Ep. 236 - The Problem of Other Minds and Artificial Intelligence w/Dr. Mike Huemer

Jun 19, 2023

Dr. Mike Huemer, a philosophy professor renowned for his insights on the problem of other minds, joins the discussion to unravel complex topics. They explore whether emotions in artificial intelligence are genuine or mere mimicry. Huemer critiques traditional approaches to understanding consciousness in both humans and animals. The engaging dialogue delves into the challenges of inferring mental states from behavior, alongside philosophical inquiries about the nature of belief and perception across species.

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Intro

00:00 • 3min

Exploring Other Minds: The Dualist Perspective

03:30 • 18min

Understanding Other Minds

21:49 • 16min

Exploring Theories of Mind

37:24 • 13min

The Paradox of Pain

50:23 • 4min

Exploring Consciousness and Its Philosophical Implications

53:57 • 8min

Understanding Animal Minds

01:01:48 • 7min

Exploring Self-Knowledge and Justification in Belief Formation

01:08:28 • 2min

Understanding Animal Perception

01:10:02 • 4min

Exploring Consciousness and Intentionality

01:14:08 • 15min

Skepticism about Near-Death Experiences and Extraordinary Claims

01:29:34 • 2min

Exploring Consciousness and Souls

01:31:21 • 8min

In episode 236 of the Parker's Pensées Podcast, I'm joined once again by philosophy professor, Dr. Mike Huemer. This time we discuss an invited paper he wrote on the problem of other minds--which he originally wrote as an undergrad senior thesis under John Searle (which is pretty cool). Huemer argues against analogy and perceptional solutions to the problem of justifying our knowledge of other minds and puts forth an inference to the best explanation instead. We also get into whether or not ants, dogs, and robots have minds and how we might go about deciding. Check the time stamps for the full list of topics we discussed. If you like this podcast, then support it on Patreon for $3, $5 or more a month. Any amount helps, and for $5 you get a Parker's Pensées sticker and instant access to all the episode as I record them instead of waiting for their release date. Check it out here: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/parkers_pensees If you want to give a one-time gift, you can give at my Paypal: https://paypal.me/ParkersPensees?locale.x=en_US Check out my merchandise at my Teespring store: https://teespring.com/stores/parkers-penses-merch Come talk with the Pensées community on Discord: dsc.gg/parkerspensees Sub to my Substack to read my thoughts on my episodes: https://parknotes.substack.com/ Check out my blog posts: https://parkersettecase.com/ Check out my Parker's Pensées YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYbTRurpFP5q4TpDD_P2JDA Check out my other YouTube channel on my frogs and turtles: https://www.youtube.com/c/ParkerSettecase Check me out on Twitter: https://twitter.com/trendsettercase Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/parkers_pensees/0:00 - what is the problem of other minds? (and the arg from analogy) 10:59 - Perceptual Theory of other minds 26:46 - Inference to the Best Explanation as justification for believing in other minds 33:20 - Why Can't we use IBE to justify belief in Robot Minds? 36:12 - Is mental sharing possible? 37:24 - Epiphenomenalism 41:50 - Mind-Brain Identity theory 46:50 - Contra Functionalism(s) 56:35 - Philosophical Zombies 1:00:27 - Qualia and Functionalism 1:02:55 - Do Dogs Have Minds and Know Things? 1:17:58 - Can We Prove that Robots Have Minds? 1:27:47 - Eternal Immaterial Souls and Super Intelligence