Robinson’s Podcast Clips
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Full Episode: https://youtu.be/9bZcBh0qtKo
Robinson’s Podcast #194 – Daniel Dennett: Consciousness, Free Will, and the Evolution of Minds
Daniel Dennett is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Tufts University, where he was co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies and the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy. He is one of the most recognized philosophers today, and has made major contributions to the philosophy of mind and biology, among other areas, and is known as one of the Four Horsemen of Atheism. Dan’s latest book is I’ve Been Thinking (W. W. Norton, 2023), though much of what he and Robinson discuss comes from his earlier book, From Bacteria to Bach and Back (W. W. Norton, 2017). More particularly, they talk about the origin of life and reasons, the evolution of music, Robert Sapolsky and free will, famous thought experiments in the philosophy of mind, the origin of consciousness, and the relationship between mind and language.
I’ve Been Thinking: https://a.co/d/ahMEC0G
From Bacteria to Bach and Back: https://a.co/d/htcrcn7
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
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That closing quote from Dennett is awesome. Such a clear and concise statement, with impressive insight.
The accumulation of information does take time and energy but that still results in a physical state of a physical system, as all information exists… The "cosmic coincidence" is the instantaneous version of that, that's the point… What exactly would be missing from the "atom for atom copy"? It doesn't make sense. What else is information? Point to a form of information we haven't proven to exist as states of material systems…
For the lima bean scenario: it depends on in which sense you meant it is a "lima bean" when you defined it as such and then what sense of "lima bean" is in question…meaning is relational but the relationships are physical. The question is whether you're defining it as a lima bean by way of its direct properties (i.e. relational to your experience) or defining it as a lima bean by way of its relational properties to agricultural history on Earth or whatever…