Lifeboat Foundation

Why is consciousness so contentious? Neuroscience can increasingly explain many facets of consciousness, but what about conscious awareness itself? Some philosophers claim that although facets of consciousness—such as how we see edges or colors—can be explained, we have no possibility of explaining, in purely physical terms, the experience of consciousness.

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Continue reading “Tim Bayne — Is Consciousness Irreducible?” »

Could psychedelics make you more creative? Shift your mind, connect you to others, and help you access a younger, more malleable version of yourself? Activist Rick Doblin, neuroscientist Gül Dölen, and musician Reggie Watts join Brian Greene for a mind-bending and multidisciplinary conversation about the promises and pitfalls of these “magic” molecules and their impact on creativity, connection, and consciousness.

This program is part of the Big Ideas series, supported by the John Templeton Foundation.

Continue reading “Psychedelics: Chemicals, Consciousness, and Creativity” »

Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution. The gradualism of evolution has explained and dissolved life’s mysteries—life’s seemingly irreducible complexity and the illusion that living things possess some sort of mysterious vitalizing essence. So, too, evolution is likely to be key to demystifying the seemingly inexplicable, ethereal nature of consciousness.

First, what does it even mean to say that “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution”? If the chosen topic is human consciousness, Martin Luther King and Mother Teresa come quickly to mind. But then what does the term “evolution” contribute to the discussion of the origin of human consciousness? Is it something useful or something theorists are stuck with, come what may?

Science theories should make predictions. Who predicted either King or Mother Teresa?

New research indicates that consciousness may rely on quantum mechanics. Perhaps the brain does not operate in a “classical” way.

Can quantum theory explain consciousness?

Circa 2021 face_with_colon_three

We are finally testing the ideas that quantum collapse in the brain gives rise to consciousness and that consciousness creates the reality we see from the quantum world.

Synopsis: In this talk we articulate a positive vision of the future that is both viable given what we know, and also utterly radical in its implications. We introduce two key insights that, when taken together, synergize in powerful ways. Namely, (a) the long-tails of pleasure and pain, and (b) the correlation between wellbeing, productivity, and intelligence. This informs us how to distribute resources if we want to maximize wellbeing. Given the weight of the extremes, it is important to take them into account. But because of the causal significance of more typical hedonic ranges, engineering our baseline is a key consideration. This makes it natural to break down the task of paradise engineering into three components:

Avoid negative extremes.
increase hedonic baseline, and.
achieve new heights of experience.

Continue reading “The Future of Consciousness — Andrés Gómez Emilsson” »

The mathematician shares his latest theories on quantum consciousness, the structure of the universe and how to communicate with civilisations from other cosmological aeons.

Is LaMDA at Google sentient? Is the current state of the art AI showing signs of having qualia? The phenomenal binding problem asks us to consider, ‘how can huge set of discrete neurons form a unified mind?’ Is topological binding a requirement for AI to be sentient?

Many thanks for tuning in!

Continue reading “AI, Sentience & the Binding Problem of Consciousness — is LaMDA sentient? — Andrés Gómez Emilsson” »