We are all conscious. That is to say; we all experience. We experience sights sounds, sensations, thoughts and emotions. We have inner lives.
Thomas Nagel once beautifully illustrated the point of what consciousness is by asking the question: What is it like to be a bat?
For something to be conscious, it would have to "be like something" to be that thing.
A bit of an experiment; we will be talking about what consciousness is and how it arises - why is it our nervous systems give rise to this rich flow of experience moment-to-moment.
Natural questions that arise from this include; when are we first conscious - at which stage of development inside or outside the womb? Are other animals also conscious? All of them or some of them? To what extent? What about computers? Could AI become conscious? Are any of them already so? Is it "like something" to be one?
This conversation will be a little different.
Think Inc is hosting a digital event on the Neuroscience of Consciousness - I encourage all of you to attend, it is only $20 a ticket.
It is happening this Sunday evening (17th May, 7 pm) and the Neuroscientist Anil Seth will be giving a presentation on the Neuroscience of Consciousness.
You can buy tickets here: https://thinkinc.org.au/events/outside-the-box/seth/
Consider this to be *one* of the optional relevant resources for the upcoming discussion.
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Relevant Resources:
I highly recommend checking these out, especially if you are unable to attend the event with Anil Seth. We will have more to discuss that way!
> Anil Seth's TED Talk: Your Brain Hallucinates your conscious reality (~20 minutes) https://www.ted.com/talks/anil_seth_your_brain_hallucinates_your_conscious_reality
> Your Best Guide to Solving the Mystery of Consciousness Yet on Annaka Harris' book: https://www.quietrev.com/your-best-guide-yet-to-solving-the-mystery-of-consciousness/
> What is Consciousness? - A letter I wrote to clarify the definition of the word: https://sashinexists.com/letter/what-is-consciousness/
> The Mystery of Consciousness by Sam Harris: https://samharris.org/the-mystery-of-consciousness/
> Consciousness and the Self: A Conversation between Neuroscientists Anil Seth and Sam Harris https://samharris.org/podcasts/113-consciousness-and-the-self/
> BONUS MATERIAL: Ode to the Brain - a music video by Melodysheep https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB7jSFeVz1U
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Joining the event
As usual we are using Zoom, you will need to download the software from https://zoom.us if you haven't.
Here is a link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88512868830?pwd=NWoxTW9YdmNCN0lhbVJMRjNvRUtlUT09
The link should be all you need, but just in case it isn't:
The meeting ID is:[masked]
The password is:[masked]
