169 - Michael Graziano: The Attention Schema Theory of Consciousness

Michael Graziano is Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Princeton University, where he and his lab research the brain basis of consciousness. Naturally, this is precisely what Michael and Robinson discuss in this episode. More particularly, they get into the philosophical question of what consciousness is, the roles of philosophy and science in answering the same, and whether or not there are deep, intractable issues here. Then they turn to Michael’s theory of consciousness—the Attention Schema Theory—in which consciousness is a way in which the brain models attention to better organize and monitor it. Michael’s most recent book is Rethinking Consciousness (W. W. Norton, 2019). Rethinking Consciousness: https://a.co/d/8euR1EL Graziano Lab: https://grazianolab.princeton.edu OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 00:55 Introduction 02:56 Getting Started in Consciousness 07:18 The Dialogue Between Science and Philosophy on Consciousness 13:05 What Are We Talking About When We Talk About Consciousness 25:38 What is Consciousness? 32:25 What Are Cognitive Models? 36:45 What Is The Meta-Problem of Consciousness? 48:24 How Does a Neuroscientist Think of Attention? 59:39 The Attention Schema Theory of Consciousness 01:17:46 Neural Correlates of Consciousness  01:28:47 Magical” Theories of Consciousness 01:35:03 Artificial Intelligence and Consciousness 01:43:44 Fiction and Music Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.