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Category: neuroscience – Page 186

Join the late, renowned philosopher and cognitive scientist Daniel C Dennett on a captivating journey of intellectual exploration through his own life.

Sign up as a member to watch the Q\&A here: • Q\&A: A life of the mind — Daniel Dennett.
Buy Daniel’s book here: https://geni.us/K3Ja.

This lecture was recorded on 3 October 2023 at the Ri.

We had some difficulties with the internet connection at the beginning of this video, but it improves after that, so keep watching!

00:00 Introduction.
2:30 The importance of making mistakes.
7:30 Tools of the mind.
11:20 How can you get the right knowledge?
14:24 Douglas Hofstadter and Joosting.
19:46 Richard Dawkins and memes.
22:57 Ruth Millikan and language.
24:20 Giulio Tononi and the IIT controversy.
31:50 Descartes’ mistakes.
35:50 Daniel’s biggest mistake.
40:43 Helping philosophers and scientists to imagine.
43:07 Julian Jaynes, consciousness and dualism.
48:22 More iconoclasts of philosophy.
52:46 Karl Pribram and James Gibson.

From his formative years in Beirut to his academic pursuits at Harvard, and from the vibrant jazz clubs of Paris to his introspective musings on his tractor in Maine, discover the stories behind some of his most influential books, such as ‘Consciousness Explained’ and ‘Darwin’s Dangerous Idea’. Whose contents have reshaped our understanding of the mind, consciousness and the nature of the human experience.

Continue reading “A life of the mind — with Daniel Dennett” | >

The neurons that produce a sick feeling and food aversion are distinct from those that induce a feeling of fullness.

By Mariana Lenharo & Nature magazine

Next-generation anti-obesity drugs such as Wegovy can melt away weight — but they can also cause intolerable nausea. Now scientists have pinpointed a brain pathway that is involved in this common side effect, raising the prospect of effective weight-loss drugs that don’t make people sick1.

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Toddlers engage more regions of their brains around 16-months to help them develop important cognitive skills enabling them to follow simple instructions and control impulses. Findings from the study, led by the Universities of Bristol and Oxford, and published in Imaging Neuroscience, suggests 16 months is a critical period for brain development.

A child’s first two years of life are crucial for developing cognitive skills, particularly executive functions that help adjust thoughts, actions, and behaviours for everyday life.

Inhibitory control is one important executive function. This particular skills allows individuals to stop themselves from doing something out of impulse, habit or temptation. It’s already known that inhibitory control begins to develop in infancy and grows into early childhood. However, until now, the brain mechanisms involved in its development were unclear.

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A study investigating the effect of sleep on brain performance has found a link between an individual’s preference for morning or evening activity and their brain function, suggesting that self-declared “night owls” generally tend to have higher cognitive scores.

Researchers at Imperial College London looked at data from more than 26,000 people to find out how different aspects of sleep—including duration, patterns, and quality—affected mental sharpness and overall cognitive ability.

Using data from the extensive UK Biobank database, they analyzed information on U.K. adults who had completed a number of cognitive tests—including whether people described themselves as a “ person” or an “ person,” referring to which time of the day they felt more alert and productive.

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Why did the experience of consciousness evolve from our underlying brain physiology? Despite being a vibrant area of neuroscience, current research on consciousness is characterised by disagreement and controversy – with several rival theories in contention.

A recent scoping review of over 1,000 articles identified over 20 different theoretical accounts. Philosophers like David Chalmers argue that no single scientific theory can truly explain consciousness.

We define consciousness as embodied subjective awareness, including self awareness. In a recent article published in Interalia (which is not peer reviewed), we argue that one reason for this predicament is the powerful role played by intuition.

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To create one-time cures for Alzheimer’s disease, researchers are investigating the application of CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing for novel therapies. Cutting and pasting genes is difficult with current technology, but CRISPR gene editing may help later stages or those individuals with hereditary mutations. Variants in the lipid transport protein apolipoprotein E (APOE4) have been associated with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, with a three-to twelve-fold increase in risk.

Researchers engineered the Christchurch gene variation into mice bearing human APOE4 using CRISPR. After that, these mice were crossed, resulting in progeny that carried one or two copies of the modified variation.

The group discovered that mice bearing a single copy of the APOE4-Christchurch variation exhibited a partial defense against Alzheimer’s disease. The disease did not exhibit typical symptoms in mice carrying two copies. The work mimics the advantageous effects of the Christchurch mutation to propose possible treatment strategies for Alzheimer’s disease associated with APOE4.

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The Omega Point cosmo-teleology emerges from the intersection of quantum cosmology, teleology, and complex systems theory. Originally conceptualized by French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the Omega Point envisions the universe evolving towards a state of maximum complexity and consciousness (Teilhard de Chardin, 1955). Such a state represents the ultimate goal and culmination of cosmic evolution, wherein the convergence of mind and matter leads to a unified superintelligence.

The Omega Point theory postulates that the universe’s evolution is directed towards increasing complexity and consciousness, a teleological process with a purposeful end goal (Teilhard de Chardin, 1955). The concept was further refined by physicists and cosmologists, including John David Garcia (Garcia, 1996), Paolo Soleri (Soleri, 2001), Terence McKenna (McKenna, 1991), Frank Tipler (Tipler, 1994), and Andrew Strominger (Strominger, 2016).

A complementary perspective to the Omega Point theory is found in the Holographic Principle, which posits that all information within our universe is encoded on its boundary. Such an idea suggests our three-dimensional reality is a projection from this two-dimensional surface (Bekenstein, 2003). In the holographic universe, everything we perceive is a reflection of data encoded at the cosmic edge, which could imply that our entire universe resides within a black hole of a larger universe (Susskind, 1995). This perspective aligns with the concept of maximum informational density at the Omega Point and highlights the profound interconnectedness of all phenomena, blurring the boundaries between mind, matter, and the cosmos into a singular, computational entity.

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Did you know that the nervous system can help to build and repair bone?

Researchers identify a key brain-derived hormone that repairs bone in both sexes and critically maintains bone density in lactating female mice.

Researchers have found that a brain hormone called CCN3, produced by specific…

A brain-derived hormone, CCN3, is newly identified to have a role as an osteoanabolic factor to build bone in lactating females and in the viability of offspring.

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“Forget about essences.” Philosopher Daniel Dennett on how modern-day philosophers should be more collaborative with scientists if they want to make revolutionary developments in their fields.

Up next, How Temple Grandin embraces autism ► • Einstein would probably be in an aut…

Philosophy and science haven’t always gone hand-in-hand. Here’s why that should change.

Daniel Dennett, an Emeritus Professor from Tufts University and prolific author, provides an overview of his work at the intersection of philosophy and science. Many of today’s philosophers are too isolated in their pursuits, he explains, as they dedicate their intellect purely to age-old philosophical ideas without considering the advancements of modern science. If our understanding of reality evolves with every new scientific breakthrough, shouldn’t philosophical thought develop alongside it?

In just 11 minutes, Dennett outlines the four eras he evolved through on his own journey as a philosopher: classical philosophy, evolutionary theory, memetic theory, and the intentional stance. Each stage added depth to his perspective and understanding, enriching his personal journey as a philosopher and his analysis of how philosophy, when used correctly, can help us comprehend human behavior.

Dennett’s key takeaway is a request for philosophers to reevaluate their methodologies, urging modern-day thinkers to embrace the insights offered by new scientific discoveries. By combining the existential and theoretical viewpoints of philosophers with the analytical and evidential perspective of scientists, we can begin to fully and accurately interpret the world around us. Maybe, with this type of collaboration, we can begin to answer the questions that started our intellectual pursuits in the first place, so many hundreds of years ago.

Continue reading “The 4 biggest ideas in philosophy, with legend Daniel Dennett for Big Think+” | >