In this wide-ranging interview with Natalia Vorontsova, Professor Marjorie Woollacott draws remarkable parallels between 9th-10th century Kashmiri Shaivism and modern idealism, pointing to the fundamental and irreducible nature of consciousness. Moreover, her study of near-death experiences empirically supports this very hypothesis of the existence of a fundamental consciousness without neurons and beyond our five senses. This is an open conversation about life, death, and who we really are as ‘points of consciousness.’
Category: Philosophy
Links to philosophy resources.
Consciousness and psychedelics | Peter Sjostedt-H | TEDxTruro
Philosopher of mind Peter Sjöstedt-H discusses the hidden impact psychedelics have had on philosophy and asks if such extreme, altered modes of mind could help give us answers to some of the big questions facing the philosophers and scientists of today. Peter is an Anglo-Scandinavian philosopher of mind and author. He lives in West Cornwall and is engaged in his PhD with the University of Exeter, where he also teaches philosophy modules and writing skills. Peter is the inspiration behind the inhuman philosopher Marvel Superhero, Karnak. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
Joscha Bach – Why Your Thoughts Aren’t Yours.
Dr. Joscha Bach discusses advanced AI, consciousness, and cognitive modeling. He presents consciousness as a virtual property emerging from self-organizing software patterns, challenging panpsychism and materialism. Bach introduces “Cyberanima,” reinterpreting animism through information processing, viewing spirits as self-organizing software agents. He addresses limitations of current large language models and advocates for smaller, more efficient AI models capable of reasoning from first principles. Bach describes his work with Liquid AI on novel neural network architectures for improved expressiveness and efficiency. The interview covers AI’s societal implications, including regulation challenges and impact on innovation. Bach argues for balancing oversight with technological progress, warning against overly restrictive regulations. Throughout, Bach frames consciousness, intelligence, and agency as emergent properties of complex information processing systems, proposing a computational framework for cognitive phenomena and reality.
What Came Before the Big Bang? | Theory of Embedded Intelligence, Bill Mensch & Bernardo Kastrup
Could it be a coincidence that two founding fathers of modern day computing, independently from each other, are both coming with theories of consciousness that are idealist in nature? Or does a deep understanding of what computation is—and what it is not—inevitably lead away from physicalist ideas on consciousness? Previously Essentia Foundation presented the work of Federico Faggin, and now a legendary contemporary of his, computer engineer Bill Mensch, presents his Theory of Embedded Intelligence (TEI) to us. Mensch was a major contributor to the Motorola 6800 and became famous for his work on the MOS Technology 6502 CPU, a chip that, because of it’s efficiency, completely revolutionized computing in the 80’s. From Arcade halls to the Apple II and Nintendo 8 bit consoles, 6502s could be found everywhere. Even to this day the chip is still used in children’s toys and even in pacemakers and satellites. Looking back at his career, Mensch realizes that building computer chips is in essence a form of ‘embedding’ intelligence in technology, just as nature has embedded intelligence in biological systems, like humans. In his TEI model intelligence is fundamental. This raises the philosophical question of how consciousness relates to intelligence, and for this reason Bernardo Kastrup joined in on the conversation Mensch and Hans Busstra had. The value of a theory like Mensch’s is perhaps exactly that it is not philosophically fine-tuned to the terminology commonly used in philosophy of mind. By not taking the human mind and phenomenal consciousness as its departure point, but intelligence instead, Mensch arrives at a position in which the distinction between living beings and abiotic systems is less distinct. Mensch’s slides can be downloaded here: https://www.essentiafoundation.o…
Making the Most of Your Life: Lama Yeshe
In Lama Yeshe’s and Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s first trip to Europe they offered a weekend seminar based on their famous month-long Kopan meditation courses. Preceded by Lama Yeshe’s lecture on meditation at Kensington Town Hall, these teachings at Royal Holloway College, Surrey, encompass the entire Buddhist path to enlightenment. Please also visit us at http://www.LamaYeshe.com
A Conversation Between Iain McGilchrist and David Bentley Hart
On the mind, the structure of the brain, the structure of life, the arts, perceptions of reality, the pervasiveness of consciousness… Scientist, physician, psychiatrist, writer, literary scholar, and philosopher Iain McGilchrist is as genial as his work is fascinating. As anyone familiar with his books could attest, this conversation no more than grazes the surface of his thought; but it was, to my mind, a rich and absorbing conversation nevertheless. He is, moreover, almost aggressively sane. https://davidbentleyhart.substac…
Andy Karr – “Into the Mirror”
The modern world has been incredibly successful at producing material wealth, scientific knowledge, and technological innovation. But all these advances have not led to corresponding improvements in our psychological well-being, social harmony, spiritual wealth, or the health of this planet. With his upcoming book titled Into the Mirror, Andy shows that remedies for these problems can be found within the profound insights of Mahayana Buddhism. Andy Karr doesn’t like to talk about himself very much, but he does talk and write about Buddhist teachings, particularly the profound paths of the Mahayana and Mahamudra. He is the author of Contemplating Reality, an experiential guide to Buddhist philosophy (Shambhala Publications, 2007) and co-author of The Practice of Contemplative Photography: Seeing the world with fresh eyes (Shambhala Publications, 2011). His latest book, Into The Mirror: A buddhist journey through mind, matter, and the nature of reality will be published by Shambhala in May, 2023. He spoke with students at RYI and online participants on the 20th February 2023.
The fact is we are nothing | Krishnamurti
Extract from the second conversation with Pupul Jayakar at Brockwood Park, 1983. Watch the full video at • J. Krishnamurti – Brockwood Park…
The Accident of Unconsciousness | Forrest Landry | TEDxCardiffbytheSea
Considers the meaning and uniqueness of life on earth, in regards to the basis and design of action and choice, on both personal and community levels. Defines a realistic, as distinct from virtual, consideration of the nature and role of a foundational ethics as applied in interpersonal situations, and how this leads to healthier, thriving, outcomes. Forrest Landry a philosopher, founder, writer, researcher, scientist, engineer, and craftsman. He has a unique set of skills in large scale systems design and worked on many software projects in the business and government sectors. His most original and insightful work is in the area of metaphysics – the study of what is, what is the nature of being, what is the nature of knowing, and by what means we make good choices. His foundational work “The Immanent Metaphysics” reflects a decades long effort to restore legitimacy to the practice of metaphysics and construct a rigorous, coherent and precise statement of Ethics.
Chris Langan: IQ, Free Will, Psychedelics, CTMU, & God
Chris Langan has the highest recorded IQ in America, and has invented a theory of everything called the CTMU based in metalogic.