Rationally Speaking #95 - Gerard O'Brien On the Computational Theory of Mind

Rationally Speaking Podcast

New York City Skeptics

Society & Culture, Skepticism, Science, Philosophy

4.6 • 787 Ratings

🗓️ 27 October 2013

⏱️ 56 minutes

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Summary

Is the mind a kind of computer? This episode of Rationally Speaking features philosopher Gerard O'Brien from the University of Adelaide, who specializes in the philosophy of mind. Gerard, Julia, and Massimo discuss the computational theory of mind and what it implies about consciousness, intelligence, and the possibility of uploading people onto computers.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Rationally speaking is a presentation of New York City skeptics dedicated to promoting critical thinking, skeptical inquiry, and science education.
0:22.6	For more information, please visit us at NYC Skeptics.org.
0:35.3	Welcome to rationally speaking, the podcast where we explore the borderlands between reason and nonsense.
0:40.5	I'm your host, Massimo Pilucci, and with me as always is my co-host, Julia Galev.
0:45.2	Julia, what are we going to talk about today?
0:48.0	Well, Massimo, today on Rationally Speaking, we really are spanning the globe with this episode because you're in New York, as you know.
0:55.3	I think I know that.
0:57.2	I'm in California and our guest today is joining us from Adelaide Australia.
1:02.0	Professor Gerrude O'Brien is a professor of philosophy at the University of Adelaide
1:06.5	where he specializes in consciousness, mental representation, theoretical foundations of cognitive science,
1:14.6	and other related fields.
1:17.0	Jared, welcome to the show.
1:18.8	It's great to be here.
1:19.9	Lovely to meet you both.
1:21.2	Great, Jared.
1:22.0	So let me start out with the basic stuff.
1:24.1	So the general topic that we want to talk about today is the relationship between
1:28.8	sort of computer science and philosophy and mind and the study of consciousness. So let me start
1:34.8	with what seems to be the most widely accepted, at least in philosophical circles, idea about
1:42.0	how the mind works. And that's called the computational theory of mind.
1:46.3	And Stephen Horst, who is a philosopher who wrote a really nice article about it for the
1:50.9	Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, defines the computational theory in this way.
	...

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