Dan Dennett - Consciousness 1-3

Feb. 2003

About this talk
Philosopher Dan Dennett makes a compelling argument that not only don't we understand our own consciousness, but that half the time our brains are actively fooling us.

Why you should listen to him: .One of our most important living philosophers, Dan Dennett is best known for his provocative and controversial arguments that human consciousness and free will are the result of physical processes in the brain. He argues that the brain's computational circuitry fools us into thinking we know more than we do, and that what we call consciousness — isn't.

This mind-shifting perspective on the mind itself has distinguished Dennett's career as a philosopher and cognitive scientist. And while the philosophy community has never quite known what to make of Dennett (he defies easy categorization, and refuses to affiliate himself with accepted schools of thought), his computational approach to understanding the brain has made him, as Edge's John Brockman writes, "the philosopher of choice of the AI community."

"It's tempting to say that Dennett has never met a robot he didn't like, and that what he likes most about them is that they are philosophical experiments," Harry Blume wrote in the Atlantic Monthly in 1998. "To the question of whether machines can attain high-order intelligence, Dennett makes this provocative answer: 'The best reason for believing that robots might some day become conscious is that we human beings are conscious, and we are a sort of robot ourselves.'"

In recent years, Dennett has become outspoken in his atheism, and his 2006 book Breaking the Spell calls for religion to be studied through the scientific lens of evolutionary biology. Dennett regards religion as a natural -- rather than supernatural -- phenomenon, and urges schools to break the taboo against empirical examination of religion. He argues that religion's influence over human behavior is precisely what makes gaining a rational understanding of it so necessary: "If we don't understand religion, we're going to miss our chance to improve the world in the 21st century."

A prolific writer, Dennett's landmark books include The Mind's I, co-edited with Douglas Hofstedter, Consciousness Explained, and Darwin's Dangerous Idea.
"Dan Dennett is our best current philosopher. He is the next Bertrand Russell. Unlike traditional philosophers, Dan is a student of neuroscience, linguistics, artificial intelligence, computer science, and psychology. He's redefining and reforming the role of the philosopher."
Marvin Minsky

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Philosophy
• Dan Dennett
• consciousness
• brain
• human
• free will
• mind-shifting
• experiments
• high-order intelligence
• atheism
• Breaking the Spell
• evolution
• biology
• Darwin's Dangerous Idea
• Bertrand Russell
• neuroscience
• linguistics
• artificial intelligence
• computer science
• psychology
• faith
• reason
• knowledge
• education
• science

[outlaw87100]

@Jdabomb93 David Icke is an idiot

[shawndimery]

I am currently reading 'Consciousness Explained' by Daniel Dennett, its a brilliant book and I recommend it to anybody interested in philosophical questions.

[1simonmatthews]

@SciTechExplained Whatever. I'll believe it when someone builds a conscious machine. And I don't think they ever will, unless they learn how to harness whatever it is that already exists in nature. No computer will ever possess consciousness, I don't care how complex it is.

[SciTechExplained]

@1simonmatthews He's done a lot of work in the field of philosophy of mind, buddy. Philosophers are usually not experimenters; can you sense the difference? You're just talking out of your ass!

[1simonmatthews]

@SciTechExplained What, how's Dan Dennett going to finance the construction of a conscious machine? Well, I was kinda thinking that some rich people from the computer industry would get involved. I didn't actually think he'd do it all himself lol

[SciTechExplained]

@1simonmatthews , How is he gonna do that, buddy? Financially i mean. We all can't do individually all there needs to be done. Societies do that. People gather and unite their talents for the good of us all...

Dedicating his whole life writing over 10 books about the brain & mind makes him a hypocrite? Pretty funny!

All of you qualophiles have done a great deal of good though, postponing the explanation of consciousness by postulating the Q ! Good Job !

[Kassie0ate0a0cow]

Oh I love Dan Dennett :D

[1simonmatthews]

I look forward to seeing Dan Dennett back up his claims by constructing a machine capable of performing the "magic trick" of consciousness. Until that time I have to call him a hypocrite.

[Jdabomb93]

David icke is also good...