The mainly positive experiences of attendees indicate that online conferences are a good alternative to in-person events. But online venues lacked some of the much-desired social environment for networking. We consequently called for the continued development of ways to effectively…
Much cognitive processing is unconscious, but some is conscious. By ‘consciousness,’ I mean phenomenal consciousness, conscious experience, what it’s like to be someone, or qualia. The relation between consciousness, computation, and cognition is a very difficult question. A second point…
Fourth, neural representations are structural representations—that is, they are systems of internal states that covary with external targets, have a causal connections with their targets, can be tokened in the absence of their targets, and can guide behavior. First, I…
Some governments are taking tentative steps in this direction. Belgium may require that its soldiers be vaccinated before travelling abroad on peace-keeping missions. In other countries, companies are introducing requirements of their own. Air New Zealand will begin trialling vaccine…
The second objection to selective lockdown is around the ‘we are all in it together’ narrative, and raises concerns around discrimination and unequal treatment of different population groups. We offered reasons against these objections. Some of us have argued that…
McCulloch and Pitts’s idea had enormous ramifications. It contributed to the origin of computational psychology (computational models of cognition), connectionism (artificial neural network models of cognition), contemporary computational neuroscience (models of neural computation), artificial intelligence, and more. The modern computational…
Elsewhere on the blog Tom Douglas has discussed vaccine requirements for commonplace activities, such as going to the pub, created by the state in the form of law or guidance. Let’s call these vaccine requirements ‘state-originating’. Also on the blog,…
Another reason not to have a guideline is because it is difficult to put in writing a detailed description of how to approach decisions. Rationing would have to take into account the availability of resources at a particular time and…
Given its advantages, the goal-contribution account seems superior to the other accounts. Unfortunately, I eventually realized that it also has a bug. In the version I defended in the past (in joint work with Corey and Justin), the goal-contribution account…
(Note for connoisseurs: I consider this “aspect view” of realization an improvement over the “subset view,” although they share many virtues. As far as I know, the subset view is due primarily to Jessica Wilson.) It also explains why higher-level…
The Brains Blog is thrilled to feature Gualtiero Piccinini this week, focusing on their new book, Neurocognitive Mechanisms: Explaining Biological Cognition (Oxford). Gualtiero is, of course, the original founder of the Brains Blog! So we welcome Gualtiero back for a…
We are excited about the next Neural Mechanisms webinar this Friday. As always, it is free. You can find information about how and when to join the webinar below or at the Neural Mechanisms website—where you can also join sign…
The success of such regulatory efforts will depend on developing a relationship of trust between citizen scientists and regulators. In order to gain the trust of citizen scientists it is crucial that regulators clearly communicate why the important moral justifications…
Sankirtana Movement Begins Lord Balarama He waded through the gathered crowd and humbly requested Jagai and Madhai to give up their wicked ways and chant Hare Krishna. The two brothers became furious and Madhai threw a piece of a broken…
