Can we measure consciousness? - Many Minds
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- Title
- Can we measure consciousness?
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- <p class="MsoNormal"><span style= "font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> A cluster of brain cells in a dish, pulsing with electrical activity. A bee buzzing its way through a garden in bloom. A newborn baby staring up into his mother's eyes. What all these entities have in common is that we don't quite know what it’s like to be them—or, really, whether it's like anything at all. We don't really know, in other words, whether they’re conscious. But maybe we could know—if only we developed the right test. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style= "font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> My guest today is <a href= "https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/timothy-bayne">Dr. Tim Bayne</a>. Tim is Professor of Philosophy at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. He’s a philosopher of mind and cognitive science, with a particular interest in the nature of consciousness. Along with a large team of co-authors, Tim recently published an article titled <a href= "https://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences/fulltext/S1364-6613(24)00010-X"> 'Tests for consciousness in humans and beyond</a>.' In it, they review the current landscape of consciousness tests—or “C-tests”, as they call them—and outline strategies for building more and better tests down the road. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style= "font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Here, Tim and I discuss what consciousness is and why theories of it seem to be proliferating. We consider several of the boundary cases that are most hotly debated right now in the field—cases like brain organoids, neonates, and split-brain patients. We sketch a few of the most prominent current consciousness tests: the command following test, the sniff test, the unlimited associative learning test, and the test for AI consciousness. We talk about how we might be able to inch our way, slowly, toward something like a thermometer for consciousness: a universal test that tells us whether an entity is conscious, or to what degree, or even what kind of conscious it is. Along the way, Tim and I talk about zombies, chatbots, brains in vats, and islands of awareness. And we muse about how, in certain respects, consciousness is like temperature, or perhaps more like happiness or wealth or intelligence, and maybe even a bit like fire. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style= "font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> I think you'll enjoy this one, friends—it's a thought-provoking conversation on a foundational topic, and one that takes us far and wide. So without further ado, here's my interview with Dr. Tim Bayne. Enjoy!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style= "font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style= "font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> A transcript of this episode will be available soon.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style= "font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><em><u><span style= "font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Notes and links</span></u></em></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style= "font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">4:45 – The philosopher Dan Dennett, who passed away in April, was known for his writings on consciousness—among them his 1991 book, <em style= "mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href= "https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/daniel-c-dennett/consciousness-explained/9780316439480/?lens=little-brown"> Consciousness Explained</a></em>.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style= "font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">7:00 – The <a href= "https://digirepo.nlm.nih.gov/ext/document/101584582X469/PDF/101584582X469.pdf"> classic paper</a> on the neural correlates of consciousness, by Francis Crick and Christof Koch. </span><span style= "font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style= "f
- Publication Date
- 2024-05-16T03:30:00+00:00
- Status
- completed
- Website
- https://manyminds.libsyn.com/can-we-measure-consciousness
- Length
- 70:28
- File
- /podcasts/Many Minds/1715830200-4803.mp3
- Size
- 96.78 MB
- Bitrate
- 187-CBR
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- 1
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