Dan Dennett: Can we know our own minds?

Back


Philosopher Dan Dennett makes a compelling argument that not only don't we understand our own consciousness, but that half the time our brains are actively fooling us. As he puts it, our bodies are made up of 100 trillion little robots, none of them with an individual consciousness. So what makes us feel we have one? Or that we're in control of it? Dennett's hope is to show his audience that "Your consciousness is not quite as marvelous as you may have thought it is." He uses thought experiments and optical illusions to demonstrate to the TED audience that even very big brains are capable of playing tricks on their owners.

Channel: People & Blogs
Uploaded: May 4, 2007 at 12:32 am
Author: TEDtalksDirector

Length: 00:23:45
Rating: 4.75
Views: 44446

Tags: philosophy ted tedtalks

Video Comments:
zetterberg (November 19, 2008 at 1:26 am)
this is a lecture on Perception not Consciousness. Misleading title, that is why so many confounded responses.
elfargo (November 18, 2008 at 4:06 am)
this video explains nothing outside of dennett's extraordinary limited conception of consciousness as a summation of perceptual faculties...
baronblod2003 (November 16, 2008 at 11:37 pm)
I just might want to be a full time philosopher. As a working-profession that is, of the record I pretty much am already.
qwickset (November 11, 2008 at 7:54 pm)
Yet he sits here explaining what it is not? I don't follow how he can state that it's not a "bag of tricks" (i.e. a black box), yet still not explain what it is.
qwickset (November 11, 2008 at 7:53 pm)
here here.
qwickset (November 11, 2008 at 7:52 pm)
I find it odd that he claims that...but most people (it would seem these comments as well) I've discussed consciousness with...see it as a black box. To date, I've not come across any layman (and Dennett doesn't even do it here sadly) sit there and explain..."this is what consciousness is".
Animas3D (October 28, 2008 at 6:54 pm)
Dennett is great.
brian1james2dillon3 (November 12, 2008 at 7:05 am)
Just because there is a gap in the knowledge it dosent immediately call for a supernatural cause. I'm confident that further research will back this up. That is not something to get upset about, we should all admit our ignorance & keep a close eye on the progress of knowledge before jumping to conclusions.
qwickset (October 28, 2008 at 5:49 am)
Why is it that he's talking about consciousness as a brain function instead of a function of the mind? His "consciousness" is not the consciousness I was hoping to see discussed.
brian1james2dillon3 (November 11, 2008 at 1:40 pm)
There is no seperation. No proof exists that the mind is seperate from the brain.