78 | Daniel Dennett on Minds, Patterns, and the Scientific Image
Jan 6, 2020
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Daniel Dennett, a renowned philosopher and expert on consciousness, delves into a fascinating blend of topics. He discusses the connection between human perception and the complexities of artificial intelligence, emphasizing the challenges AI faces in common sense reasoning. The conversation also explores the nature of consciousness as a spectrum, the importance of understanding animal minds, and the implications of free will in human society. Dennett's accessible insights challenge traditional views, making philosophy relatable and thought-provoking.
Science teaches us to connect broader world views with everyday life through concepts like the Big Bang and consciousness.
Recognizing patterns in phenomena helps predict and understand the world with accuracy and efficiency.
The evolution of language and consciousness enables moral reasoning and reflective self-awareness.
Understanding consciousness requires unraveling neural processing, introspection, and cognitive reflections for a comprehensive theory.
Deep dives
Understanding the Nature of Science Through Frames
Science teaches us to connect our experiences to the broader world, even if scientific theories seem removed from everyday life, such as with concepts like the Big Bang, quantum mechanics, and Darwinian evolution. The frameworks in science often diverge from everyday experiences, especially in areas like consciousness and human nature. Philosophers like Dan Dennett aim to bridge science with philosophical implications, focusing on the natural world while exploring concepts like purposes and meanings that humans inherently associate with life.
Real Patterns and Their Significance
The concept of real patterns examines how patterns in phenomena help predict and understand the world around us. By recognizing patterns in various phenomena, we can make predictions with greater accuracy and efficiency, highlighting the importance of recognizing and utilizing patterns to simplify complexity. Real patterns reflect the predictability and generalizability of a phenomenon, emphasizing the significance of identifying and utilizing patterns in different contexts.
Evolution of Language and Consciousness
The evolution of language and human consciousness plays a crucial role in how individuals perceive and interact with the world. The emergence of language paved the way for articulating reasons, intentions, and understanding the space of reasons, enabling human beings to engage in moral reasoning and communication. Human consciousness distinguishes itself by its reflective self-awareness and recursive capacity, allowing individuals to contemplate thoughts, engage in complex communication, and reflect on their own consciousness.
Complexity of Consciousness and the Agency
The exploration of consciousness delves into the intricate relationship between neural processes, subjective experiences, and the ability to reflect upon one's consciousness. Understanding consciousness requires unraveling the neural mechanisms that bridge experiences with verbal expression and introspection. A robust theory of consciousness extends beyond neural processing to encompass cognitive reflections, self-awareness, and recursive self-examination, highlighting the intricate nature of human awareness and agency.
Challenging the Notion of Qualia and Solving the 'Hard Question'
Qualia, the subjective properties of experiences, have posed challenges in understanding consciousness, leading to philosophical debates and the 'hard problem' in consciousness studies. By addressing the 'hard question' of what occurs after conscious experiences, focusing on the process from experiences to verbal articulation and decision-making, a comprehensive theory of consciousness emerges. Embracing a framework that explains conscious experiences without a 'witness' intrinsic to them, encourages a deeper understanding of consciousness beyond the elusive nature of qualia and subjective experiences.
Language and Consciousness
Language enables consciousness to be aware of things beyond immediate experience and enables self-probing. Contrary to the view that language is unrelated to consciousness, language plays a crucial role in creating recursive cognitive abilities. Language provides a platform for self-stimulation and exploration of one's thoughts, leading to the development of recursive brain processes.
Consciousness as a User Illusion
Consciousness is considered both real and illusory, akin to a 'user illusion' like software interfaces. The user illusion simplifies complex processes, similar to how consciousness simplifies human experience. While consciousness is real in its functional role, it is also acknowledged as a construct that guides behavior and understanding of the world.
Wilfrid Sellars described the task of philosophy as explaining how things, in the broadest sense of term, hang together, in the broadest sense of the term. (Substitute “exploring” for “explaining” and you’d have a good mission statement for the Mindscape podcast.) Few modern thinkers have pursued this goal more energetically, creatively, and entertainingly than Daniel Dennett. One of the most respected philosophers of our time, Dennett’s work has ranged over topics such as consciousness, artificial intelligence, metaphysics, free will, evolutionary biology, epistemology, and naturalism, always with an eye on our best scientific understanding of the phenomenon in question. His thinking in these areas is exceptionally lucid, and he has the rare ability to express his ideas in ways that non-specialists can find accessible and compelling. We talked about all of them, in a wide-ranging and wonderfully enjoyable conversation.
Daniel Dennett received his D.Phil. in philosophy from Oxford University. He is currently Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy and co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. He is known for a number of philosophical concepts and coinages, including the intentional stance, the Cartesian theater, and the multiple-drafts model of consciousness. Among his honors are the Erasmus Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the American Humanist Association’s Humanist of the Year award. He is the author of a number of books that are simultaneously scholarly and popular, including Consciousness Explained,Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, and most recently Bacteria to Bach and Back.
