In this 2014 lecture, famed philosopher of mind John Searle, originator of the "Chinese Room" critique of machine intelligence discusses competing theories that attempt to explain the emergence from/relation of consciousness and matter.

Searle focuses especially on refuting ideas put forward by Nick Bostrom and other AI theorists which suggest that AI can have a consciousness of its own, and that furthermore we should be worried about Terminator scenarios where machines come to life - Searle thinks this is nonsense, at least in the sense that we don't have to worry about machines being "motivated" to do something, since machines possess only the 'syntax' and not the 'semantics' required to make the sort of meaning upon which a mental phenomenon like motivation, intentionality, etc, depend.

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The original video can be found here, my thanks to Philosophy Overdose for providing and maintaining this recording which was created in 2014 as part of the Patten lecture series.

As always these talks are syndicated for educational and nonprofit purposes in accordance with Fair Use. They are produced ad-free, because I listen to my own stuff on here and like you, I hate ads.

These recordings have been remastered for clarity, ease of listening, and concision and have been downmixed to mono so that they are lighter and easier to stream, wherever you are.

Furthermore my historical and philosophical writing, which is also entirely free is available at my blog, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Hemlock⁠⁠⁠⁠, on Substack.

The music of the intro and outro (Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major) is licensed under non-commercial attribution, and can be ⁠⁠⁠⁠found here⁠⁠⁠⁠ and has been remixed by me.

Enjoy.

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