#127 Michael Graziano: Consciousness, From Animals To AI

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Dr. Michael Graziano is a Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Princeton University. His scientific research focuses on the brain basis of awareness. He has proposed the "attention schema" theory, an explanation of how, and for what adaptive advantage, brains attribute the property of awareness to themselves. His previous work focused on how the cerebral cortex monitors the space around the body and controls movement within that space. Notably he has suggested that the classical map of the body in motor cortex, the homunculus, is not correct and is better described as a map of complex actions that make up the behavioral repertoire. He's also the author of 13 books, including Consciousness and the Social Brain (2013), and The Spaces Between Us: A Story of Neuroscience, Evolution, and Human Nature (2018).

In this episode, we focus our conversation on the topic of consciousness. Basically, what is consciousness, from a scientific perspective, and its relationship to other cognitive components of our brains. Also, the interplay between attention, awareness, and consciousness. The evolutionary relevance of consciousness for social species, and theory of mind. How we can tackle the hard problem of consciousness. “Illusionism”, or consciousness as an illusion of the mind. And, finally, we address the current limitations in studying consciousness in other animals; if we are close to create conscious AI; and also António Damásio’s proposal to the wat consciousness is build up from lower-order neurological processes.

Time Links:

00:53 What is consciousness?

02:50 Are there different components to consciousness?           

05:00 The relationship between consciousness and other cognitive processes         

07:18 The importance of attention       

08:56 Conscious and unconscious processes   

11:52 Attention and awareness  

13:59 Awareness and consciousness

21:06 The evolutionary and social relevance of consciousness

24:19 Consciousness and theory of mind

26:50 About social insects and consciousness

28:58  Is there group consciousness?

30:19 The hard problem of consciousness

33:52 Consciousness as an illusion

36:21 Consciousness in other animals

39:04 Can we create conscious AI?

40:29 António Damásio’s approach to consciousness

44:33 Follow Dr. Graziano’s work!  

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Follow Dr. Graziano’s work:

Faculty page: https://tinyurl.com/y8j68f5u

Website: http://www.princeton.edu/~graziano/

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