Our helper drones took some time off from repairing the mothership to whip up yet another theatrical trailer giving glory to the great blue mind-sack and also to our excellent and esteemed forthcoming guests on the SpaceTimeMind podcast. Orient your irritable surfaces screenward and let your lobes luxuriate in this premium infotainment.
Coming this fall on the SpaceTimeMind podcast: Philosophy professor co-hosts Richard Brown and Pete Mandik are joined by neuroscientist Joe LeDoux, philosopher-scientist Brit Brogaard, and science fiction author Roger Williams to discuss topics including, but not limited to: consciousness, the singularity, the physics and metaphysics of time, memory and emotion, the simulation hypothesis, and music.
If you haven't already, direct your clicking finger (or tentacle) to the SpaceTimeMind RequestBucket. Taking a peek at what others have requested is like taking a peek into the future. Deposit something yourself while over there. Do not insert head into bucket. Bucket is a tool, not a toy.
In today's MindChunk we bring you an uplifting discussion (although the part about cannibalism in the middle gets a little NSFW). Animal "uplift" is basically transhumanism for animals. See, for example, The Planet of the Apes. See also the Arcturean major cow from The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, an animal genetically engineered to talk you into eating it. Psychologist Lara Beaty joins philosophers Richard Brown and Pete Mandik for the discussion. The longer discussion appears as Episode 6 of the SpaceTimeMind podcast: "The Extended Mind (with Lara Beaty)."
Download: MP3 Audio (96MB)
Episode Notes and Links
Episode Notes
Good news, everybody! SpaceTimeMind turns it up to 11 as science-obsessed philosophers Richard Brown and Pete Mandik duke it out over which one is the most egregious purveyor of scientism, the view that anything worth knowing is worth knowing scientifically. Or is scientism just empiricism? And what the bleep is that, anyway? Is it simply an affirmation of the superiority of sensory knowledge? Or is it at bottom a denial of necessary truths? Or is being a scientismologist just what happens when you label yourself as such to achieve greater societal respectability and sell more books? Put on your goggles have a clean beaker handy, for today we science!!!
Links
Hey, you know what? MindChunk, that's what. The latest edition to our MindChunk video series launches a sneak attack on the nature of time by way of a thought experiment about artificial intelligence and a simulation of Einstein's brain. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
What do artificial intelligence and the physics of time have to do with each other? Richard Brown and Pete Mandik set out to find out and what happened next will amaze you.
Now a major motion picture. (This film has not yet been rated.)
Dear SpacetimeMinders,
What topics would you like to see tackled? What depths plumbed? What guests would you like subjected to our special brand of norn torture? Is there something you'd like to see or hear more of? Less of? Please utilize the SpaceTimeMind RequestBucket by leaving a comment below.
The small but growing list of audience suggestions so far implemented on the SpaceTimeMind podcast.
Download: MP3 Audio (96MB)
Episode Notes and Links
Episode Notes
Neuroscience and philosophy meet in the arena of consciousness when neuroscientist guest Bernard Baars joins philosopher hosts Richard Brown and Pete Mandik on the SpaceTimeMind podcast. Topics we tackle include (1) the interface between science and philosophy, (2) the Global Workspace Theory of Consciousness, (3) the relevance of quantum mechanics for phenomenal consciousness, (4) the possibility of machine consciousness, and (5) Ned Block’s thesis that perceptual consciousness overflows cognitive access. And that's just for starters! We’ve saved you a seat in the theater of consciousness, so pop open an ice cold can of qualia and enjoy the show.
(The music in the episode is by Quiet Karate Reflex and also by the New York Consciousness Collective.)
(The video chat that this episode's audio is drawn from is viewable on YouTube.)
Links
In our upcoming episode with neuroscientist Bernard Baars (episode 10, out on Aug 1), we discuss the relevance, or lack thereof, of quantum mechanics to explaining consciousness. Here’s a small roundup of debunking articles on the topic, including Baars’ own piece, co-authored with David Edelman.
- Litt, A., Eliasmith, C., Kroon, F. W., Weinstein, S., & Thagard, P. (2006). Is the brain a quantum computer? Cognitive Science, 30, 593–603.
- Grush, Rick, and Patricia Chuchland (1995). Gaps in Penrose's Toilings Journal of Consciousness Studies. 2(1):10 - 29.
- Baars B, & Edelman D. Consciousness, biology and quantum hypotheses. Phys Life Rev. 2012 Sep;9(3):285-94. doi: 10.1016/j.plrev.2012.07.001. Epub 2012 Jul 10.
BONUS: Here’s a recent article presenting a sympathetic treatment of the pro side: Quentin Ruyant’s "Is quantum mechanics relevant to the philosophy of mind (and the other way around)?" at Scientia Salon.
We're only a few days away from episode 10, which is all about consciousness with guest neuroscientist Bernard Baars. To help you get ultra stoked, here are some helpful study materials:
The matter duplicator on board the SpaceTimeMind mothership just went "ding" and another MindChunk popped out. Hurry and take a look before we toss it out of the airlock.
Will the debate over mind uploading be settled by one of the sides going extinct? http://www.spacetimemind.com
Download: MP3 Audio (64MB)
Episode Notes and Links
Episode Notes
This is the first of several episodes of the SpaceTimeMind podcast wherein amateur chrononauts Richard Brown and Pete Mandik tackle topics in the physics and metaphysics of time. In this episode, one of the main ideas we kick around is whether any moments exist beyond the present moment. Additionally, we tackle the issue of whether it makes any more sense to say that time flows than it does to say that space moves. If time flows at some rate, must there exist a hypertime relative to which first-order time changes? And is the ensuing infinite regress an intolerable ontic horror? Finally, we discuss the relationship between the phenomenology of time experience and the metaphysics of time by exploring whether a computer simulation of a brain would notice being run backwards in time. WARNING: Under no circumstances should you attempt to listen to any part of this episode backwards.
(The music in the episode is by our band, Quiet Karate Reflex. The song in the intro is "SpaceTimeMind Theme Song" [link to music video] and in the middle break and outro is "Time Consciousness." More of Quiet Karate Reflex's music can be heard here: http://quietkaratereflex.bandcamp.com/.)
(The video chat between Richard and Pete that this episode's audio is drawn from is viewable on YouTube. See especially the first half.)
Links
Tomorrow we release SpaceTimeMind podcast episode 9, one of several planned episodes on the physics and metaphysics of time. In order to whip your hungry brains into an anticipatory froth, be sure to check out the following classic song-and-dance productions covering such topics as change and temporal becoming, perdurantism vs. endurantism, and McTaggart's paradox. Apologies ahead of time (ha!) for any earworms you may catch from the delightful songs contained below.
First, check out the under appreciated and overlooked extravaganza, "The Tense View of Time and You, Parts 1 and 2," a 2006 musical comedy posted by YouTube user, dapootieman. How this has fewer views than Gangam Style is an eternal mystery.
Second, check out the second installment of the absolutely bonkers show for "kids", Don't Hug Me I'm Scared, informatively entitled "TIME."
Just how tightly do biological facts constrain facts about consciousness? Are radically alien or machine minds possible? Or is a mind without a brain like a square without corners? We tackle these questions in this latest installment of the MindChunks video series. This is excerpted from the discussion Richard Brown and Pete Mandik had with Eric Schwitzgebel. For the rest, be sure to check out Episode 8: Alien and Machine Minds.
Are there biological requirements on consciousness? Do we know enough about what life is to use it as a meaningful test on what does and doesn't have consciousness? Richard Brown leans toward "yes" while Pete Mandik leans toward "no." This is an excerpt from our conversation with philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel.
