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Daniel Dennett’s opinion about God, Free Will, Consciousness, and Ethics – Interview by Robert Wright – PART 1
May 8th
This is a very interesting interview taken by Robert Wright, the American journalist, scholar, prize-winning author of best-selling books on popular science including subjects like evolutionary psychology, history, religion, and game theory, to Daniel Dennett; Dan is an American philosopher whose research focuses on the philosophy of mind, consciousness, philosophy of science and philosophy of evolutionary biology.
The interview begins with a discussion about God, natural selection, and the probability that evolution could lead to highly evolved intelligent conscious beings like humans.
The subject of Free Will is thoroughly debated. Dan is arguing against the widely accepted – but confusing when we consider this with hindsight – idea that Free Will is incompatible with determinism. He says that every variety of free will worth wanting we can have in a deterministic world. Paradoxically, quantum randomness cannot give us free will, it is just an illusion that it can. The phrase “The future is inevitable in a deterministic universe”, Dan argues, has no meaning. Why? Because the future is going to happen, whatever that is, in a in-deterministic universe also.
So, what we really need to talk about, when discussing the subject of free will, is avoidability (harm avoidance); that is what evolved beings do; they try to avoid harm, and attract what is good, by using “cognitive virtual reality simulators” that train the evolved, but not perfect, agent (human, animal, etc) to properly react to the future possible scenarios that life might face him with (one such cognitive virtual reality simulator is REM dreaming).
Furthermore, Dan says natural selection helps the evolution of free will : Evolution is an explosion of evitability! Freedom Evolves. From order comes freedom.
The other major subject of the debate is consciousness. Dan thinks Consciousness is the state of the brain, that is, the competition or “political fame” (“fame in the brain”) between content fixation mechanisms (daemons or neuronal structures) or more exactly between alliances of these neural structures. This is consciousness. THE PANDEMONIUM! THE TURMOIL! The fight for control. The act of those structures fighting with each other, over and over again, that is what it means for a person to be conscious.
Also, Dan argues against the absurd concept of Epiphenomenalism. That is, “Influenced by the brain, but does not in turn influence the brain” or more explicitly “The functioning of the brain creates consciousness, but consciousness does not have any effect in the functioning/activity of the brain”. Dan argues this is as absurd as saying “Seven ephiphenomenal gremlins exist in an internal combustion engine; there caused by the actions of the cylinders, they cause nothing in return; they are undetectable by any machine or test”. But consciousness is not like that because if the fact that you’re now telling us that you detect your consciousness is an effect of your “detecting it“, then your “detecting it” is an effect of the epiphenomenon and that is ruled out by its definition”. So here we have it : Epiphenomenalism is false, therefore consciousness is causal.
Enjoy this brilliant interview! Here is the first part!
More >
Дэниел Деннет мнение о Боге, свободе воли, сознания и этики – Интервью Роберта Райта – ЧАСТЬ 1
May 8th
(Потому что наши русские читатели очень важны, мы сейчас в поисках профессионального переводчика. Мы приносим свои извинения, что на данный момент, мы можем лишь предоставить текст на английском языке.)
This is a very interesting interview taken by Robert Wright, the American journalist, scholar, prize-winning author of best-selling books on popular science including subjects like evolutionary psychology, history, religion, and game theory, to Daniel Dennett; Dan is an American philosopher whose research focuses on the philosophy of mind, consciousness, philosophy of science and philosophy of evolutionary biology.
The interview begins with a discussion about God, natural selection, and the probability that evolution could lead to highly evolved intelligent conscious beings like humans.
The subject of Free Will is thoroughly debated. Dan is arguing against the widely accepted – but confusing when we consider this with hindsight – idea that Free Will is incompatible with determinism. He says that every variety of free will worth wanting we can have in a deterministic world. Paradoxically, quantum randomness cannot give us free will, it is just an illusion that it can. The phrase “The future is inevitable in a deterministic universe”, Dan argues, has no meaning. Why? Because the future is going to happen, whatever that is, in a in-deterministic universe also.
So, what we really need to talk about, when discussing the subject of free will, is avoidability (harm avoidance); that is what evolved beings do; they try to avoid harm, and attract what is good, by using “cognitive virtual reality simulators” that train the evolved, but not perfect, agent (human, animal, etc) to properly react to the future possible scenarios that life might face him with (one such cognitive virtual reality simulator is REM dreaming).
Furthermore, Dan says natural selection helps the evolution of free will : Evolution is an explosion of evitability! Freedom Evolves. From order comes freedom.
The other major subject of the debate is consciousness. Dan thinks Consciousness is the state of the brain, that is, the competition or “political fame” (“fame in the brain”) between content fixation mechanisms (daemons or neuronal structures) or more exactly between alliances of these neural structures. This is consciousness. THE PANDEMONIUM! THE TURMOIL! The fight for control. The act of those structures fighting with each other, over and over again, that is what it means for a person to be conscious.
Also, Dan argues against the absurd concept of Epiphenomenalism. That is, “Influenced by the brain, but does not in turn influence the brain” or more explicitly “The functioning of the brain creates consciousness, but consciousness does not have any effect in the functioning/activity of the brain”. Dan argues this is as absurd as saying “Seven ephiphenomenal gremlins exist in an internal combustion engine; there caused by the actions of the cylinders, they cause nothing in return; they are undetectable by any machine or test”. But consciousness is not like that because if the fact that you’re now telling us that you detect your consciousness is an effect of your “detecting it“, then your “detecting it” is an effect of the epiphenomenon and that is ruled out by its definition”. So here we have it : Epiphenomenalism is false, therefore consciousness is causal.
Enjoy this brilliant interview! Here is the first part!
More >
Richard Dawkins uncut interview with PZ Myers – VIDEO PART 2
May 7th
In this second part of the video Richard Dawkins discusses molecular embryology with PZ Myers, by comparing it with the set of sequences of high level computer programming subroutines found in software written in high level programming languages as opposed to machine code languages like Assembler.
They also engage into discussions about the politics of atheism, the evolution of development, interesting facts about embryology, the changes in gene frequencies from the gene pool, and how evolution is not just gene selection but the complex interactions between sets of genes.
Not the least, the two authors present the funny story of how they both went to watch the creationist propaganda movie called Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed directed by Nathan Frankowski and presented Ben Stein. Incredibly, PZ reserved the tickets online but when they tried to get in the movie theater only Dawkins managed to pass through. Yes, a security guard asked PZ Myers to leave the theater! PZ was expelled! OUTRAGEOUS! Is this North America?
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Richard Dawkins uncut interview with PZ Myers – VIDEO PART 1
May 7th
In this first part of the interview Richard Dawkins plays the game brainstorming with PZ Myers, one of the leading professional voices in evolutionary biology, by thoroughly debating the subject of religion, creationism, “intelligent design” and the right way we should educate the people who believe this kind of “fairy stories” to be more skeptical and, consequently, persuade them to accept the obvious truth of natural selection and Darwinian evolution.
Group selection theory, overthrown by gene selection theory some 30-40 years ago, is put into discussion by Dawkins which analyzes it in parallel with clade selection theory. Also, the evolution of evolvability, the trajectory in evolutionary time of different kinds of clades and phylums, the importance and role of symmetry in the evolution of embryological systems, all these are discussed in depth by the two authors.
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The debate between Evolution and Creationism – Daniel Clement Dennett, the American philosopher, debates Dinesh D’Souza – VIDEO PART 2
May 6th
If you’re thinking creationism (intelligent design) – although i can’t find any good reason you would engage in such a cognitive act – you’ve got to think Dinesh D’Souza, the conservative writer and speaker and the author of numerous New York Times best selling books, but not the least, a speaker against atheism, non-belief (also known as THINKING in some circles), and secularism. Here we have him debating with one of the four Horsemen, Daniel Clement Dennett, the American philosopher which i think needs no introduction.
This is a long video with lots of funny claims made by Dinesh, but overall a serious conversation from which you can learn how Religion – and the set of memes from the heads of the people who play this game – is a fruit from the tree-of-life just like bacteria, viruses, and sabre-toothed cats. It’s always on the move, evolving, forever changing and adapting to the circumstances, but in the end remains just a piece of culture reflecting our most inner curiosities and fears. Enjoy!
Oh, one last thing, when Dinesh talks, turn down the volume because this guy has some funny way to force his arguments down your throat.
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The debate between Evolution and Creationism – Daniel Clement Dennett, the American philosopher, debates Dinesh D’Souza – VIDEO PART 1
May 6th
If you’re thinking creationism (intelligent design) – although i can’t find any good reason you would engage in such a cognitive act – you’ve got to think Dinesh D’Souza, the conservative writer and speaker and the author of numerous New York Times best selling books, but not the least, a speaker against atheism, non-belief (also known as THINKING in some circles), and secularism. Here we have him debating with one of the four Horsemen, Daniel Clement Dennett, the American philosopher which i think needs no introduction.
This is a long video with lots of funny claims made by Dinesh, but overall a serious conversation from which you can learn how Religion – and the set of memes from the heads of the people who play this game – is a fruit from the tree-of-life just like bacteria, viruses, and sabre-toothed cats. It’s always on the move, evolving, forever changing and adapting to the circumstances, but in the end remains just a piece of culture reflecting our most inner curiosities and fears. Enjoy!
Oh, one last thing, when Dinesh talks, turn down the volume because this guy has some funny way to force his arguments down your throat.
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