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The Functional Mind

Steve Wagar

What are we, exactly? Not biologically — we have good answers there. I mean scientifically: what kind of thing is a mind, a feeling, a self? I think the answer has been hiding in plain sight for a century. This is where I make the case.

thefunctionalmind.substack.com
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  • 24 episodes
  • weekly
  • Avg 9 min
  • English

Episodes 24

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  • June 2 · 8 min

    Lesson 3: Being Objective About Functional Things

    Nobody has ever seen an electron. We grant it existence because our best models require it — and those models survive every test we put them to. The immune system earns existence by exactly the same standard. Same method. Same logic. Same rigor. So why has science treated one as real and the other as a convenient shorthand? Lesson 3: Being Objective About Functional Things is live. It makes the case that functional entities have exactly the same claim to scientific reality as physical ones — and that a science treating only one of them seriously is working with half its tools. 🎧 Apple Podcasts or Spotify — search The Functional Mind 📖 thefunctionalmind.substack.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thefunctionalmind.substack.com

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  • May 19 · 8 min

    Lesson 2: The Persistence Test

    The bicycle rusts. The bacterium persists. Same laws of physics. Completely different outcome. And physics, on its own, has no language to describe why. Lesson 2: The Persistence Test asks the most basic question in science — what does it mean for something to exist? — and finds that the answer has been incomplete all along. 🎧 Apple Podcasts or Spotify — search The Functional Mind 📖 thefunctionalmind.substack.com Music by Brylie Christopher – full credits: Solo Brylie Christopher - Solo - Free Music Archive This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thefunctionalmind.substack.com

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  • May 5 · 6 min

    Lesson 1: The Missing Lever

    The mind-body problem has been framed wrong for centuries. The real question isn't whether mind and body are two distinct things. They aren't — not fundamentally. The real question is what separates living things from nonliving ones. That's where the answer has been hiding. The Functional Mind is a complete argument in 28 lessons, released fortnightly. By the end, you will have a coherent scientific framework for understanding life, mind, and what it means to be the kind of thing we are. Not a survey of existing ideas — a new framework, built from first principles, that I believe resolves questions that have been officially unanswered for a century. The written version of every lesson is available at thefunctionalmind.substack.com — same content, readable at your own pace. Music by Brylie Christopher – full credits: Solo This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thefunctionalmind.substack.com

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  • April 20 · 7 min

    Lesson 0: Welcome to The Functional Mind

    The question that has followed me for fifty years: what are we, exactly — not biologically, but scientifically? This is where the journey begins. The Functional Mind is a complete argument in 28 lessons, released fortnightly. By the end, you will have a coherent scientific framework for understanding life, mind, and what it means to be the kind of thing we are. Not a survey of existing ideas — a new framework, built from first principles, that I believe resolves questions that have been officially unanswered for a century. This is Lesson 0: the welcome. It tells you who I am, why I've spent thirty years on this question, and what we're going to build together. The written version of every lesson is available at thefunctionalmind.substack.com — same content, readable at your own pace. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thefunctionalmind.substack.com

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Showing 21–24 of 24 episodes