Tag: Philosophy of Mind

Panpsychism and definitions of “consciousness”

Disagreeable Me asked me to look at this interesting TED talk by Professor Mark Bishop. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUNHyPFvUWc The entire talk is well worth the time (20 minutes) for anyone interested in consciousness and the computational theory of mind, but here's my very quick summation: The human mind, and hence consciousness, is a computational system. Since animal … Continue reading Panpsychism and definitions of “consciousness” →

Gödel’s incompleteness theorems don’t rule out artificial intelligence

I've posted a number of times about artificial intelligence, mind uploading, and various related topics.  There are a number of things that can come up in the resulting discussions, one of them being Kurt Gödel's incompleteness theorems. The typical line of arguments goes something like this: Gödel implies that there are solutions that no algorithmic system can accomplish but that humans … Continue reading Gödel’s incompleteness theorems don’t rule out artificial intelligence →

Discovering the architecture of the mind

I've written numerous times here that I tend to think that AGI (artificial general intelligence) and mind uploading are both ultimately possible.  (Possibly centuries in the future, but possible.)  I've also noted that we'll have to have a working understanding of the mind, how it works, how it is structured, before we can do either, … Continue reading Discovering the architecture of the mind →

David Eagleman: Can a computer simulate a brain?

The other day, I highlighted the article by neuroscientist Kenneth Miller on the possibility of mind uploading.  Miller saw it as possible, but thought it might be thousands or maybe even millions of years before we could do it.  Here's a take by another neuroscientist, David Eagleman, being a bit more optimistic, and discussing the … Continue reading David Eagleman: Can a computer simulate a brain? →

How An Epilepsy Treatment Shaped Our Understanding of Consciousness

I've written before about split brain patients, and what they mean for consciousness. Emily Esfahani Smith has a pretty good write up on the experiments and what they showed: How An Epilepsy Treatment Shaped Our Understanding of Consciousness - The Atlantic. The patients were there because they all struggled with violent and uncontrollable seizures. The procedure … Continue reading How An Epilepsy Treatment Shaped Our Understanding of Consciousness →

Zombies discussing philosophical zombies

Click through for full sized version, and philosophical explanation if you're not familiar with David Chalmer's and Daniel Dennett's positions on philosophical zombies. Philosophy Humans - Existential Comics. I can't say I've ever been too impressed with the idea of a philosophical zombie.  I could see maybe a zombie existing that behaves identically to a … Continue reading Zombies discussing philosophical zombies →

X-Men: Days of Future Past, and multiple instances of a mind

This weekend, I watched X-Men: Days of Future Past, which I enjoyed.  This post discusses some aspects of that movie, most notably the ending, so if you haven't seen it yet and don't want to be spoiled, you might consider skipping it until later. In the movie, mankind is in a devastating war with the mutants, … Continue reading X-Men: Days of Future Past, and multiple instances of a mind →