Neuroscientist Christof Koch and Sam Harris dive deep into consciousness, discussing change blindness, non-locality, conscious AI, Integrated Information Theory, brain bridging, psychedelics, and the illusion of the self. They explore the nature of consciousness, idealism, and panpsychism, challenging traditional views on existence and free will.
Integrated Information Theory (IIT) defines consciousness as the only absolute existence with intrinsic causal power.
Idealism and panpsychism are metaphysical stances, while IIT is a scientific theory testable through specific calculus.
Conscious belief in concepts like prime numbers gives them existence, discoverability, and structure in conscious minds.
IIT emphasizes consciousness as the primary datum, triggering debate on axioms, free will, and scientific integrity.
Deep dives
Existence Based on Causal Power
IIT argues that for something to exist, it must have absolute causal power, as consciousness is the only absolute existence. Other concepts like prime numbers exist only in conscious minds. Belief in such concepts gives them causal power. The theory's starting point is consciousness, which is defined by its intrinsic causal power.
Idealism, Panpsychism, and IIT
Although IIT shares intuitions with idealism and panpsychism, it is a scientific theory testable through its specific calculus. Idealism and panpsychism are pre-theoretical metaphysical stances, while IIT delves into the neural correlates of consciousness and quality of conscious experiences.
Discoverable Prime Numbers
IIT acknowledges concepts like prime numbers as existing potentialities in conscious minds. These concepts exist due to conscious belief, not as external realities. Concepts like large prime numbers are discoverable and have structure based on shared conscious understanding.
Epistemology vs. Ontology in IIT
The epistemological stance of IIT emphasizes consciousness as the primary datum. While understanding operationally without an ontological commitment is feasible, IIT's ontology underlines the absolute existence of consciousness over external realities.
Axioms and Free Will in IIT
Critics of IIT question the reliance on multiple axioms and the assumption of intrinsic causal power. IIT's premise of axioms and the existence of free will may trigger intellectual debate, with concerns about the scientific integrity of presupposing these foundational concepts.
Understanding Consciousness and Unity in Experiences
Experiences are structured, differentiated, and sometimes transcend traditional concepts like time and space. The podcast delves into the intrinsic, specific, and unitary nature of consciousness, questioning the assumption of a singular perspective in conscious experiences. It explores scenarios like near-death experiences and split-brain studies to challenge the idea of a unified consciousness, highlighting the complex and diverse nature of subjective experiences.
Exploring Psychedelic Experiences and Philosophical Implications
The discussion shifts towards personal encounters with psychedelics like 5-MeO-DMT and Ayahuasca, revealing insights into selflessness and interconnectedness with the universe. These experiences prompt reflections on ontology and metaphysics, with considerations of idealism and the limitations of subjective experiences in understanding cosmology. The conversation navigates the intersection between scientific inquiry, personal experiences, and the quest for a comprehensive theory of reality.
Sam Harris speaks with Christof Koch about the nature of consciousness. They discuss Christof’s development as a neuroscientist, his collaboration with Francis Crick, change blindness and binocular rivalry, sleep and anesthesia, the limits of physicalism, non-locality, brains as classical systems, conscious AI, idealism and panpsychism, Integrated Information Theory (IIT), what it means to say something “exists,” the illusion of the self, brain bridging, Christof’s experience with psychedelics, and other topics.
Christof Koch is a neuroscientist at the Allen Institute and the Chief Scientist of the Tiny Blue Dot Foundation. He is the former president of the Allen Institute for Brain Science and a former professor at the California Institute of Technology. He writes regularly for Scientific American and is the author of five books, most recently Then I Am Myself the World: What Consciousness Is and How to Expand It.
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