Understanding Consciousness: Are Human Beings Machines?

Описание: In this COSM 2025 panel, Michael Shermer, Michael Egnor, and George Gilder debate a fundamental question: Are human beings simply biological machines, or is there something about mind, reason, and consciousness that transcends the brain?

Shermer presents a naturalistic view in which human consciousness and agency emerge from the brain’s biological processes, while still allowing for meaningful free will within a causal universe. Egnor challenges that view, arguing that rational thought and moral judgment cannot be explained by purely material processes and point to non-material aspects of the human mind. The discussion ranges across neuroscience, philosophy, and physics, exploring topics such as free will, the limits of materialism, near-death experiences, and whether scientific explanations can fully account for human consciousness.

Moderator: Jay Richards — Senior Fellow, Discovery Institute and Director, DeVos Center
Dr. Michael Egnor – Professor of Neurosurgery, SUNY Stony Brook
Michael Shermer – Executive Director, Skeptics Society
George Gilder — Co-Founder and Senior Fellow, Discovery Institute
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Every year the Center sponsors COSM, an exclusive national summit on the converging technologies remaking the world as we know it. Visit COSM.TECH (https://cosm.tech/) for information. Save the date for next year’s COSM, November 18-20 at the magnificent Westin Kierland in Scottsdale, Arizona.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The mission of the Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence at Discovery Institute is to explore the benefits as well as the challenges raised by artificial intelligence (AI) in light of the enduring truth of human exceptionalism. People know at a fundamental level that they are not machines. But faulty thinking can cause people to assent to views that in their heart of hearts they know to be untrue. The Bradley Center seeks to help individuals — and our society at large — to realize that we are not machines while at the same time helping to put machines (especially computers and AI) in proper perspective.

Be sure to subscribe to the Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence
on Youtube:    / @discoverycnai  

Follow Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence on
X:   / discoverycnai  , @discoverycnai
Facebook:   / bradleycenterdi  

Visit other Youtube channels connected to the Discovery Institute:

Discovery Science News (Center for Science & Culture):    / discoverysciencenews  

Dr. Stephen C. Meyer:    / drstephenmeyer