Halfway through the year, almost, and there have already been some seriously good books published that will appear on a lot of top-ten lists in December. Some of those books are below, but there also a lot of books below no one will have heard of about side of their respective fields, books from academic … Read more
Buddhism, Mind, and Cognitive Science Conference, April 25-26, 2014, UC Berkeley This conference is dedicated to the exploration of the methodological underpinnings of the current encounter between Buddhism and cognitive science. Among the presenters and panelists are: Dan Arnold (Philosophy of Religion, University of Chicago) Lawrence Barsalou (Psychology, Emory University) Christian Coseru (Philosophy, College of … Read more
This is very cool – Michael Gazzaniga is a living treasure for contributions to neuroscience and our understanding of the human brain. Among his many books are Split: The Roads Both Taken (2014 – no specific date), Who’s in Charge? Free Will and the Science of the Brain (2011), Human; The Science of What Makes … Read more
From Bookforum‘s Omnivore blog, another collection of philosophy links to drag us down the rabbit hole. Included is a review of Mary Midgley’s Are You an Illusion? and an article on Midgley’s efforts to defend human consciousness against the likes of Richard Dawkins. There is also a good interview with John Searle, one of … Read more
Nice talk from Cassandra Vieten, CEO and President of the Institute for Noetic Sciences, on the need for fearlessness in scientists at the “frontier of science,” the “investigation of consciousness.” This talk was given at the Science and Nonduality Conference. Fearless Science – Cassandra Vieten Published on Feb 6, 2014 The frontier of science is … Read more
This is an interesting talk between punk musician, author, and all-around interesting guy, Henry Rollins and neuroscientist David Eagleman, author of Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain (2011). Thanks to the IEET (Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies) for posting this on their site. Lucid Dreaming Brainwave 2011 | Posted: Mar 13, 2014 Henry … Read more
Recently, I shared an article from George Dvorsky called “You Might Never Upload Your Brain Into a Computer,” in which he outlined a series of reasons for his position: 1. Brain functions are not computable2. We’ll never solve the hard problem of consciousness 3. We’ll never solve the binding problem 4. Panpsychism is true 5. … Read more
I think we need to drop the “might” from that headline and replace it with “will.” Still, George Dvorsky gets a big AMEN from me on this piece from io9 (even if it is a year old). For the record, however, I feel compelled to lodge my disagreement with point #5, that “mind-body dualism” is … Read more
It’s my favorite time of year – the annual Zen Brain Conference at Upaya Zen Center, hosted as always by Roshi Joan Halifax. Among the regular attendees who were there again this year were Richard Davidson, Evan Thompson, Al Kaszniak, and John Dunne. This year’s topic was Consciousness, Complex Systems, and Transformation. In this intensive … Read more
This is an interesting post on the nature of consciousness and dissociation in psychosis. Mental Experience and Dissociation in Psychosis By Ann Reitan, PsyD | Brain BloggerDecember 1, 2013 The experience of our minds may be shaped by belief. The idea that our minds are whatever we imagine them to be may seem like an … Read more