Tag Archives: Consciousness

Michael Graziano on mind uploading

Posted on October 20, 2019 by

Michael Graziano has an article at The Guardian, which feels like an excerpt from his new book, exploring what might happen if we can upload minds: Imagine that a person’s brain could be scanned in great detail and recreated in … Continue reading →

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A competition between integration and workspace

Posted on October 17, 2019 by

Back in March, I did a post on a proposed Templeton Foundation project to test major scientific theories of consciousness.  The idea was to start with a head to head competition between the integration information theory (IIT) and global workspace … Continue reading →

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A standard model of consciousness?

Posted on September 29, 2019 by

I’ve often noted that I find more consilience than disagreement between the empirically grounded theories of consciousness.  They seem to be looking at the problem at differing levels of organization, and together they may present a growing scientific consensus about … Continue reading →

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Keith Frankish on the consciousness illusion

Posted on September 26, 2019 by

Along the lines of last night’s post, Keith Frankish has an article at Aeon describing and defending the illusionist viewpoint, that phenomenal consciousness is an illusion.  It’s an excellent introduction for anyone who isn’t familiar with the basic argument. As … Continue reading →

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Is consciousness really a problem?

Posted on September 25, 2019 by

The Journal of Consciousness Studies has an issue out on the meta-problem of consciousness.  (Unfortunately, it’s paywalled, so you’ll need a subscription, or access to a school network that has one.) As a reminder, there’s the hard problem of consciousness, … Continue reading →

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A correction: LeDoux’s actual views on instrumental learning in vertebrates

Posted on September 11, 2019 by

I have to make a correction.  In my post on LeDoux’s views on consciousness and emotions, I made the following statement: Anyway, LeDoux states that there is “no convincing” evidence for instrumental behavior in pre-mammalian vertebrates, or in invertebrates.  In … Continue reading →

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Layers of consciousness, September 2019 edition

Posted on September 8, 2019 by

A couple of years ago, when writing about panpsychism, I introduced a five layer conception of consciousness.  The idea back then was to show a couple of things. One was that very simple conceptions of consciousness, such as interactions with … Continue reading →

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Joseph LeDoux’s theories on consciousness and emotions

Posted on September 5, 2019 by

In the last post, I mentioned that I was reading Joseph LeDoux’s new book, The Deep History of Ourselves: The Four-Billion-Year Story of How We Got Conscious Brains.  There’s a lot of interesting stuff in this book.  As its title … Continue reading →

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The problem of animal minds

Posted on August 31, 2019 by

Joseph LeDoux has an article at Nautilus on The Tricky Problem with Other Minds.  It’s an excerpt from his new book, which I’m currently reading.  For an idea of the main thesis: The fact that animals can only respond nonverbally … Continue reading →

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Ginger Campbell is doing a series on consciousness

Posted on August 24, 2019 by

I’ve highlighted Dr. Ginger Campbell’s excellent Brain Science Podcast before.  It’s an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the science of the brain.  Many of the books and concepts I’ve highlighted here over the years, I first heard about on … Continue reading →

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