Tag Archives: Consciousness

Debate: Do split-brain patients have two minds?

Posted on November 16, 2019 by

I went to the NYU Consciousness site this morning hoping to see if the recent debate on the relationship of prefrontal activity to consciousness had been posted yet.  It hasn’t, and based on what I can see, it might be … Continue reading →

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The problems with the Chinese room argument

Posted on November 10, 2019 by

In 1950, Alan Turing published a seminal paper on machine intelligence (which is available online).  Turing ponders whether machines can think.  However, he pretty much immediately abandons this initial question as hopelessly metaphysical and replaces it with another question that … Continue reading →

Posted in Mind and AI | Tagged , , , , , | 71 Comments

The difficulty of isolating evidence for the location of consciousness

Posted on November 2, 2019 by

In the ongoing debate in neuroscience between those who see consciousness being in the back part of the brain, among the sensory processing regions, or in the front of the brain, in the cognitive action planning regions, there are issues … Continue reading →

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Integrated information theory

Posted on October 29, 2019 by

I think most of you know I’m not a fan of integrated information theory (IIT).  However, it is a theory proposed by scientists, and I’ve always had a mildly guilty conscience over not having read about it other than through articles … Continue reading →

Posted in Mind and AI | Tagged , , , , , , | 101 Comments

Angst over mini-brains

Posted on October 26, 2019 by

Organoids, the small pieces of neural tissue grown from stem cells, dubbed “mini-brains”, and used in research, have been getting a lot of attention lately.  Apparently a few neuroscientists are concerned that the organoids might be sentient, and suffering as … Continue reading →

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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 →

Posted in Mind and AI | Tagged , , , , | 129 Comments

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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