2/4: The Experience Machine: How Our Minds Predict and Shape Reality Hardcover – May 2, 2023 by Andy Clark (Author)
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 21 October 2023
⏱️ 8 minutes
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Summary
https://www.amazon.com/Experience-Machine-Minds-Predict-Reality/dp/1524748455
Widely acclaimed philosopher and cognitive scientist Andy Clark unpacks this provocative new theory that the brain is a powerful, dynamic prediction engine, mediating our experience of both body and world. From the most mundane experiences to the most sublime, reality as we know it is the complex synthesis of sensory information and expectation. Exploring its fascinating mechanics and remarkable implications for our lives, mental health, and society, Clark nimbly illustrates how the predictive brain sculpts all human experience. Chronic pain and mental illness are shown to involve subtle malfunctions of our unconscious predictions, pointing the way towards more effective, targeted treatments. Under renewed scrutiny, the very boundary between ourselves and the outside world dissolves, showing that we are as entangled with our environments as we are with our onboard memories, thoughts, and feelings. And perception itself is revealed to be something of a controlled hallucination.
Unveiling the extraordinary explanatory power of the predictive brain, The Experience Machine is a mesmerizing window onto one of the most significant developments in our understanding of the mind.
1910 Carthage
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hidden beneath the streets of Westminster |
| 0:02.5 | discover the secret underground headquarters |
| 0:05.1 | where the course of the Second World War was determined |
| 0:07.8 | at Churchill Warrooms. |
| 0:09.4 | Step back in time and explore the historic rooms |
| 0:12.2 | left exactly as they were. |
| 0:14.1 | A victory, one, not only for ourselves, but for all. |
| 0:18.7 | Then delve deeper into the former Prime Minister's life and legacy |
| 0:22.3 | in the extensive Churchill Museum. |
| 0:24.6 | London's must-see attraction |
| 0:26.4 | search Churchill Warrooms and book your visit today. |
| 0:35.3 | I'm John Batson with Professor Andy Clarke. |
| 0:37.7 | His new book is The Experience Machine, |
| 0:39.6 | How Our Minds Predict and Shape Reality. |
| 0:42.0 | Andy is a professor of cognitive philosophy at the University of Sussex |
| 0:45.8 | in the United Kingdom. |
| 0:47.6 | First, autism, overweight experiences. |
| 0:51.2 | This is all fresh to me, Andy, |
| 0:53.6 | that autism is not withdrawing from the world. |
| 0:57.1 | It's over-weighting information at the same time. |
| 1:00.8 | Are you projecting on that information the way I did? |
| 1:03.9 | Does it work in the same fashion? |
... |
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