Why are we conscious? Is cortex the organ of mind?
Throughout human history, people have perceived the conscious brain as the great nexus of human life, of social relationships, of their personal identities and histories, in encounters with new challenges. Consciousness under its many labels and manifestations is widely seen to be one of the core mysteries of life. A great many therapeutic approaches can be viewed in a global workspace framework, including traditional psychodynamics and depth psychology, but also cognitive behavioral techniques, and, indeed, many other kinds of carefully studied human functions. Making progress in understanding consciousness therefore has an endless number of implications - philosophical, metaphysical, scientific, medical, clinical, and practical.
"A valuable reference for technical audiences and a vigorous intellectual hike for the layman." —Kirkus Reviews
"Baars’ preference for testable hypotheses as opposed to dead-end thought-experiments have made a major difference in shifting the topic to a secure knowledge base from which real progress can be made. His work is always insightful, careful, and trustworthy — virtues that have become increasingly elusive in philosophical approaches. This corpus is a stunning achievement."
A Personal Conversation on the Biology of Subjectivity: A Roundtable on Neural Darwinism & Consciousness -- with Drs David Edelman, Bernie Baars, Jay Giedd, Jeffrey Krichmar, and Mark Mitton; Natalie Geld, Moderator.
How do biological systems confront and survive an ever-changing world?
This is the central question that defined Charles Darwin’s scientific journey. 160 years after On the Origin of Species, Natural Selection provides a framework for understanding adaptation at many different scales of biological organization, from protein translation, to the immune response, to organismal development, to the origin of species and dynamics of vast ecologies (e.g., rainforests, grasslands, island biogeography, etc.).
Could the very same Darwinian principles help explain how complex nervous systems adapt?
the Theory of Neuronal Group Selection (TNGS), to account for the development and function of the human brain. Neural Darwinism proposes that the functional circuitry of the brain is determined by selective forces operating during development and throughout the life of an organism. It provides a robust biological framework for understanding brain function, including consciousness--the most complex and mysterious of all brain processes.
In a nearly six decade long career, Gerald M. Edelman’s research spanned diverse areas of biological science, including immunology, developmental biology, and neuroscience. The common thread running through all of Dr. Edelman’s pursuits was an enduring interest in the relationship between biology and human experience. Neural Darwinism represents the culmination of his efforts to reconcile the two.
and conscious human experience. His Global Workspace Theory and Edelman’s Neural Darwinism naturally complement one another. Both theories propose that the conscious brain supports numerous unconscious processes which together yield a single, coherent stream of experiences.
Through recent neuroscientific advances, we have begun to lift the veil of mystery surrounding consciousness. Through lively discussion, the panel will explore Neural Darwinism and Global Workspace in the context of these advances and make the case that together, these complementary theories provide a rich biological roadmap of subjective experience.
A former Senior Fellow in Theoretical Neurobiology at The Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla, CA, Bernie is best known as the originator of the global workspace theory and global workspace dynamics, a theory of human cognitive architecture, the cortex and consciousness. Bernie's many acclaimed books include A Cognitive Theory of Consciousness; The Cognitive Revolution in Psychology; In the Theater of Consciousness: The Workspace of the Mind; Fundamentals of Cognitive Neuroscience. Winner of the 2019 Hermann von Helmholtz Life Contribution Award by the International Neural Network Society, which recognizes work in perception proven to be paradigm changing and long-lasting. BernardBaars.com
A neuroscientist and currently Visiting Scholar in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth College, David has taught neuroscience at the University of San Diego and UCSD. He was Professor of Neuroscience at Bennington College until 2014 and visiting professor in the Dept of Psychology, CUNY Brooklyn College from 2015-2017. He has conducted research in a wide range of areas, including mechanisms of gene regulation, the relationship between mitochondrial transport and brain activity, and visual perception in the octopus. A longstanding interest in the neural basis of consciousness led him to consider the importance—and challenge—of disseminating a more global view of brain function to a broad audience.
Chair of child psychiatry at Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego and director of child and adolescent psychiatry, Dr. Giedd is also a professor of psychiatry at UCSD School of Medicine. He is a professor in the Dept of Population, Family and Reproductive Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Giedd was chief of the Section on Brain Imaging, Child Psychiatry Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). His widely published research and expertise evaluates how the child's brain develops in health and illness, the factors that influence development and how to optimize treatments to take advantage of the child's changing brain. Jay and his award winning work were featured in the PBS 2 part series "Brains on Trial" hosted by Alan Alda.
A professional magician who is fascinated by using magic to better understand how we see the world. Mark has performed for Mick Jagger, Beyoncé, Jay-Z, John Mayer, Katy Perry, Salman Rushdie, Sienna Miller, Sting, Sylvester Stallone, and many others; at the Olympic Games; in war-torn Liberia; and in hospital wards around NYC. He regularly presents on ‘Perception’ at universities and conferences in North America and Europe, including the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness, and has lectured with the late Nobel Laureate Dr. Gerald Edelman of The Neurosciences Institute.
A computational neuroscientist and roboticist, Jeff is currently a professor in the Department of Cognitive Sciences and the Department of Computer Science at University of California, Irvine. A Senior Fellow in Theoretical Neurobiology at The Neurosciences Institute from '99 - '07, he worked closely with Dr. Gerald M. Edelman. Jeff's research interests include neurorobotics, embodied cognition, biologically plausible models of learning and memory, neuromorphic applications and tools, and the effect of neural architecture on neural function.
Creator of The Feeling Brain Visual CME series, Natalie founded MedNeuro to advance medical education and promote better communication between highly specialized fields in science, medicine, and the humanities. She is co-founder of Society for MindBrain Sciences, author of Sensual Intelligence: An Introduction to Your Body’s Language, editor of On Consciousness: Science & Subjectivity; and co-author of an upcoming book with Bernard Baars for Oxford University Press about breakthroughs in consciousness science and the global workspace dynamics of the brain.
The Hutchins Consort plays on the eight scaled violins designed and built by luthier Dr. Carleen Hutchins, whose research into the acoustic properties of string instruments resulted in an innovative process called free-plate tuning; a precise method of refining the top and back plates of a violin before it is assembled to bring it to peak acoustic performance. The fruits of her labor are the eight Hutchins violins, ranging in size from the 18.5-inch treble to the 7.2-foot contrabass. They have the additional advantage of being crafted as a complete set with the same harmonic DNA — giving them the ability to produce a unique array of sounds that add a new dimension to the works they perform.
