Ponderings of science, philosophy, history, society, and many other topics
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
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
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
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?
I've mentioned before that my views have changed dramatically over the years. But thinking about that the other day, it occurred to me that most of that change happened in a fairly narrow period. At the beginning of 2004, I was still a nominal Catholic, often voted Republican, was suspicious of gays and other non-traditional groups, and … Continue reading Don’t trust your emotions. They will betray you.
Michael Graziano has an article at the Atlantic looking at the plausibility of mind copying. He doesn't beat around the bush, going all in with the title: Why You Should Believe in the Digital Afterlife, although the actual text of the article is more nuanced, and echoes what I hear from most neuroscientists. As a neuroscientist, … Continue reading The challenges of copying a mind
In the last post, I pondered what distinction between the physical and non-physical, noting that I've historically resisted the label of "physicalist" or "materialist" maintaining that, if any evidence for the non-physical ever did become available, I'd accept its existence. I finished my post asking what that evidence might look like? And if even asking … Continue reading What would evidence for the non-physical look like? A possible answer.
One label that often gets applied to me is "materialist", or sometimes "physicalist." It's a label that, while it probably gives an accurate idea of my conception of reality, I've generally resisted. Why? Because if there were ever any evidence for anything non-physical, I would accept its existence. Consequently, I've often felt that a better label … Continue reading What is physicalism?
One of the dividing lines I often hear in discussions about whether we should regard an artificially intelligent machine as a fellow being is, does it have the capacity to suffer? It's an interesting criteria, since it implies that what's important is that there be something there for us to empathize with. But it raises an interesting question. … Continue reading What would it mean for a machine to suffer?
The components of a thing are not individually the thing. For example, the components of the chair I type most of my blog posts from are not the chair itself, but the wood of the frame, the springs for the back and bottom, some metal parts for the reclining mechanism, the fabric coverings, cushions, etc. … Continue reading Consciousness is composed of non-consciousness
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