The Best of Making Sense with Sam Harris #34 — The Light of the Mind
Sep 25, 2023
Sam Harris speaks with philosopher David Chalmers about the nature of consciousness, the challenges of understanding it scientifically, and the prospect of building it into machines. They discuss the hard problem of consciousness, the notion of consciousness as integrated information, and the possibility of living in a simulation. They also explore non-reductive explanations of consciousness, AI safety concerns, and the need to prepare for the implications of superintelligent AI.
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Tucson Talk That Changed A Career
- Sam Harris recounts attending early Tucson consciousness conferences and hearing Chalmers' talk on the hard problem.
- That talk inspired Harris to study philosophy and neuroscience and change his career path.
Consciousness As Subjective Experience
- Consciousness is the subjective, first-person feeling of experience distinct from behavior and function.
- The “hard problem” asks why physical processes produce this inner experience rather than just behavior.
Easy vs Hard Problems Of Consciousness
- Easy problems explain functions and behavior with mechanisms; the hard problem explains why there is subjective experience.
- Standard brain sciences address easy problems but leave the explanatory gap for experience open.