Consciousness and Its Implications

What is the most promising way to study consciousness? What are the implications that arise from the fact that we have it? What are the ethical and moral issues raised by its presence - or its absence? Questions like these are at the heart of these 12 thought-provoking lectures. Rather than merely explain away consciousness, or hide behind such convenient slogans as "it's all in your brain," Professor Robinson reviews some of the special problems that philosophers, psychologists, scientists, and doctors face when taking on such a vexing topic. What makes these lectures so engaging is more than just the nature of the questions they pose and the issues they tackles. It's the way in which they bring this riveting topic vividly to life with real-world examples and striking anecdotes. Among these: the case of Deep Blue, the IBM computer that in 1997 shocked the world by defeating a human, the chess grand master Garry Kasparov; the case of the sleepwalker, who moves around with purpose and mimics behaviors we see in everyday life, but can remember nothing upon awakening; and the case of a child with autism who can perform complicated mental tasks but lacks the most basic human attribute: empathy. You'll also enter the lab and explore the impact of modern physics and medicine on our understanding of the self. Pondering questions ranging from the most fundamental ("Why are we here?)" to contemporary quandaries about artificial intelligence and the medical decision to prolong life, you'll gain new insights into the complexity of how great minds define consciousness.