September 2018 – SelfAwarePatterns Skip to content SelfAwarePatterns Ponderings of science, philosophy, history, society, and many other topics Menu Home About Mind and AI Consciousness lies in the eye of the beholder A perceptual hierarchy of consciousness Hierarchy of consciousness, January 2021 edition Global workspace theory: consciousness as brain wide information sharing Chalmers’ theory of consciousness The barrier of meaning Science What do scientific theories actually tell us about the world? Structural realism, a way to be a scientific realist? The evolution of the scientific method. The spectrum of science to fantasy Philosophy How do you separate the objective from the subjective? Science Fiction Space 97% of the observable universe is forever unreachable History The value of history Morality Religion Society Having productive internet conversations Writing Month: September 2018 SETI vs the possibility of interstellar exploration Science News has a short article discussing a calculation someone has done showing how small the volume of space examined by SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) is relative the overall size of the galaxy. With no luck so far in a six-decade search for signals from aliens, you’d be forgiven for thinking, “Where is everyone?” A … Continue reading SETI vs the possibility of interstellar exploration → SelfAwarePatterns Space 19 Comments September 30, 2018 4 Minutes A qualified recommendation: The Murderbot Diaries I'm generally not a fan of most depictions of AI (artificial intelligence) in science fiction. They're often highly anthropomorphic, assuming that engineered intelligences would innately have motivations and impulses similar to humans or other living systems, such as caring about their own survival, social status, or self actualization. A good example of this is the … Continue reading A qualified recommendation: The Murderbot Diaries → SelfAwarePatterns Science Fiction 13 Comments September 16, 2018 4 Minutes Inflate and explode, or deflate and preserve? Philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel has an interesting post up criticizing the arguments of illusionists, those who have concluded that phenomenal consciousness is an illusion. Here's a way to deny the existence of things of Type X. Assume that things of Type X must have Property A, and then argue that nothing has Property A. If that … Continue reading Inflate and explode, or deflate and preserve? → SelfAwarePatterns Philosophy 96 Comments September 9, 2018 3 Minutes Search for: Recent Posts The Dying Earth genre Russellian monism, the same as illusionism? Don’t throw out Occam’s razor just yet Why I’m enjoying The Rings of Power more than House of the Dragon The possibility of civilization collapsing and longtermism Westworld and the dangers of artificial people Needle (Inverted Frontier Book 3) The specificity problem Philosophical semanticism Consciousness, illusions, and definitions Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Attention and consciousness SMBC: Let’s ask the aliens to explain consciousness Susan Blackmore’s illusionism Love, Death & Robots, Volume 3 Popular Posts Mind uploading and the philosophy of self Why faster than light travel is inevitably also time travel Would aliens or AI have religion? AI: An Exercise in Analytical Philosophy Anil Seth's theory of consciousness Politics is about self interest The iron rule of science? The mechanical philosophy and mysterianism Is the ultimate nature of reality mental? Take COVID-19 seriously Categories Categories Select Category History Mind and AI Morality Philosophy Religion Science Science Fiction Society Space Writing Zeitgeist Archives Archives Select Month September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 July 2018 June 2018 April 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 September 2018 M T W T F S S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 « Jul Oct » Recent Comments Alex Popescu on Russellian monism, the same as… Alex Popescu on Russellian monism, the same as… SelfAwarePatterns on Russellian monism, the same as… SelfAwarePatterns on Russellian monism, the same as… James Cross on Russellian monism, the same as… Alex Popescu on Russellian monism, the same as… Alex Popescu on Russellian monism, the same as… Alex Popescu on Russellian monism, the same as… Alex Popescu on Russellian monism, the same as… SelfAwarePatterns on Russellian monism, the same as… Alex Popescu on Russellian monism, the same as… SelfAwarePatterns on Russellian monism, the same as… Philosopher Eric on Russellian monism, the same as… Alex Popescu on Russellian monism, the same as… Alex Popescu on Russellian monism, the same as… Follow SelfAwarePatterns Follow By Email Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Email Address: Sign Me Up! Follow SelfAwarePatterns on WordPress.com SelfAwarePatterns tweets My Tweets Blog at WordPress.com. Follow Following SelfAwarePatterns Join 7,104 other followers Sign me up Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now. SelfAwarePatterns Customize Follow Following Sign up Log in Report this content View site in Reader Manage subscriptions Collapse this bar Loading Comments... Write a Comment... Email (Required) Name (Required) Website