Philip Goff: Panpsychism as a Theory of Consciousness

Philip Goff: Panpsychism as a Theory of Consciousness

Author: Daniel Bashir December 12, 2024 Duration: 1:00:04

Episode 141

I spoke with Professor Philip Goff about:

* What a “post-Galilean” science of consciousness looks like

* How panpsychism helps explain consciousness and the hybrid cosmopsychist view

Enjoy!

Philip Goff is a British author, idealist philosopher, and professor at Durham University whose research focuses on philosophy of mind and consciousness. Specifically, it focuses on how consciousness can be part of the scientific worldview. He is the author of multiple books including Consciousness and Fundamental Reality, Galileo's Error: Foundations for a New Science of Consciousness and Why? The Purpose of the Universe.

Find me on Twitter for updates on new episodes, and reach me at editor@thegradient.pub for feedback, ideas, guest suggestions.

Subscribe to The Gradient Podcast: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Pocket Casts | RSSFollow The Gradient on Twitter

Outline:

* (00:00) Intro

* (01:05) Goff vs. Carroll on the Knowledge Arguments and explanation

* (08:00) Preferences for theories

* (12:55) Curiosity (Grounding, Essence) and the Knowledge Argument

* (14:40) Phenomenal transparency and physicalism vs. anti-physicalism

* (29:00) How Exactly does Panpsychism Help Explain Consciousness

* (30:05) The argument for hybrid cosmopsychism

* (36:35) “Bare” subjects / subjects before inheriting phenomenal properties

* (40:35) Bundle theories of the self

* (43:35) Fundamental properties and new subjects as causal powers

* (50:00) Integrated Information Theory

* (55:00) Fundamental assumptions in hybrid cosmopsychism

* (1:00:00) Outro

Links:

* Philip’s homepage and Twitter

* Papers

* Putting Consciousness First

* Curiosity (Grounding, Essence) and the Knowledge Argument



Get full access to The Gradient at thegradientpub.substack.com/subscribe

Hosted by Daniel Bashir, The Gradient: Perspectives on AI moves beyond surface-level headlines to explore the intricate machinery and human ideas shaping artificial intelligence. Each episode is built on a foundation of deep research, leading to conversations that are both technically substantive and broadly accessible. You'll hear from researchers, engineers, and philosophers who are actively building and critiquing our technological future, discussing not just how AI systems work, but the larger implications of their integration into society. This isn't about speculative hype; it's a grounded examination of real progress, persistent challenges, and ethical considerations from those on the front lines. The discussions peel back layers on topics like model architecture, policy, and the fundamental science behind the algorithms becoming part of our daily lives. For anyone curious about the substance behind the buzz-whether you have a technical background or are simply keen to understand a defining technology of our age-this podcast offers a crucial and thoughtful resource. Tune in for a consistently detailed and nuanced take that treats artificial intelligence with the complexity it deserves.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

The Gradient: Perspectives on AI
Podcast Episodes
Michael Levin & Adam Goldstein: Intelligence and its Many Scales [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:21
In episode 97 of The Gradient Podcast, Daniel Bashir speaks to Professor Michael Levin and Adam Goldstein. Professor Levin is a Distinguished Professor and Vannevar Bush Chair in the Biology Department at Tufts Universit…
Jonathan Frankle: From Lottery Tickets to LLMs [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08:22
In episode 96 of The Gradient Podcast, Daniel Bashir speaks to Jonathan Frankle.Jonathan is the Chief Scientist at MosaicML and (as of release). Jonathan completed his PhD at MIT, where he investigated the properties of…
Nao Tokui: "Surfing" Musical Creativity with AI [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:19
In episode 95 of The Gradient Podcast, Daniel Bashir speaks to Nao Tokui.Nao Tokui is an artist/DJ and researcher based in Tokyo. While pursuing his Ph.D. at The University of Tokyo, he produced his first music album and…
Divyansh Kaushik: The Realities of AI Policy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:17:44
In episode 94 of The Gradient Podcast, Daniel Bashir speaks to Divyansh Kaushik.Divyansh is the Associate Director for Emerging Technologies and National Security at the Federation of American Scientists where his focus…
Tal Linzen: Psycholinguistics and Language Modeling [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:14:50
In episode 93 of The Gradient Podcast, Daniel Bashir speaks to Professor Tal Linzen.Professor Linzen is an Associate Professor of Linguistics and Data Science at New York University and a Research Scientist at Google. He…
Kevin K. Yang: Engineering Proteins with ML [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:00
In episode 92 of The Gradient Podcast, Daniel Bashir speaks to Kevin K. Yang.Kevin is a senior researcher at Microsoft Research (MSR) who works on problems at the intersection of machine learning and biology, with an emp…
Miles Grimshaw: Benchmark, LangChain, and Investing in AI [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:47
In episode 90 of The Gradient Podcast, Daniel Bashir speaks to Miles Grimshaw.Miles is General Partner at Benchmark. He was previously a General Partner at Thrive Capital, where he helped the firm raise its fourth and fi…
Shreya Shankar: Machine Learning in the Real World [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:16:36
In episode 89 of The Gradient Podcast, Daniel Bashir speaks to Shreya Shankar.Shreya is a computer scientist pursuing her PhD in databases at UC Berkeley. Her research interest is in building end-to-end systems for peopl…
Stevan Harnad: AI's Symbol Grounding Problem [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:58:21
In episode 88 of The Gradient Podcast, Daniel Bashir speaks to Professor Stevan Harnad.Stevan Harnad is professor of psychology and cognitive science at Université du Québec à Montréal, adjunct professor of cognitive sci…