Month: September 2016

The range of conscious systems and the hard problem

This is the fifth and final post in a series inspired by Todd Feinberg and Jon Mallatt's new book, 'The Ancient Origins of Consciousness: How the Brain Created Experience'.  The previous posts were: What counts as consciousness? Predators and the rise of sensory consciousness Types of sensory consciousness The neural mechanics of sensory consciousness In the … Continue reading The range of conscious systems and the hard problem →

The neural mechanics of sensory consciousness

This is the fourth in a series of posts inspired by Todd Feinberg and Jon Mallatt's new book, 'The Ancient Origins of Consciousness: How the Brain Created Experience'.  The first three were: What counts as consciousness? Predators and rise of sensory consciousness Types of sensory consciousness So, at this point in the series, we've talked about what … Continue reading The neural mechanics of sensory consciousness →

Types of sensory consciousness

This is the third in a series of posts inspired by Todd Feinberg and Jon Mallatt's new book, 'The Ancient Origins of Consciousness: How the Brain Created Experience'.  The first two were: What counts as consciousness? Predators and rise of sensory consciousness With this post, we're going to get into the different types of sensory … Continue reading Types of sensory consciousness →

Predators and the rise of sensory consciousness

This is the second post in a series inspired by Todd Feinberg and Jon Mallatt's new book, 'The Ancient Origins of Consciousness: How the Brain Created Experience'. The first post in the series was: What counts as consciousness? Life appears to have gotten started fairly early in Earth's history.  The oldest known fossils are now … Continue reading Predators and the rise of sensory consciousness →

What counts as consciousness?

One of the things I get reminded of every few years, is that difficult determinations often look clearer when you consider them in a wider scope.  Years ago, when I was trying to figure out whether conservative or progressive political policies were better, I discovered that widening my investigation to history helped immensely, and widening even further … Continue reading What counts as consciousness? →

Why the US two party system is so entrenched

The other day, I came across this Big Think explanation by historian Sean Wilentz on why the US always seems to gravitate to a two party system. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wnju7zOH_Zs Unfortunately, while I think Wilentz touches on the main points, his explanation doesn't seem as clear as it could be. To start off, he refers to the … Continue reading Why the US two party system is so entrenched →