X-Message-Number: 26017
Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2005 16:50:07 -0400
From:
Subject: On the Complexity of Brains
Those in Southern California might be interested in the following, copied
from E-Skeptic:
Brain, Mind & Consciousness
The Skeptics Society Annual Conference
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, May 13 15
at the Westin Resort & Hotel
and the Beckman Auditorium, Caltech, Pasadena, CA
Research on the brain, mind, and consciousness was given a significant
boost by Nobel laureate Dr. Francis Crick in 1994, when he wrote in his
book, The Astonishing Hypothesis, that you, your joys and your sorrows,
your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free
will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve
cells and their associated molecules.
This is what is called the hard problem explaining how billions of
neurons swapping chemicals give rise to such subjective experiences as
consciousness, self-awareness, and awareness that others are conscious and
self-aware; that is, not only the ability to wonder, but the ability to
wonder why we wonder, and even wonder why others wonder why.
Explaining each of the functional parts of the brain is the easy problem,
such as the differences between waking and sleep, discrimination of
stimuli, or the control of behavior. By contrast, what has come to be known
as the hard problem in consciousness studies is experience: what it is like
to be in a given mental state. Adding up all of the solved easy problems
does not equal a solution to the hard problem. Something else is going on
in private subjective experiences called qualia and there is no
consensus on what it is.
Dualists hold that qualia are separate from physical objects in the world
and that mind is more than brain. Materialists contend that qualia are
ultimately explicable through the activities of neurons and that mind and
brain are one. Our speakers, some of the top neuroscientists in the world,
will address these and other problems, such as the evolution of the brain,
and how and why it got to be so large. Skeptics will get a chance to
interact with these world-class scientists on the breaks, during meals, and
in a formal discussion period. We will also consider the implications of
this new brain research to better understand apparent paranormal phenomena,
as well as how and why people believe weird things.
Special Guest:
Mike Reiss, head writer for The Simpsons
Magicians:
James The Amazing Randi
Bob Friedhoffer, the madman of magic
mentalist Mark Edwards
illusionist Jerry Andrus
Speakers:
Dr. John Allman
Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Neuroscience, Biology Division,
California Institute of Technology, author of Evolving Brains, conducts
research on the evolution and development of the brain, reconstructions of
cerebral cortex, the interface between emotion and cognition, and the
relationship between the anterior cingulate cortex and attention deficit
disorder, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, phobias,
post-traumatic stress, and anxiety disorders.
Dr. Susan Blackmore
is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of the West of England, Bristol.
With degrees in psychology and physiology from Oxford University and a
Ph.D. in parapsychology from the University of Surrey, her research
interests include memes and the theory of memetics, evolutionary theory,
consciousness, and meditation. She is author of Beyond the Body, Dying to
Live, In Search of the Light, Test Your Psychic Powers, The Meme Machine,
and Consciousness: An Introduction.
Dr. Ursula Goodenough
Professor of Biology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO; conducts
research on cell biology, the evolution of the genes governing
mating-related traits, the molecular basis for flagellar motility, emergent
properties in biological systems, the evolution of symbolic communication
in primates, and the interface of science and religion. She is the author
of the widely adopted textbook, Genetics, and of the popular science book,
The Sacred Depths of Nature.
Dr. Alison Gopnik
Professor of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley; runs the
cognitive development lab, conducting research on cognition, brain, and
behavior; theory of mind; psychology and philosophy; how children develop
and change intuitive theories of the world in much the way that scientists
do; children s causal knowledge and causal learning across domains,
including physical, biological and psychological knowledge; in essence, how
the brain learns to think.
Dr. Christof Koch
obtained his Ph.D. in (bio)-physics with a minor in Philosophy. After four
years at MIT, he joined the California Institute of Technology, where he is
the Lois and Victor Troendle Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Biology.
His laboratory focuses on experimental and computational research
pertaining to neuronal correlates of selective visual attention and
consciousness in the mammalian brain, a topic he has worked on for the past
16 years with Francis Crick.
Dr. Richard J. McNally
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, author of Remembering Trauma
and the classic paper in Psychological Science, Psychophysiological
Responding During Script-Driven Imagery in People Reporting Abduction by
Space Aliens, in which he demonstrates that imaginary traumas are as
terrifying as the real thing. Conducts research on memories: true, false,
recovered, repressed, and remembered.
Dr. Steven Quartz
Division of Humanities & Social Sciences, and Computation and Neural
Systems Program, California Institute of Technology, co-author of Liars,
Lovers, and Heroes: What the New Brain Science Reveals About How We Become
Who We Are, conducts research in neuroeconomics, the neural correlates of
product branding, and the neuroscience of cooperation, competition, and the
development of trust.
Dr. V. S. Ramachandran
Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition and Professor of Psychology,
University of California, San Diego, author of Phantoms in the Brain:
Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind, The Emerging Mind, and A Brief
Tour of Human Consciousness, and is Editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of
Human Behaviour. Newsweek magazine called him one of the hundred most
prominent people to watch in the next century.
Dr. Hank Schlinger
Department of Psychology, California State University, Northridge, author
of Psychology: A Behavioral Overview, A Behavior-Analytic View of Child
Development, and Introduction to Scientific Psychology and has published
scientific articles in journals including the American Psychologist,
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, Pharmacology,
Biochemistry and Behavior, Psychopharmacology, Psychological Record, The
Analysis of Verbal Behavior, The Behavior Analyst, Skeptic and Skeptical
Inquirer.
Dr. Terry Sejnowski
Director, Computational Neurobiology Laboratory, Salk Institute, Advisory
Board Chair of The Science Network, author of Liars, Lovers, and Heroes:
What the New Brain Science Reveals About How We Become Who We Are, conducts
research on the hippocampus, believed to play a major role in learning and
memory; and the cerebral cortex, which holds our knowledge of the world and
how to interact with it.
Dr. Paul Zak
Center for Neuroeconomics Study, Claremont Graduate University, conducts
research on the neurobiology of trust, the neural substrates of reward
valuation, the relationship of touch and trust, and the link between
economic systems, social structures, and trust.
tickets
Register online (www.skeptic.com/conf/reg.html) or call 626-794-3119
$150 Skeptics Society members, $175 nonmembers, $75 Students
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