With the onset of the Covid-19 coronavirus, many of us are in the midst of a time for self-isolation. So...I figured this would be the perfect time to try to isolate the self!
It's an exciting time for the study of consciousness right now with a wide range of ideas and scientific studies being discussed and released. For a while now, I have felt that I've not written enough about this subject to wrap my head around it all, but after going through a deluge of podcasts, talks, and articles about it, I think the time is finally right for me to dive in. I've also just agreed to take part in a one-on-one public discussion about this (and other things) for a Darwin Day lecture in 2021, so I really do need to get up to speed.
With that said, I'm going to do something different on the blog here. Rather than write one ginormous post about consciousness, I'm going to publish this as a long series of shorter posts. I'm going to try to do this every other day to give people a little time to read, listen, digest, and comment along the way, but I don't want this to spread out too long so the plot gets lost along the way. Right now, I've got 16 posts in mind, so this will take a little over a month. Hopefully that will get us through the worst of this pandemic. Here's the plan:
1. Introduction to the Series
2. Sam and Annaka Harris on A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind
3. David Chalmers on The Hard Problem of Consciousness
4. Phillip Goff vs. Massimo Pigliucci on Panpsychism
5. Keith Frankish on Why Consciousness is an Illusion
6. Dan Dennett (Part 1) on Consciousness from Bacteria to Bach and Back
7. Dan Dennett (Part 2) on Responses to His Work
8. Patricia Churchland on Neuroscience and the Evolution of Our Brains
9. Stanislas Dehaene on Consciousness and the Brain
10. Antonio Damasio on The Strange Order of Things
11. Todd Feinberg and Jon Mallatt on Consciousness Demystified
12. Joseph Ledoux on The Deep History of Ourselves
13. Michael Graziano on Rethinking Consciousness
14. Christof Koch on The Feeling of Life Itself
15. Steven Gimbel on What a Theory Is
15. Additional Considerations from Evolutionary Philosophy
16. Conclusion — My Current Theory of Consciousness
I'll be back soon for part 2. In the meantime, spread the word (non-contact please) to anyone else who might be interested in this. Maybe let me know in the comments below what your current thinking on this subject is. It'd be interesting to see how that might change along the way. No matter what, I hope it will be a fun ride!
It's an exciting time for the study of consciousness right now with a wide range of ideas and scientific studies being discussed and released. For a while now, I have felt that I've not written enough about this subject to wrap my head around it all, but after going through a deluge of podcasts, talks, and articles about it, I think the time is finally right for me to dive in. I've also just agreed to take part in a one-on-one public discussion about this (and other things) for a Darwin Day lecture in 2021, so I really do need to get up to speed.
With that said, I'm going to do something different on the blog here. Rather than write one ginormous post about consciousness, I'm going to publish this as a long series of shorter posts. I'm going to try to do this every other day to give people a little time to read, listen, digest, and comment along the way, but I don't want this to spread out too long so the plot gets lost along the way. Right now, I've got 16 posts in mind, so this will take a little over a month. Hopefully that will get us through the worst of this pandemic. Here's the plan:
1. Introduction to the Series
2. Sam and Annaka Harris on A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind
3. David Chalmers on The Hard Problem of Consciousness
4. Phillip Goff vs. Massimo Pigliucci on Panpsychism
5. Keith Frankish on Why Consciousness is an Illusion
6. Dan Dennett (Part 1) on Consciousness from Bacteria to Bach and Back
7. Dan Dennett (Part 2) on Responses to His Work
8. Patricia Churchland on Neuroscience and the Evolution of Our Brains
9. Stanislas Dehaene on Consciousness and the Brain
10. Antonio Damasio on The Strange Order of Things
11. Todd Feinberg and Jon Mallatt on Consciousness Demystified
12. Joseph Ledoux on The Deep History of Ourselves
13. Michael Graziano on Rethinking Consciousness
14. Christof Koch on The Feeling of Life Itself
15. Steven Gimbel on What a Theory Is
15. Additional Considerations from Evolutionary Philosophy
16. Conclusion — My Current Theory of Consciousness
I'll be back soon for part 2. In the meantime, spread the word (non-contact please) to anyone else who might be interested in this. Maybe let me know in the comments below what your current thinking on this subject is. It'd be interesting to see how that might change along the way. No matter what, I hope it will be a fun ride!
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