognitive theories, the text demonstrates that human choices are rarely unprompted acts of pure autonomous logic; instead, subtle sensory triggers—including color spectrums, ambient scents, acoustic frequencies, headline phrasing, and screen layouts—pre-activate associative neural networks below conscious awareness. This environmental priming targets System 1, the brain’s rapid, low-energy heuristic engine, allowing external choice architects to direct attention and steer behavior before System 2’s slow, reflective reasoning can engage. Drawing on three decades in subterranean mining engineering, his leadership at the Enterprising Africa Regional Network (EARN), and a Global South vantage point, Ngoma applies a structural lens to reveal how hidden behavioral architecture systematically engineers human actions across physical and digital spaces. Continue reading →

21Feb/23

How your brain decides what to think

February 21, 2023ScienceAcademic disciplines, Articles, Cognition, Cognitive science, Consciousness, Creative Commons, Dream, Emergence, Intrusive thought, Marcus Raichle, Memory, Mental processes, Mind, Neuropsychological assessment, Valerie van Mulukomadmin

Valerie van Mulukom, Coventry University

You’re sitting on the plane, staring out of the window at the clouds and all of a sudden, you think back to how a few months ago, you had a heart-to-heart with a good colleague about the pressure you experience at work. How do thoughts seemingly completely unrelated to the present pop into our heads? Why do we remember certain things and not others? Why does our mind go off on tangents and why do we have daydreams?

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