91. Daniel Dennett (Philosopher) – Thinking About Thinking About Thinking

Think Again - a Big Think Podcast

Big Think / Panoply

Arts, Society & Culture

4.6 • 594 Ratings

🗓️ 25 March 2017

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Since 2008, Big Think has been sharing big ideas from creative and curious minds. The Think Again podcast takes us out of our comfort zone, surprising our guests and Jason Gots, your host, with unexpected conversation starters from Big Think’s interview archives. Daniel Dennett is one of the foremost philosophers of mind working today to unravel the puzzle of what minds are and what they’re for, and Co-Director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. His latest book of many is called From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds, and it’s a sweeping (but detailed) attempt to demystify how we get from inanimate matter to cathedrals, symphonies, and of course, podcasts. In this fun and meaty episode of Think Again, Dennett waxes wicked and wise on consciousness, Dolphins, Artificial Intelligence, and much, much more. Surprise conversation starter interview clips: Andrew Keen on the Internet and social isolation and Ben Goertzel on Artificial General Intelligence Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey there, I'm Jason Gots and you're listening to Think Again a Big Think podcast.
0:09.0	Started in 2008, Big Think is a kind of online think tank of big ideas from some of the most creative thinkers on the planet.
0:17.0	On the podcast, we revisit these ideas in new ways. Our producers surprised me and my guests with short interview clips from Big Things Archives,
0:25.6	ideas that we didn't necessarily come here prepared or expecting to discuss.
0:29.6	I'm very happy to be here today with Daniel Dennett.
0:32.6	He's one of the foremost philosophers of mind working today to unravel the puzzle of what minds are and what they're for,
0:39.8	and co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University, among other titles.
0:45.8	His latest book of many is called From Bacteria to Bach and Back,
0:50.8	and it's a sweeping but detailed attempt to demystify how we get from inanimate matter
0:56.0	to cathedrals, symphonies, and of course, podcasts.
1:00.0	Welcome to Think Again, Dan.
1:02.0	I'm glad to be here.
1:04.0	Can you summarize your 413-page extremely comprehensive book in, no, I mean, what, how would you describe the central premise of what you're trying to argue here,
1:15.6	which I know gathers decades of work on your part?
1:18.6	The central premise, I guess, could be summarized as if you really want to understand
1:25.6	what consciousness is and what it can do,
1:29.4	and what a human mind is, you have to see how it got that way.
1:32.8	Right.
1:33.3	You have to understand what it came from.
1:35.5	You have to understand how it got designed.
1:38.7	Because there's simply no question about it.
1:41.2	It is just loaded with fabulous design.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Big Think / Panoply, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Big Think / Panoply and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.