#31 – The Hidden Spring: A Journey To The Source of Consciousness with Mark Solms
In Algo Podcast Episode 31, Mark Solms and Amjad Hussain discuss The Hidden Spring: A Journey To The Source of Consciousness.
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0:00 Episode Preview
0:36 Introduction
3:15 Basic forms of consciousness in brain stem
6:31 Antonio Damasio – focusing more on emotion than cognition; emotions generated in brain stem
8:29 Chalmers’ Hard Problem
9:23 Thomas Nagel – Subjective Character of Experience
10:21 Why & how is there something it is like to “be” an organism
14:04 Knowing “how” consciousness is generated & Richard Feynman
16:59 What makes the Hard Problem hard & understanding the functional mechanism
19:32 Frank Jackson’s Knowledge Problem
22:44 Explaining sensory experiences with language
26:18 Internet registering visual information without consciousness
27:38 Explanatory Gap
28:20 Functional Mechanisms of Visual Information Processing
32:57 Perception Without Awareness
33:37 Human Cortex can do visual job unconsciously
37:56 Global Workspace Theory
41:34 Case 1: Removing prefrontal cortex
46:12 Emotional affect from cortex
49:08 Is it possible to see active circuits in the cortex?
52:31 Journal of Consciousness Debate
53:25 Case 2: Bud Craig’s theory that self comes to mind in the insula
55:17 Case with no insula
58:52 Case 3: Where are feelings generated with no cortex?
1:05:47 Day-to-day life for people with no cortex
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.
