Publisher’s blurb: “How is it that thoroughly physical material beings such as ourselves can think, dream, feel, create and understand ideas, theories and concepts? How does mere matter give rise to all these non-material mental states, including consciousness itself? An answer to this central question of our existence is emerging at the busy intersection of…
— Dream Weaver: A MEMOIR; MUSIC, MEDITATION, AND MY FRIENDSHIP WITH GEORGE HARRISON consciousnessgary wrightGeorge Harrisonmusic
acid soulconsciousnesskenny rogersmusicpsychedelic soul
Sam Harris’ TED talk Artificial intelligenceconsciousnessethicsPhilosophy of mindsam harris
I chanced upon this video of Francisco Varela, clearly his illness at an advanced stage. I’m not a Spanish speaker so the substance of the video is lost on me. If you don’t know who FV is, here is an obituary by one of his closest friends and collaborators, the very excellent Evan Thompson. Running the video’s…
Check out this excellent discussion between Dan Dennett and Sam Harris. Both shine since I think they have raised each other’s game; this despite being recorded after an already long day. As Sam rightly says, since so much gets lost and/or miscognized in writing it is thus vital to listen to the first 8 or so minutes…
Alva Noë comments on recent study of spontaneous thought by Ellamil, Thompson, Todd et al. Alva NoëCognitive neuroscienceconsciousnessEvan ThompsonFrancisco VarelameditationneurophenomenologyPhilosophy of mindspontaneous thought
Roger stylishly and lucidly outlines the timelessness of The Ring’s significance — especially salient to our troubled current times. aestheticsconsciousnessDer Ring des Nibelungenfreedommusicpolitics and religionpolitics of faithpolitics of skepticismReligionRichard WagnerRoger Scruton
New paper from the very excellent Joel Krueger. See also Joel’s Empathy and the Extended Mind paper from a few years back along with other papers discussing this topic. One of the primary functions of religious texts — along with the different rituals and forms of worship constructed with them — is, precisely, to take over part of…
Here’s a batch review by the very excellent Rob Rupert of three books that have been out for a while. Anthony ChemeroCognitionCognitive neuroscienceCognitive scienceconsciousnessEmbodied cognitionenactivismExtended MindExternalismEzequiel Di Paolojohn stewartMark Rowlandsolivier gapennePhilosophy of mindRob Rupertsituated cognition
manwithoutqualities 