Space Time Mind
102 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 22 ratingsPhilosophy professor Pete Mandik tackles topics ranging from the neuroscience of consciousness to the philosophical foundations of physics.
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The SpaceTimeMind RequestBucket
August 05, 2014 12:45Dear SpacetimeMinders, What topics would you like to see tackled? What depths plumbed? What guests would you like subjected to our special brand of norn torture? Is there something you'd like to see or hear more of? Less of? Please utilize the SpaceTimeMind RequestBucket by leaving a comment below. The small but growing list of audience suggestions so far implemented on the SpaceTimeMind podcast.
Who is the lowest turtle?
August 03, 2014 13:01"I am the lowest turtle." - Richard Brown, Episode 9: A Journey to the Edge of Hypertime
Episode 10: All Up In the Global Workspace of Consciousness (with Bernard Baars)
August 01, 2014 17:32 - 1 hour - 91.4 MBNeuroscience and philosophy meet in the arena of consciousness when neuroscientist guest Bernard Baars joins philosopher hosts Richard Brown and Pete Mandik on the SpaceTimeMind podcast. Topics we tackle include (1) the interface between science and philosophy, (2) the Global Workspace Theory of Consciousness, (3) the relevance of quantum mechanics for phenomenal consciousness, (4) the possibility of machine consciousness, and (5) Ned Block’s thesis that perceptual consciousness overflows cog...
Debunking the Quantum Mind
July 30, 2014 14:49photo: http://instagram.com/p/rE9UyIh07F/ In our upcoming episode with neuroscientist Bernard Baars (episode 10, out on Aug 1), we discuss the relevance, or lack thereof, of quantum mechanics to explaining consciousness. Here’s a small roundup of debunking articles on the topic, including Baars’ own piece, co-authored with David Edelman. Litt, A., Eliasmith, C., Kroon, F. W., Weinstein, S., & Thagard, P. (2006). Is the brain a quantum computer? Cognitive Science, 30, 593–603. Grush, R...
Cram for Consciousness
July 28, 2014 15:37We're only a few days away from episode 10, which is all about consciousness with guest neuroscientist Bernard Baars. To help you get ultra stoked, here are some helpful study materials: Episode 2: Consciousness explained (?) part 1: Computational Pythagoreanism Episode 3: Consciousness explained (?) part 2: The nature of explanation MindChunk: ZombieFight! MindChunk: Consciousness and Biology EXTRA CREDIT: Read this webcomic.
MindChunk: Metaphysical Impasse and Existential Threat
July 23, 2014 12:18The matter duplicator on board the SpaceTimeMind mothership just went "ding" and another MindChunk popped out. Hurry and take a look before we toss it out of the airlock. Will the debate over mind uploading be settled by one of the sides going extinct? http://www.spacetimemind.com
Episode 9: A Journey to the Edge of Hypertime
July 15, 2014 11:50 - 1 hour - 61.3 MBThis is the first of several episodes of the SpaceTimeMind podcast wherein amateur chrononauts Richard Brown and Pete Mandik tackle topics in the physics and metaphysics of time. In this episode, one of the main ideas we kick around is whether any moments exist beyond the present moment. Additionally, we tackle the issue of whether it makes any more sense to say that time flows than it does to say that space moves. If time flows at some rate, must there exist a hypertime relative to which fir...
Temporal Metaphysics The Musical
July 14, 2014 13:21Tomorrow we release SpaceTimeMind podcast episode 9, one of several planned episodes on the physics and metaphysics of time. In order to whip your hungry brains into an anticipatory froth, be sure to check out the following classic song-and-dance productions covering such topics as change and temporal becoming, perdurantism vs. endurantism, and McTaggart's paradox. Apologies ahead of time (ha!) for any earworms you may catch from the delightful songs contained below. First, check out the un...
More Roger Williams on Hannibal
July 11, 2014 11:09hey, cheekbones In our discussion with sci fi author Roger Williams, we spend a bunch of time on the topic of Hannibal Lecter (jump to the 1:24:51 mark here). There's a new post up at the Passages In the Void blog where Roger provides an overview of the Hannibal TV series. Check it out, fannibals. (Spoiler-alert alert: Those of you who hate spoiler alerts should be alerted to the presence of such alerts in Roger's post.) And don't miss Roger's older (pre-reboot) essay, "Hannibal Lecter as...
Consciousness and Biology
July 10, 2014 18:33Just how tightly do biological facts constrain facts about consciousness? Are radically alien or machine minds possible? Or is a mind without a brain like a square without corners? We tackle these questions in this latest installment of the MindChunks video series. This is excerpted from the discussion Richard Brown and Pete Mandik had with Eric Schwitzgebel. For the rest, be sure to check out Episode 8: Alien and Machine Minds. Are there biological requirements on consciousness? Do we know...
Are You Afraid of the Negative Time Delay Circuit?
July 09, 2014 10:31"What's expected of us," by Ted Chiang is a super short and really great piece of sci fi published in Nature that taps into themes we cover in Episode 7: The Illusion of Free Will (with Gregg Caruso) and will explore further in several upcoming episodes on time (see also our two video discussions on time to date, "What is time?" and "Brit Brogaard on the Metaphysics of Time and the Neurophilosophy of Consciousness").
Episode 8: Alien and Machine Minds (with Eric Schwitzgebel)
June 28, 2014 21:51 - 1 hour - 67.5 MBCould a robot or an alien have a mind even though its physical structure may contain nothing similar to a human brain? To address this, philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel once again joins Richard Brown and Pete Mandik to finish what we started in episode 4, “Death and Logic.” Here Richard defends brain-o-centrism against Eric’s “crazy-ism” (the view that something crazy has to be right about the metaphysics of consciousness) and Pete’s pro-AI, born-again functionalism (the view that minds are mult...
Lord of Lightning, Eric Schwitzgebel
June 26, 2014 14:57We're getting pretty stoked here at SpaceTimeMind central, as we're just a few days away from our next episode, Episode 8: Alien and Machine Minds (with Eric Schwitzgebel). Eric is our first return guest, and the discussion in episode 8 picks up where things left off with Eric in Episode 4: Death and Logic. Things got pretty rowdy in the virtual studio - stormy even - while we were talking about massive lightning strikes creating swamp people and even entire swamp galaxies. See for yourself ...
Zombie Fight!
June 23, 2014 12:30In horror movies, a zombie fight happens when two of the flesh-eating undead confuse each other for prey and, despite tearing each other apart, they both go to bed hungry. In philosophy, a zombie fight is exactly the same. In the latest installment of the MindChunk series, watch as Richard Brown and Pete Mandik use all their best zombie moves on one another, while neuroscientist Joe LeDoux kicks back and surveys the carnage. Phenomenal consciousness is what you know you have when you know w...
The Unger Games
June 17, 2014 11:32The declaration of the death of philosophy du jour comes from Peter Unger in his recent book, Empty Ideas: A Critique of Analytic Philosophy. Glimpse his main ideas in this 3 Quarks Daily interview of Unger. Evident throughout is a pervasive scientism. Apropos of all this, see below the recent MindChunk from Richard and Pete, "Scientist or Philosopher?" (For the longer discussion from which this MindChunk originates, see our video "Scientism.") Pete Mandik and Richard Brown discuss the ques...
Episode 7: The Illusion of Free Will (with Gregg Caruso)
June 13, 2014 17:55 - 1 hour - 83.9 MBYou have only three options: One, you listen to this episode of your own free will. Two, you listen to this episode as a matter of pure chance, with neither cause nor reason. Three, you were predetermined since the big bang to listen to this episode. One way or another, you're going to hear philosopher Gregg Caruso join Pete Mandik as they gang up on Richard Brown, who intermittently operates under the illusion that he has libertarian free will.
Joseph LeDoux on Memory, Emotion, and Consciousness
June 12, 2014 16:33It's been an unusually busy week in the SpaceTimeMind virtual studio and a very brain-heavy one to boot. Today Richard and Pete rocked out with rock-n-roll neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux (of the Amygdaloids) on memory and emotion. And, oh yes, consciousness. Also, another zombie-fight broke out between the co-hosts. Thankfully, no philosophers were harmed. At least, not consciously. Anyway, check out the video below: Neuroscientist Joe LeDoux joins philosophers Richard Brown and Pete Mandik t...
Brit Brogaard on the Metaphysics of Time and the Neurophilosophy of Consciousness
June 11, 2014 19:30Professor of philosophy and neuroscientist Berit (Brit) Brogaard from the University of Miami joins Richard Brown and Pete Mandik in the virtual studio for the SpaceTimeMind podcast. In the first half we talk about the physics and metaphysics of time. In the second half we talk about the neurophilosophy of consciousness. To see the full conversation, check out the video below. Click HERE to follow the SpaceTimeMind YouTube channel. Professor of philosophy and neuroscientist Berit (Brit) Bro...
Just Like Superheroes, Philosophers Have Origin Stories
June 11, 2014 11:37In this installment of the MindChunk video series, Richard and Pete each relate their philosophical origin stories. (SPOILER ALERT: Richard's adamantium skeleton was installed in a secret government location and Pete was bitten by a radioactive norn.) Get to know the hosts of SpaceTimeMind a little better as they reveal their philosophical origin stories.
On the Phenomenology of Conscious Thought
June 09, 2014 15:53SpaceTimeMind co-hosts Richard Brown & Pete Mandik once co-authored a paper. It will be published soon, but due to a weirdo way of handling backlog at the journal, Philosophical Topics, (basically, time travel), the publication date will be listed as 2012. Anyway, check out "On Whether the Higher-Order Thought Theory of Consciousness Entails Cognitive Phenomenology, Or: What is it Like to Think that One Thinks that P?" ABSTRACT.The question at the center of the recent growing literature on ...
You've Been McGurked
June 06, 2014 18:45"You've been McGurked." - - Pete Mandik, Episode 5: Transhumanism and Existentialism
Fields Are Awesome
June 06, 2014 18:42"Fields are awesome." - Richard Brown, Episode 3: Consciousness explained (?) part 2: The nature of explanation See also:
Don't Torture Your Norns
June 05, 2014 16:18"Don't torture your norns." - Pete Mandik, Episode 5: Transhumanism and Existentialism
Sci-Fi Author Roger Williams
June 04, 2014 15:47In Episode 5: Transhumanism and Existentialism, Richard and Pete spend a bunch of time talking about sci-fi author Roger Williams. Tonight they hit the virtual studio to talk to Roger Williams. If you aren't super-stoked about this news or are previously unaware of Williams' work, here's a mini crash-course for you: Roger Williams' novel The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect . You can read it for free online. Roger Williams' story arc "Passages In the Void" Roger Williams' essay "Hannibal...
Hey, You Put Our Podcast In Your Webcomic
June 03, 2014 13:02The latest installment of the excellent philosophical webcomic chaospet by Ryan Lake takes very direct and explicit inspiration from an exchange between Richard and Pete in Episode 1 of the SpaceTimeMind podcast (the exchange occurs in the second half of the episode). In the webcomic, Richard's in blue and Pete's in green. This is a pretty accurate reenactment, up to and including the last panel. Chaospet #246: The Ultimate Skepticism http://chaospet.com/246-the-ultimate-skepticism/
Knowledge Is Poo-Poo
June 02, 2014 19:25What is knowledge? Knowledge is poo-poo. See below. See also: Duncan Pritchard and John Turri "The Value of Knowledge" Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Image source: http://mrblisschina.tumblr.com/post/8386451239/knowledge-is-poo-poo-hong-kong
Episode 6: The Extended Mind (with Lara Beaty)
May 29, 2014 23:05 - 1 hour - 89.1 MBVygotskian developmental psychologist Lara Beaty joins philosopher-scientists Richard Brown and Pete Mandik to tackle questions such as: Is the mind bigger than the brain? Does conceptual thought and even consciousness require the use of language or other sorts of social interaction? Which is morally preferable: making animals smarter or making humans stupider? Would it be totally cool to eat somebody who volunteered for it?
Another Bonkers Craze-Balls Cinematic Trailer by Dr. Brown
May 29, 2014 15:09The indomitable and indefatigable Dr. Brown strikes once again with the best and latest in his series of completely over-the-top cinematic trailers for the SpaceTimeMind podcast. If you can watch this without getting so stoked that you need to go run a few laps, then you are truly dead inside. Grab some popcorn and enjoy. This summer we will have some very cool guests on the spacetimemind podcast. Guests include Lara Beaty, Eric Schwitzgebel, Gregg Caruso, and Bernard Baars
Advice to Graduate Students
May 27, 2014 12:37The following MindChunk is drawn from our Scientism session. Pete Mandik and Richard Brown discuss Neil deGrasse Tyson's recent remarks that if one wants to engage with the big questions in life then one should study the empirical sciences
Tweeting Sweetly
May 25, 2014 22:06Attention Twin Earthings and/or doppelgangers thereof. SpaceTimeMind is now touting its toots in tweetspace. The official SpaceTimeMind Twitter account is @spacetimemind99. Accept no substitutes.
Professor, what are MindChunks?
May 23, 2014 16:15In further pursuit of S C I E N C E, we here at the SpaceTimeMind Laboratory are conducting an experiment, codename "MindChunks." Each MindChunk will be a brief little tidbit or bite-sized morsel. It will be small, short, and entirely user-friendly. A MindChunk takes only a few minutes out of your day, but its effects may last a lifetime. What are you waiting for? Ask your doctor about MindChunks today.
18 Guests You Won't Believe Are Actually Upcoming
May 23, 2014 16:01Two philosophy professors decided to have some guests on their podcast and what happens next will literally blow your mind. (And we mean "literally" literally.) Watch the video below to see what Richard Brown and Pete Mandik are freaking out about this time. (See also this previous blog post for further valid news regarding upcoming guests.) Pete and Richard are really excited about the upcoming guests on SpaceTImeMind
SpaceTimeMind on Very Bad Wizards
May 22, 2014 14:22When a podcast mentions another podcast, it's a very beautiful thing. SpaceTimeMind just got a shout-out in the most recent episode of the excellent Very Bad Wizards podcast hosted by philosopher Tamler Sommers and psychologist David Pizarro. If for some weird reason you listen to SpaceTimeMind but not Very Bad Wizards, I don't know what your problem is, but stop that right now. Go check it out!
Scientism
May 22, 2014 12:51Richard and Pete welcome their new scientismicological overlords and hope they find their nifty blue shirts pleasing. Hosts of the SpaceTimeMind podcast, philosophers of science Richard Brown and Pete Mandik, discuss scientism. Is everything worth knowing accessible via the methods of science? If so, how would you know that? Can scientism be self-justifying? Is it instead self-refuting? Is calling something "scientific" just an empty honorific?
Consciousness, Computational Pythagoreanism, & Explanation
May 19, 2014 20:50This video chat is the basis for episodes 2 & 3 of the SpaceTimeMind podcast with Professors Richard Brown and Pete Mandik. The audio from the first half of the video chat found its way into Episode 2: "Consciousness Explained (?) Part 1: Computational Pythagoreanism" and the second half wound up in Episode 3 "Consciousness Explained (?) Part 2: The Nature of Explanation." More info is available at the following links: http://www.spacetimemind.com/blog/2014/4/6/episode-2-consciousness-expla...
Episode 5: Transhumanism and Existentialism
May 15, 2014 11:08 - 1 hour - 86.4 MBNeurophilosophers Pete Mandik and Richard Brown wax futurological on whether the post-human future will be populated by Kantian superheroes or Sartrean sociopaths. Other questions addressed include: Is your brain a douchebag? Are “uplifted" monkeys happy monkeys or sad monkeys? Is it OK to torture sims? And if so, what’s the best way to do it? Musical interludes provided by the New York Consciousness Collective and Quiet Karate Reflex.
"Transcendence" Official Featurette - What Is Transcendence?
May 14, 2014 15:25Episode 5 of the SpaceTimeMind podcast drops tomorrow, and our launch point for discussion is the technological singularity, especially as depicted in fictions such as Roger Williams' novel, The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect and the new Johnny Depp flick, Transcendence. Podcast co-host Richard Brown took one for the team and saw Transcendence for the rest of us so we don't have to. For another proxy, check out the official featurette below. Actor Paul Bettany says a scientist told him we'...
SpaceTimeMinders Interviewed In 3:AM Magazine
May 12, 2014 19:23In case you missed it the first time around, here are some pertinent installments from Richard Marshall's series of interviews of philosophers for 3:AM Magazine. First off, here are the interviews with the hosts of the SpaceTimeMind podcast, Pete "Brain Hammer" Mandik and Richard "Shombies vs Zombies" Brown. See also the interview with our first guest, Episode 4's Eric "Splintered Skeptic" Schwitzgebel.
Bigger Than Infinity
May 09, 2014 19:25"Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man Cantor's Diagonal Proof, blow his mind out of his asshole. Now you don't have to feed him." --Philosophy Bro Richard Brown mentions Cantor's Diagonal Proof towards the end of Episode 3 of the SpaceTimeMind podcast. This may perhaps be one of those things that are a bit hard to follow in a strictly audio format. Here's my own take on the proof. It's excerpted from "Welcome To Infinity," a short paper I wrote in 2012 for students in my class...
Transhumanism & Existentialism
May 08, 2014 14:34We're about a week away from Episode 5 of the SpaceTimeMind podcast, and the episode's audio will be culled from the videochat below. Richard Brown recently saw (and hated) that new Johnny Depp movie, Transcendence, and that got us going on Sartrean Singularity, Kantian AI, and torturing your sims. Stay tuned, spacetimeminders! Is a post-singularity transhuman condition an existentialist's ultimate wet dream? Or is it instead a harrowing nightmare? Richard Brown is confident that Kant can ...
Bernard J. Baars and the Global Workspace Theory of Consciousness
May 07, 2014 15:46Today cognitive neuroscientist Bernard J. Baars joined Pete and Richard in the virtual studio to discuss the Global Workspace Theory of consciousness. The raw unedited video of our conversation is available below. As is our custom, this is the source of the audio that winds up in our SpaceTimeMind podcast.
On Philosophy TV Again
May 05, 2014 19:30One of us is once again on Philosophy TV. This time it's Pete, and he's appearing as part of the 2nd Annual Online Undergraduate Philosophy Conference that Phil TV is hosting, and he's commenting on Chris Crogan's "Mind, Brains, and Contents." Check it out if you're into (or identical to) any of the following: Artificial Intelligence, brains, representational content, swamp people, and Chinese rooms. Past Phil TV appearances of the SpaceTimeMinders include: Richard Brown & Pete Mandik disc...
Episode 4: Death and Logic (with Eric Schwitzgebel)
April 28, 2014 18:41 - 1 hour - 88.6 MBPeople say that two things in life are certain. The first is that no one gets out alive. The second is that if possibly necessarily P, then necessarily P. But, are death and logic really certainties? If, for example, there exists an infinite number of situations which each contain an individual who is intrinsically similar to you, aren't you effectively immortal? And is there a single best logic to use in assessing such possibilities? Philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel joins Richard and Pete to ta...
Upcoming Guests
April 25, 2014 12:35Eric Schwitzgebel, Lara Beaty, & Gregg Caruso Episodes 1-3 of the SpaceTimeMind podcast have so far featured only Richard Brown, Pete Mandik, and their wild imaginations. But actual live humans have agreed to join us in the virtual studio for forthcoming episodes. Upcoming guests include philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel, psychologist Lara Beaty, and philosopher Gregg Caruso. Other guests are in the works. Stay tuned for further announcements. As always, the audio that gets edited into the ...
Theme Song Music Video
April 19, 2014 23:48Our theme song premiered in episode three. And now, here's the music video for it.
Follow us on Facebook
April 18, 2014 13:49Follow SpaceTimeMind on Facebook here: www.facebook.com/spacetimemind
Free this week: Philosophy of Cognitive Science at Oxford UP
April 16, 2014 13:35The Oxford Bibliography "Philosophy of Cognitive Science" by Pete Mandik is free this week (April 13 - April 19) along with a whole bunch of other online content as part of Oxford University Press's "Library Week". To check it out, use "libraryweek" as both username and password.
Episode 3: Consciousness explained (?) part 2: The nature of explanation
April 14, 2014 21:42 - 50 minutes - 46.6 MBThis is the second of a two part discussion between Richard and Pete concerning whether and how consciousness can be explained and whether it should be regarded as a fundamental feature of reality. In this episode, the discussion focuses on the question of what counts as an explanation and what norms govern good explanations in physics as well as in metaphysics.
Second trailer for SpaceTimeMind
April 11, 2014 16:38Richard Brown has made a second trailer for the launch of SpaceTimeMind. This one has way more narwhals in it! (You can see the first trailer here.)
Episode 2: Consciousness explained (?) part 1: Computational Pythagoreanism
April 06, 2014 14:00 - 49 minutes - 45.3 MBThis is the first of a two part discussion between Richard and Pete concerning whether and how consciousness can be explained and whether it should be regarded as a fundamental feature of reality. In this episode, the discussion focuses on the view that everything that exists is ultimately computational/mathematical.