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Category Archives: Consciousness and Free Will

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The human brain: thinking meat, caring meat, loving meat

Lectures in Science and Religion Posted on August 12, 2017 by A_2much_2soonSeptember 29, 2017

  Think about all your dreams, loves, memories, and fears. Think about yourself as an individual existing through time. Somehow all this arises from three pounds of meat packed inside your skull. How is this possible? There is nothing we … Continue reading →

Posted in Consciousness and Free Will, Introduction | Tagged Animal consciousness, Bats, David Chalmers, Explanatory gap, God of the gaps, Hard problem, Physicalism, Supernatural, Supervenience, Thomas Nagel | 1 Reply

Ghosts and zombies: Descartes and substance dualism

Lectures in Science and Religion Posted on August 11, 2017 by A_2much_2soonSeptember 29, 2017

  The 17th century Frenchman René Descartes is often called the father of modern philosophy. He developed a theory of consciousness that makes perfect sense. Now being called a Cartesian dualist is a serious insult. What went wrong? Music: Borodin, … Continue reading →

Posted in Consciousness and Free Will, Introduction | Tagged Automatons, Colin McGinn, Descartes, Determinism, Dualism, Epiphenomenalism, Free Will, Ghosts, Monism, Soul, Substance, Vision, Zombies | Leave a reply

Neurons, dendrites, axons, and calculating chemicals

Lectures in Science and Religion Posted on August 10, 2017 by A_2much_2soonSeptember 29, 2017

  The brain works in strange ways. Einstein’s inferior parietal lobe was 15% larger that yours or mine. That made him a genius. A construction worker named Phineas Gage had  part of his brain destroyed in a blasting accident. That … Continue reading →

Posted in Consciousness and Free Will, Vision | Tagged Axons, Complexity, Dendrites, Einstein, Neurons, Phineas Gage, Synapse | Leave a reply

The mysteries of vision

Lectures in Science and Religion Posted on August 9, 2017 by A_2much_2soonSeptember 29, 2017

  Did you know that you have as many synapses in your brain as there are leaves on all the trees in the Amazon rain forest and each synapse can do arithmetical calculations using protein molecules?   Music: Scriabin, Opus … Continue reading →

Posted in Consciousness and Free Will, Vision | Tagged Functional MRI, Lateral geniculate nucleus, Neural Correlates, Primary visual cortex, Retina, Rods and cones | 1 Reply

Is the brain a computer? (Was Commander Data human?)

Lectures in Science and Religion Posted on August 8, 2017 by A_2much_2soonSeptember 29, 2017

    What if our brains are just complicated computers? We know how computers work, so we must understand everything about consciousness. Is it really that simple?   Music: J. S. Bach, Toccatas BWV 910-916 Mehmet Okonsar, piano The pdf … Continue reading →

Posted in Computers, Consciousness and Free Will | Tagged Artificial intelligence, Charles Babbage, Deep Blue, John von Neumann | Leave a reply

Artificial intelligence and the Chinese room

Lectures in Science and Religion Posted on August 7, 2017 by A_2much_2soonSeptember 29, 2017

Would it be possible to build a computer that was conscious in the same way that we are? There is a classic (and controversial) argument to the effect that this is impossible, even in principle. Just imagine — you are … Continue reading →

Posted in Computers, Consciousness and Free Will | Tagged Alan Touring, Chinese room argument, John Searle, Neural net computers, Touring machine, Touring test | Leave a reply

Physicalism: only matter matters

Lectures in Science and Religion Posted on August 6, 2017 by A_2much_2soonSeptember 29, 2017

Does your conscious mind have any effect on your brain? Maybe not. Some claim that our consciousness is like the rainbow over a waterfall. The waterfall causes it, but the rainbow in turn has no effect on the waterfall. This … Continue reading →

Posted in Consciousness and Free Will, Physicalism | Tagged Downward causation, Emergentism, Epiphenomenalism, Inverted spectrum argument, Physicalism, Reductive physicalism, Supervenience | Leave a reply

Physicalism and Black and White Mary

Lectures in Science and Religion Posted on August 5, 2017 by A_2much_2soonSeptember 29, 2017

Is it true that consciousness is purely physical? The most famous argument against this point of view is the story of Black and White Mary.   Music: Beethoven, String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Third Movement, Orion Quartet  Licensed … Continue reading →

Posted in Consciousness and Free Will, Physicalism | Tagged Bats, Binding problem, Black and white Mary, Explanatory gap, Mysterianism, Qualia, Quantum mechanics, Thomas Nagel | Leave a reply

Free will: compatibilists and incompatibilists

Lectures in Science and Religion Posted on August 4, 2017 by A_2much_2soonSeptember 29, 2017

As you probably know, the Vogons destroyed the earth many years ago to make way for a new hyperspace bypass. What you may not know is that from some points of view, Vogon Thursdays come before Wednesday. This means that … Continue reading →

Posted in Consciousness and Free Will, Free Will | Tagged Block time, Compatibilists, Contextualism, Operational definition | Leave a reply

Free will, quantum mechanics, chaos theory, and the infinite dance

Lectures in Science and Religion Posted on August 3, 2017 by A_2much_2soonSeptember 29, 2017

Physicists know all about simple nonlinear systems. Under some circumstances they display a strange kind of behavior that is not quite deterministic and yet not chaotic in the usual sense of the word. You might say it’s orderly disorder. Is … Continue reading →

Posted in Consciousness and Free Will, Free Will | Tagged Benjamin Libit, Chaos theory, Meaningless questions, Quantum mechanics | Leave a reply

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Age of the Earth Age of the Universe Bats Benjamin Libit Binding problem Black and white Mary Block time Brute fact Chaos theory Chinese room argument Compatibilists Contextualism Determinism Downward causation Dualism Emergentism Epipenhomenalism Epiphenomenalism Evolution Explanatory gap Free Will God of the gaps Henry James Inverted spectrum argument Jessica Wison John Searle Karl Popper Materialism Meaningless questions Miracles Monism Mysterianism Naturalism Operational definition Panpsychism Pascal Physicalism Predestination Qualia Quantum mechanics Reductive physicalism Solipsism Supernatural Supervenience Thomas Nagel
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