Event Series Theories of Consciousness

Theories of Consciousness

The future of consciousness science is going through very interesting turbulent times. Three decades ago, the C-word was taboo in mainstream academia. Today, it is teeming with all sorts of approaches, techniques, and theories. Then, there wasn’t hardly any signal. Today, there is perhaps too much noise. Join us at the heart of consciousness science, as we delve into an in-depth exploration of the field’s trajectory from its nascent stages to its current state and future prospects. This online series is a unique opportunity to learn from and interact with some of the very minds currently leading the field forward.

20€ – 75€
Event Series Theories of Consciousness

The Philosophy of Consciousness Science

In his seminal 1884 observation, Thomas Huxley likened the enigma of consciousness and its relation to nervous tissue to the inexplicable emergence of a djinn from Aladdin’s magic lamp. This metaphor strikingly encapsulates the persistent complexity of what is now known as the mind-body problem. Despite the exponential growth in our scientific understanding, particularly of the brain, we find ourselves scarcely closer to unraveling this mystery than in Huxley’s time.

10,94€ – 75,00€
Event Series Theories of Consciousness

Consciousness and the Brain: Comparing and Testing Neuroscientific Theories of Consciousness

Online

For centuries, consciousness was considered to be outside the reach of scientific investigation. Yet in recent decades, more and more studies have tried to probe the neural correlates of conscious experience, and several neuronally-inspired theories for consciousness have emerged. In this talk, I will focus on four leading theories of consciousness: Global Neuronal Workspace (GNW), integrated Information Theory (IIT), Recurrent Processing Theory (RPT) and Higher Order Theory (HOT).

13,50€ – 75,00€
Event Series Theories of Consciousness

What (if anything) does the Free Energy Principle Teach us about Consciousness? The Inner Screen Model

Online

This presentation is about whether we can learn anything about consciousness from the free energy principle (FEP). This presentation will first gently introduce the FEP to a general, nontechnical audience. The FEP says that anything with a Markov blanket will look as if it infers the statistics of other things “beyond” the blanket, to which it is coupled, but from which it can be separated. We will then discuss the “inner screen model” of consciousness that follows directly from applying the FEP to model known human neurophysiology. The ensuing neo-Cartesian model of consciousness provides a deflationary account of the “homunculus.”

12,15€ – 75,00€
Event Series Theories of Consciousness

The Bodily Roots of Conscious Experiences in Early Life

Online

Discussions about the nature of consciousness are typically couched in a way that endorses a tacit adult-centric and vision-based perspective. Here I will examine the nature of subjective experiences through a bottom-up developmental lens, drawing attention to experiencing subjects as embodied and situated organisms essentially concerned with self-preservation within a precarious environment. How do embodied experiences ‘arise’ from square one?

12,15€ – 75,00€

A Field for the Future

Online

Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the “Manifesto for a Post-Materialist Science”
with Karalee Kothe, Lisa Miller, Lorne Schussel, Gary E. Schwartz, Laurel Waterman, Marjorie Woollacott

Free
Event Series Theories of Consciousness

Theories of Consciousness in a Structural Turn

Online

Recent activities in virtually all fields engaged in consciousness studies indicate early signs of a structural turn, where verbal descriptions or simple formalizations of conscious experiences are replaced by structural tools, most notably mathematical spaces and mathematical structures. This might, on my view, lead to a novel phase in consciousness science that fundamentally changes how we engage in, theorize about, and empirically investigate conscious experiences.

13,50€ – 75,00€
Event Series Theories of Consciousness

Integrated Information Theory: Methodology, Foundations, Explanations

Online

Integrated Information Theory (IIT) aims to account for consciousness in physical terms by identifying the essential properties of experience (axioms), and inferring the necessary and sufficient properties that its physical substrate must satisfy (postulates). In this talk I will present an outline of IIT 4.0’s account of some qualitative contents of experience.

10,94€ – 75,00€
Event Series The Future Mind – A Conversation Series

The Future Mind – A Conversation with Christof Koch

Online

Christof Koch, PhD, is best known for his work exploring the physical basis of consciousness in humans, animals, and machines. A physicist and neurobiologist, he was for more than a quarter of a century a professor of biology and engineering at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and the president and chief scientist of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle.

Free