Mind

January 2026

• Jan 27, 2026ConceptsHow the Mind Actually WorksThe mind is a set of specialized systems rather than one general processor: fast automatic processing, a slow deliberate system that often just endorses the first answer, reconstructive memory, and an attentional bottleneck. Nelson Cowan's 2001 review concluded true working memory capacity is about four chunks, not Miller's seven, once rehearsal and chunking are controlled for.24 MIN57.8k

March 2025

• Mar 25, 2025ExplainersCognitive Science: Understanding Mind and IntelligenceWithin weeks of each other in September 1956, Newell and Simon demonstrated a program that proved theorems and George Miller argued that working memory holds roughly seven items, plus or minus two. The cognitive revolution had begun. Miller's number has since been revised downward: Cowan's 2001 reanalysis put the core limit near four chunks, the larger figure having conflated chunking with raw capacity. Also inside: the Chinese Room and Marr's three levels.19 MIN6.3k

June 2024

• Jun 15, 2024ExplainersExploring Consciousness: The Science UnraveledAdrian Owen's team asked patients diagnosed as vegetative to imagine playing tennis, and some produced motor cortex activation matching healthy volunteers, evidence of awareness with no way to signal it (Science, 2006). Global Workspace Theory and Integrated Information Theory both claim that territory, and a pre-registered adversarial collaboration between them published in Nature in 2023 produced a clear winner for neither. The hard problem remains open.18 MIN3.2k