#30 – Foundations of Consciousness with Antti Revonsuo
In Algo Podcast Episode 30, Antti Revonsuo and Amjad Hussain discuss Disorders of Consciousness.
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0:00 Episode Preview
0:31 Introduction
3:59 Explaining Consciousness
6:08 Qualia
8:30 Predictive Coding & Feeling Joy and Pain
13:04 Neural Correlates of Consciousness
15:20 Neural activity is required for conscious experience
17:46 Explanatory Gap
20:05 Illusionism
22:11 Joscha Bach
25:55 Rearranging physical matter
30:24 Isomorphisms between brain activities and conscious world
32:57 Dream World
34:45 World Stimulation Mechanism – Virtual Reality
38:47 Brain does not need external world to generate consciousness
41:35 Model System For Consciousness Research
43:47 Consciousness of characters in dreams
47:30 Lucid Dreaming
49:41 Dreams simulating social world & mind reading
52:40 Online & offline dreaming
54:15 Research of constructing world simulation during sleep
55:45 Dreaming likely happens in all mammals
56:29 Theories of dreaming
58:09 Negativity bias in dream contents & nightmares
1:02:17 Threat Simulation Theory
1:08:46 Memories in dream states & reality vs. imagination
1:16:28 Dreaming content is specific to world
1:18:36 Research on Dreaming
1:23:25 Integrated experience of consciousness & testing theories against eachother
1:30:18 Online & Offline World: One Reality
1:34:47 Antti’s Research
1:35:44 Theories of Consciousness
1:36:11 Neocortex of visual consciousness
1:36:51 Multisensory correlates
1:37:32 Altered states of consciousness & general anesthesia
1:41:09 Positive dreams
1:42:58 Dream data from COVID pandemic
1:45:07 Dreams are fascinating
1:47:42 Closing thoughts
About the host

Amjad Hussain
Amjad Hussain is an entrepreneur at heart. He founded Algo where he is the CEO during the day and AI lego blocks designer at night. He has built an intrinsically motivated global team of deep business domain experts, AI architects, computer scientists and software engineers. Algo is an always on full stack platform with deep learning, augmented reality and workflow automation woven at its core. The platform has a conversational virtual business analyst persona as its primary user interface. The company is enjoying sustainable growth creating tremendous net new value for its customers world-wide.
Amjad completed his Bachelors in Electrical Engineering with Honors from UET Lahore. He earned his Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science from UMIST, in the United Kingdom and an Advanced Analytics MBA from MIT. He has completed general management programs at Harvard and Stanford business schools. Amjad deeply cares about ethical issues surrounding AI and its societal impact.