Passos, Montemayor, Mindt: Do Animals, Infants, and AI Have Consciousness?

Passos, Montemayor, and Mindt examine consciousness limits in infants, animals, and artificial intelligence systems. They explore how we can recognize consciousness, the moral implications of treating non‑human minds, and whether AI should receive the same ethical consideration as human children.- 00:00:00 - Introduction- 00:03:56 - How aware are infants?- 00:08:36 - Correlates of consciousness- 00:11:16 - Trauma in infants- 00:17:00 - Traditional definitions of consciousness- 00:22:05 - Animal consciousness- 00:26:05 - Phenomenal consciousness- 00:35:37 - “You can't be intelligent if you are not autonomous”- 00:37:00 - Asymmetric moral considerations- 00:41:00 - Agency needs vulnerability to work- 00:43:20 - The borders between biology and machine- 00:46:00 - Building "mini brains"!- 00:58:40 - Behavioral markers of consciousness- 01:00:10 - Should AI be given the same ethical consideration as our human children?- 01:05:16 - Do infants lack moral standing?- 01:08:14 - Is analogue consciousness relevant?- 01:14:06 - What do we mean by “autonomy”?- 01:19:00 - OutroSPONSORS:- Manscaped: Get 20% Off and Free Shipping with code [TOE] at Manscaped.com- Brilliant: 20% off https://brilliant.org/TOERESOURCES:- YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_YMcEPfqCM- *New* TOE Website (early access to episodes): https://theoriesofeverything.org/- http://theoriesofeverything.org- Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal- Crypto: https://nowpayments.io/donation/TOE- PayPal: https://tinyurl.com/paypalTOE- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt- Discord Invite: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs- iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast...- Pandora: https://pdora.co/33b9lfP- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4gL14b9...- Subreddit r/TheoriesOfEverything: https://reddit.com/r/theoriesofeveryt... Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal features long-form, technically detailed interviews with leading researchers in physics, mathematics, consciousness, and philosophy, exploring topics at the level of active research. For academics, graduate students, and anyone seeking depth beyond popular science. SPONSOR: I personally subscribe to The Economist. SUMMER SALE to Aug 17, 2026: 50% off the annual subscription! No other podcast has this! https://economist.com/TOE FOLLOW: Substack | Spotify | YouTube | Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices