Daniel Dennett: Do We Have Free Will? [Ep. 406]

Join my mailing list https://briankeating.com/list to win a real 4 billion year old meteorite! All .edu emails in the USA 🇺🇸 will WIN! Welcome everyone to a fascinating deep dive with the late Daniel Dennett! In our interview, we tackled fascinating problems like free will, human consciousness, ethics, and the philosophy of science. He also explained why he’s sounding the alarm on AI! Shortly after our interview, Daniel sadly passed away at the age of 82. He was a renowned philosopher, thought-provoking writer, brilliant cognitive scientist, and vocal atheist. He was the co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies, the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University in Massachusetts, a member of the editorial board for The Rutherford Journal, and a co-founder of The Clergy Project. Known as one of the "Four Horsemen" of New Atheism, he was at the forefront of discussions on consciousness, free will, and the impact of Darwinian evolution on religious belief. Dennett's works, including "Breaking the Spell" and "Consciousness Explained," have provoked both admiration and controversy, challenging readers to reconsider deeply held beliefs about the mind and its relationship to the physical world. Needless to say, I was thrilled to have Dan on the show! The world has truly lost an extraordinary soul and a groundbreaking thinker. RIP Key Takeaways: 00:00:00 Intro 00:09:27 Judging a book by its cover 00:12:29 Dan's critique of Sam Harris's position on free will 00:21:43 The evolutionary advantage of music 00:29:01 Language, nonverbal communication, and artificial intelligence  00:34:33 Are brains computers? 00:46:04 Sounding the alarm on AI 00:51:38 Bioengineering and bioethics  00:57:21 Philosophy of physics  01:02:47 The evolution of academia 01:09:08 Audience questions  01:23:10 Outro — Additional resources: 📝 Get one month of Snipd Premium for free with this link: https://get.snipd.com/Cx7S/brianSnipd Snipd lets you take Smart Notes 🧠 with AI 💡 — it’s my favorite podcast player 😀 ! ➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms: ✖️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating  🔔 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1  📝 Join my mailing list: https://briankeating.com/list  ✍️ Check out my blog: https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/  🎙️ Follow my podcast: https://briankeating.com/podcast Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known. Make sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices