It's been an unusually busy week in the SpaceTimeMind virtual studio and a very brain-heavy one to boot. Today Richard and Pete rocked out with rock-n-roll neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux (of the Amygdaloids) on memory and emotion. And, oh yes, consciousness. Also, another zombie-fight broke out between the co-hosts. Thankfully, no philosophers were harmed. At least, not consciously. Anyway, check out the video below:
Neuroscientist Joe LeDoux joins philosophers Richard Brown and Pete Mandik to discuss the neural bases of memory, emotion, and consciousness in human and nonhuman animals. For more information about the SpaceTimeMind podcast, check out http://www.spacetimemind.com
Professor of philosophy and neuroscientist Berit (Brit) Brogaard from the University of Miami joins Richard Brown and Pete Mandik in the virtual studio for the SpaceTimeMind podcast. In the first half we talk about the physics and metaphysics of time. In the second half we talk about the neurophilosophy of consciousness. To see the full conversation, check out the video below. Click HERE to follow the SpaceTimeMind YouTube channel.
Professor of philosophy and neuroscientist Berit (Brit) Brogaard from University of Miami joins Richard Brown and Pete Mandik in the virtual studio for the SpaceTimeMind podcast. In the first half we talk about the physics and metaphysics of time. In the second half we talk about the neurophilosophy of consciousness.
In this installment of the MindChunk video series, Richard and Pete each relate their philosophical origin stories. (SPOILER ALERT: Richard's adamantium skeleton was installed in a secret government location and Pete was bitten by a radioactive norn.)
Get to know the hosts of SpaceTimeMind a little better as they reveal their philosophical origin stories.
SpaceTimeMind co-hosts Richard Brown & Pete Mandik once co-authored a paper. It will be published soon, but due to a weirdo way of handling backlog at the journal, Philosophical Topics, (basically, time travel), the publication date will be listed as 2012. Anyway, check out "On Whether the Higher-Order Thought Theory of Consciousness Entails Cognitive Phenomenology, Or: What is it Like to Think that One Thinks that P?"
ABSTRACT.The question at the center of the recent growing literature on cognitive phenomenology is this: In consciously thinking P, is there thereby any phenomenology? In this paper we will present two arguments that “yes” answers to this question follow from the Higher Order Thought (HOT) theory of consciousness, especially the version articulated and defended by David Rosenthal. The first, the general argument, aims to show that on the HOT theory all phenomenology is cognitive. The second, the central argument, aims to show that all conscious thoughts have phenomenology.
In Episode 5: Transhumanism and Existentialism, Richard and Pete spend a bunch of time talking about sci-fi author Roger Williams. Tonight they hit the virtual studio to talk to Roger Williams. If you aren't super-stoked about this news or are previously unaware of Williams' work, here's a mini crash-course for you:
In Pete's interview in 3AM Magazine, he lists The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect among his top 5 all-time favorite sci-fi books.
(Update: June 5, 2014. The interview went really well, we think. Check out the raw unedited action below.)
The latest installment of the excellent philosophical webcomic chaospet by Ryan Lake takes very direct and explicit inspiration from an exchange between Richard and Pete in Episode 1 of the SpaceTimeMind podcast (the exchange occurs in the second half of the episode). In the webcomic, Richard's in blue and Pete's in green. This is a pretty accurate reenactment, up to and including the last panel.
Download: MP3 Audio (93MB)
Episode Notes and Links
Episode Notes
Vygotskian developmental psychologist Lara Beaty joins philosopher-scientists Richard Brown and Pete Mandik to tackle questions such as: Is the mind bigger than the brain? Does conceptual thought and even consciousness require the use of language or other sorts of social interaction? Which is morally preferable: making animals smarter or making humans stupider? Would it be totally cool to eat somebody who volunteered for it?
(The music in the episode is by our band, Quiet Karate Reflex. The song in the intro is "SpaceTimeMind Theme Song" [link to music video], the song in the mid-episode break is “Massage the Lizard," and in the outro is "Without Your Permission." More of Quiet Karate Reflex's music can be heard here: http://quietkaratereflex.bandcamp.com/.)
(The video chat between Richard, Pete, and Lara that this episode's audio is drawn from is viewable on YouTube.)
LINKS
The indomitable and indefatigable Dr. Brown strikes once again with the best and latest in his series of completely over-the-top cinematic trailers for the SpaceTimeMind podcast. If you can watch this without getting so stoked that you need to go run a few laps, then you are truly dead inside. Grab some popcorn and enjoy.
This summer we will have some very cool guests on the spacetimemind podcast. Guests include Lara Beaty, Eric Schwitzgebel, Gregg Caruso, and Bernard Baars
Pete Mandik and Richard Brown discuss Neil deGrasse Tyson's recent remarks that if one wants to engage with the big questions in life then one should study the empirical sciences
Attention Twin Earthings and/or doppelgangers thereof. SpaceTimeMind is now touting its toots in tweetspace. The official SpaceTimeMind Twitter account is @spacetimemind99. Accept no substitutes.
In further pursuit of S C I E N C E, we here at the SpaceTimeMind Laboratory are conducting an experiment, codename "MindChunks." Each MindChunk will be a brief little tidbit or bite-sized morsel. It will be small, short, and entirely user-friendly. A MindChunk takes only a few minutes out of your day, but its effects may last a lifetime. What are you waiting for? Ask your doctor about MindChunks today.
Two philosophy professors decided to have some guests on their podcast and what happens next will literally blow your mind. (And we mean "literally" literally.) Watch the video below to see what Richard Brown and Pete Mandik are freaking out about this time. (See also this previous blog post for further valid news regarding upcoming guests.)
Pete and Richard are really excited about the upcoming guests on SpaceTImeMind
When a podcast mentions another podcast, it's a very beautiful thing. SpaceTimeMind just got a shout-out in the most recent episode of the excellent Very Bad Wizards podcast hosted by philosopher Tamler Sommers and psychologist David Pizarro. If for some weird reason you listen to SpaceTimeMind but not Very Bad Wizards, I don't know what your problem is, but stop that right now. Go check it out!
Richard and Pete welcome their new scientismicological overlords and hope they find their nifty blue shirts pleasing.
Hosts of the SpaceTimeMind podcast, philosophers of science Richard Brown and Pete Mandik, discuss scientism. Is everything worth knowing accessible via the methods of science? If so, how would you know that? Can scientism be self-justifying? Is it instead self-refuting? Is calling something "scientific" just an empty honorific?
Download: MP3 Audo (91MB)
Episode Notes and Links
Episode Notes
Neurophilosophers Pete Mandik and Richard Brown wax futurological on whether the post-human future will be populated by Kantian superheroes or Sartrean sociopaths. Other questions addressed include: Is your brain a douchebag? Are “uplifted" monkeys happy monkeys or sad monkeys? Is it OK to torture sims? And if so, what’s the best way to do it? Musical interludes provided by the New York Consciousness Collective and Quiet Karate Reflex.
(The music in the mid-episode break is “Tommy the Hobbes” by the New York Consciousness Collective. The rest of the episode’s music is by Quiet Karate Reflex. The song in the intro is "SpaceTimeMind Theme Song" [link to music video] and the in the outro is “FINST-icuffs." More of Quiet Karate Reflex's music can be heard here: http://quietkaratereflex.bandcamp.com/.)
(The video chat between Richard and Pete that this episode's audio is drawn from is viewable on YouTube.)
Links
