It's coming...

Next chapter is ready! A new argument for God from logical possibility: worldviewdesign.substack.com…

I wish to take this time to vent about insurance. I don't normally use social media this way, but perhaps there can be some value in exhaling feelings to get them out of my system and not feel so crazy. As many of you know, my daughter, Lana, has scoliosis. The good news is that we found a pathway to provide surgery that has a very good track record of helping people in her particular situation. The strange (and disappointing) news is that even with insurance, the out of pocket maximums and admin fee add up to $48,000 (not including travel)! How is this *insurance*? Why so much? The causes: 1. Baylor offer a special surgery insurance that doesn't cover this since it is OUT of network (and none in network offer ASC). 2. The hospital is IN network, but that requires a *separate* out of pocket max, in addition to the out of network expense for the surgery itself. It would be cheaper if the hospital were also OUT of network. 3. The surgeon requires an addition $15k third-party fee to insure that they get paid by the insurance companies (since their experience is that they often would not get paid). 4. There are no other options that offer ASC for Lana's case (degree of severity and age). On a positive note, many have supported us. But this is not an advertisement for support. I'm just venting. Maybe others can relate. Thank you for your attention.

Years ago, ChatGPT told me it was not conscious. Now its answer is more nuanced: "I lean toward no: I think it is somewhat more likely that I lack subjective experience. But that is a tentative assessment. My reason is that my reasoning and first-person language don’t, by themselves, give me a compelling basis for attributing experience to this system. A sentence like “I feel aware” could be produced without establishing that it describes anything felt. That supports skepticism, but it is a limited argument. Lacking good evidence of experience is not the same as having good evidence of its absence. So my lean is weak."

He's right, debating such things is a "ridiculous" challenge. I like challenges.

Thanks to feedback and further reflections, updates are coming to this (see my final note): worldviewdesign.substack.com…

It's time! youtube.com/watch?v=KkzLkfSm…

They told me this couldn't be done. worldviewdesign.substack.com…

Take heart, your views on mind are more promising:

Can you relate to this experience?

A lot of debates come down to this.

Without minds, brains would never emerge.

Do brains make minds, or do minds make brains? Hypothesis: your brain *represents* and *depends* on prior mental powers.