39 | Malcolm MacIver on Sensing, Consciousness, and Imagination

39 | Malcolm MacIver on Sensing, Consciousness, and Imagination

Consciousness has many aspects, from experience to wakefulness to self-awareness. One aspect is imagination: our minds can conjure up multiple hypothetical futures to help us decide which choices we should make. Where did that ability come from? Today's guest, Malcolm MacIver, pinpoints an important transition in the evolution of consciousness to when fish first climbed on to land, and could suddenly see much farther, which in turn made it advantageous to plan further in advance. If this idea is true, it might help us understand some of the abilities and limitations of our cognitive capacities, with potentially important ramifications for our future as a species. Support Mindscape on Patreon or Paypal. Malcolm MacIver received his Ph.D. in neuroscience in 2001 from the University of Illinois and the Beckman Institute of Advanced Science and Technology. (This was after an unconventional childhood where he dropped out of school at age 9 and later talked his way into a community college program.) He is currently a professor of Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Neurobiology at Northwestern University. In 2009 he was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering. Northwestern Web Page Google Scholar Talk on sensing and planning Paper: "The Shift to Life on Land Selected for Planning" Twitter

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Holiday Message: Reflections on Immortality

Holiday Message: Reflections on Immortality

The final Mindscape podcast of each year is devoted to a short, reflective Holiday Message. This year the theme is Immortality: whether it's an attractive idea, and whether the laws of physics and cos...

18 Joulu 202355min

259 | Adam Frank on What Aliens Might Be Like

259 | Adam Frank on What Aliens Might Be Like

It wasn't that long ago that topics like the nature of consciousness, or the foundations of quantum mechanics, or prospects for extraterrestrial life were considered fringey and disreputable by much o...

11 Joulu 20231h 18min

AMA | December 2023

AMA | December 2023

Welcome to the December 2023 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Pa...

4 Joulu 20233h 36min

258 | Solo: AI Thinks Different

258 | Solo: AI Thinks Different

The Artificial Intelligence landscape is changing with remarkable speed these days, and the capability of Large Language Models in particular has led to speculation (and hope, and fear) that we could ...

27 Marras 20231h 20min

257 | Derek Guy on the Theory and Practice of Dressing Well

257 | Derek Guy on the Theory and Practice of Dressing Well

Putting on clothes is one of the most universal human experiences. Inevitably, this involves choices; maybe you just grab the cheapest and most convenient clothing available, or maybe you want to fit ...

20 Marras 20231h 20min

256 | Kelly and Zach Weinersmith on Building Cities on the Moon and Mars

256 | Kelly and Zach Weinersmith on Building Cities on the Moon and Mars

There is an undeniable romance in the idea of traveling to, and even living in, outer space. In recent years, a pragmatic justification has become increasingly popular: the Earth is vulnerable to thre...

13 Marras 20231h 24min

AMA | November 2023

AMA | November 2023

Welcome to the November 2023 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Pa...

6 Marras 20234h 20min

255 | Michael Muthukrishna on Developing a Theory of Everyone

255 | Michael Muthukrishna on Developing a Theory of Everyone

A "Theory of Everything" is physicists' somewhat tongue-in-cheek phrase for a hypothetical model of all the fundamental physical interactions. Of course, even if we had such a theory, it would tell us...

30 Loka 20231h 17min

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