Dan Dennett is the man. He's SO smart, and he is taking on stuff that almost every human that ever lived thought were unanswerable questions. It's minds like this that allow us to see life and reality in ways we never thought possible.

This might just be the greatest thing I've ever come across on KZread. Haha. Thanks so much for the upload! :-)

I love you Daniel Dennet, I really do, you're the true doctor here to treat thos who suffer their own intelligence.

In the past neuroscientists had attempted to find a unique correlate for consciousness in the brain, and had come up short. “We can correlate motor action to the motor cortex, vision to the optical nerve and the visual cortex, certain feelings such as arousal, pleasure, and excitement to neurotransmitters. However, the search for the neural correlate of consciousness has come up empty.” (quoted from thebigview)

Whoa, that video is absolutely mind-blowing! A soul made from machines.

Whoaaa Dan Dennett topless--never thought I'd see that!

@coldarc The difference between DNA and a tornado is that the particles that make DNA are in a rigid and unchanging configuration while the particles that make (more like caught in) a tornado are fluid and do not stay in same position. The shape of the two objects is not all that matters about the objects. The constituents of the objects are as important as the objects themselves.

Back in the late 90's when this came out I was more interested in Michio Kaku's exposition but I somehow ended up here today.. I wonder if this trajectory was a trend..

This guy is my hero !

@SousSherpa I'm a secularist (agnostic atheist, atheist in leaning, agnostic in claim to knowledge) but I was raised Catholic and I think it's very important for people to realize that most Catholics and most Christians in general for that matter are like you. I'm guessing you believe like Francis Collins does, in theistic evolution or something of the sorts. While I have a different hunch about what the starter was, I certainly respect Catholics like you. Great comment.

Additionally I don’t see how you can call a belief in non-material consciousness to be ‘pseudoscience’, given the fact that materialism is an unproven belief system in itself. Materialism is a belief based on scientific observations (correlations between mind and brain). The dualist filter view of the brain does not conflict with any of these correlations, and in fact can explain more of the totality of what we know.

i enjoyed watching this video very much. My only complaint is somebody has put some annoying music over the top which i found quite distracting.

@crambo0349 alot of people dont have the courage to truley examine there deeply held beliefs and realize a mistake congratulations on being able to so such its very admirable in my opinion.

@YourUTubeMonitor I'm always trying to build my vocabulary, thanks. So much in fact that I am compelled to ask you where you found, or how you came to, this definition of paranoia. Where is paranoia defined as an absence of faith? I've been checking around and all I've been able to find are other quotes from you here on youtube in which you've written the exact same comment as the one here which I originally commented on. "Paranoia = faithlessness." How so?

"Sì, abbiamo un'anima. Ma è fatta di tanti piccoli robot "Yes, we have a soul, but its made of lots of tiny robots." amazing

Sorry for the late reply. Kastrup's position could be summarized as a form of idealism. You can find more about his position by checking out his skeptiko interview. If you google 'bernardo kastrup skeptiko' his interview should be the first result.

One must have faith in all things physical as faith is a necessity in the planning of every deliberate action. One must have faith that the sun will rise on the morrow; the tides will ebb & flow; that your amalgam filings will last another year; that the mortar that binds the bricks of your house will maintain their integrity. A person devoid of faith suffers psychologically. Paranoia is defined as an absence of faith & reason.

do you have any more recordings of tech tv?

He even speaks Italian. Quite fluently too!

nice..

Sorry for the belated response. Your comment was buried. "mind=brain doesn't conflict with anything we know." Mind=brain conflicts with many things. Accurate veridical perception during near death experiences, shared near death experiences, terminal lucidity in cases of severe brain damage, shared Death Bed Visions, and more. A dualist model does works just as well with everything we know about the brain, and does not conflict with these things.

The current materialist position is born of this failure. It is like saying that “while we can’t define what is and is not conscious, or understand how consciousness arises, surely consciousness must be in the brain somewhere” It’s not an explanation at all, it’s just a way of dodging the hard problems of consciousness.

All things require faith. Paranoia = faithlessness. Spend time building your vocabulary.

@YourUTubeMonitor I think we're operating under different definitions of the word 'faith.' Faith' as I hear it most commonly invoked, is belief in the absence of evidence. This was my original point, which you seemed to have missed. Belief that the sun will come up does not require faith once one has an understanding of why the sun continues comes up; an understanding that it's Earth's rotation that causes the sun to come up and that the Earth isn't going to stop rotating any time soon.

@crambo0349 Powerful.

I wonder what Dennett thinks of Martin Heidegger?

@CambridgeHeights- I *have* seen lots of his other work and it is exceptionally clearly reasoned. @Derman- Quantum physics doesn't show 'all is one', nor does Richard Dawkins recognise 'invisible connections' @cfarinho1- yes, unintelligent things can be intelligible @theocean1973- Do rocks exist? they don't think. Does a chess player exist more when he is thinking hard about a move, than when he goes fishing and spaces out?

Yes, you do. (Steps back to avoid being splashed by various brains exploding.)

Dan Dennett sure does like taking the mechanical stance.

Why is "I think therefore I am" wrong? Just wondering, Dennett doesn't explain why.

How do you explain creativity to creativity? Once you think you understood it, it will make subterfuge and behave exactly contrary to your propositions.

The last newest comment was 5 years ago. Not anymore

Fan of Searle?

on computers information can be wirelessly transfered. if consciousness is a program why does it have to come from a machine, why not another program transmitted separated from that machine? maybe the machine is not a machine but a program that emulate machine like behavior? have people ever tried Virtual PC inside a PC? the universe might be just like that. a program that simulate a machine that simulate a program that simulate a machine indefinitely?

I think dualism is a much better explanation than this mind=brain rubbish, but it should be noted that standard dualism is not the only contender here. Bernardo Kastrup combined the filter view of the brain with a form of idealism in his skeptiko interview. At present that is my favored model because it is every bit as simple as the physical explanation, and conflicts with less of what we know.

how do we know that consciousness can only exist in biological form? what if consciousness can exist in space in nebulas? our bodies at atomic scale behave like plasma. everything in the universe seem to exist in spirals. what's the difference between twisting DNA and tornadoes? why do we have to divide the universe into many realities each seen differently? maybe there is only one code with many differences but with a repetition of sameness.

I love most of DD's ideas BUT I can't get my head around HOW consciousness could be brain cells just 'thinking' they think. I fully understand that all other aspects of consciousness are interpretations but when it comes to self awareness how could this ever be an illusion? If it's the brain cells modeling the illusion of consciousness why do we notice it? We could ACT like we notice it but we also have an internal comprehension: Yes I think therefore I am. If this IS illusion who / what has it?

Uhhh don't you mean "teach prayer rather than evolution"? You can remove your comment if it was a mistake (it seems that it was)

@VitalSigns1 Actually mate, I don't think atheists go to hell.

I myself am not limited by religious ideology. Dan Dennet still gets on my nerves. Even Richard Dawkins recognizes the invisible connections we all have to everything else. Quantum physics shows clearly, all is one. Though we could never hope to understand the quantum with our current brain. For such an intellect, he should know that. It seems, to me, he is as limited by ego as is a religious person.

@ShredTheGnar690 Read the Divine Comedy and you will get your answer

Great now I have to scour youtube for part 2, meh.

@Tom45931 Dennett - confidant but wrong

It seems more like one arrogant skeptic who thinks he knows everything hurls a ‘pseudoscience’ insult at another person challenging his belief system.

الفلسفة حكمة الأغبياء ، ما أجمل حكمة الله في كتاب الله العزيز الحكيم .لا اله الا الله .

When smearing others' intelligence, it's helpful to spell INTELLIGENT correctly. Oh, and I got a 31 on the ACT in science in high school. Thanks for asking, though. :)

@YourUTubeMonitor I find it somewhat ironic that you imply that I am bad at English, and yet you're the one who is on here claiming new definitions for words which are clearly inaccurate. I hold no grudge though. I just wanted an understanding of why you equated faithlessness and paranoia, and I kind of see what you're getting at now, so thanks.

@YourUTubeMonitor I wouldn't call the belief that the sun will rise tomorrow a faith based belief. For as long as human civilization has existed Earth has not stop rotating and therefor the sun has not stopped coming up. We see absolutely no reason to believe that Earth will suddenly stop rotating and therefor it doesn't take faith to believe that it won't stop. To believe that the sun will NOT come up tomorrow; now that would require faith.

The world is a strange place. Grown, intelligent, reasonable, kind men thinking they're nothing more than a collection of neurons and molecules....denying their eternal nature. Tragic. I like Daniel Dennett, and pray he pulls an Antony Flew in his older age....but goes beyond simple deism to full-blown Christianity. Peace.

@Walabinx : The paranoiac distrusts those whom he once had faith in. I shall attribute your ignorance to the fact that English is a second language to you.

The "Big Thinkers" can't even show why they think objects made or refined what they are.

3 and half minutes into it and he still hasn't said anything... NEXT!!!!

"Big thinkers" more like "small mainstream bandwagon thinkers". These kinds of people will never understand consciousness while they're fixated on material explanations. Consciousness is simply not reducible to the brain.

I have a thing for philosophers with great facial hair.. ;)

@VitalSigns1 "beg all Atheists...PLEASE, throw away your logic and reasoning FOR ONCE" Never.

@magic4fact You got me all wrong bro'. To understand life itself, we must prosper spiritually/religiously and scientifically. Scientist debunk anything they can't prove scientifically, and religious people believe anything there religion says. The bible is very misinterpreted, mistaking advanced technology for religious miracles. But science and religion are one in all. To understand life itself, we must conquer science and understand religion. There is no real church, just GOD.

@ShredTheGnar690 Making new friends for the atheistic movement? I don't believe in any god either, but how about a little courtesy towards the people who don't believe as we do? You'll never "convert" anyone by being this unpleasant. I know it can be frustrating with people who are blinkered in their beliefs in a higher power, but please try to represent our side of the argument in a more pleasant way. Maybe you'll even convince someone to read a book with new skeptical eyes?

I do like Dennett, but a fan of his theories of consciousness. Go back to making toys in the North Pole DENNETT!