Category: Uncategorized
-
Consciousness, Free Will & God
I’ve been interviewed for a lot of podcasts recently. This episode of the CBC (Canadian public broadcaster) show Ideas focused on my work on consciousness and panpsychism. Founding publisher of Skepic magazine Michael Shermer and I solved the mysteries of consciousness, free will and God all in a one hour episode of The Psychology Podcast. The…
-
Labour and the Definition of Anti-Semitism
I think there is a problem with anti-semitism in Labour, and the leadership was too slow to deal with it. However, I’m not convinced that they’re wrong on what has become the central issue: the IHRA definition of anti-semitism. Some people think that a state should not be defined on ethnic lines, and these people…
-
Transwomen and Adoptive Parents: An Analogy
The following is a guest post by Sophie Grace Chappell, who is a Professor of Philosophy at the Open University Maybe we should think of it like this: Transwomen are to women as adoptive parents are to parents. There are disanalogies of course, and the morality of adoption is a large issue in itself which…
-
“Secrets of Consciousness” Debate
Here is footage of a debate I did at the ‘How the Light Gets In’ Festival at Hay on Wye last month. It got pretty intense (in a nice way…) and was lots of fun. I was defending panpsychism against the illusionism of Nicholas Humphrey and the illusionist/panpsychist position of Susan Blackmore.
-
Panpsychism Discussed in the Swiss Press
There was a rather crude attack on panpsychism published last week in the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung. It contained the usual cliched “arguments” – accusing panpsychists of being anti-science and really just seeking the comforts of religion – without really addressing the roots of the problem of consciousness and the merits of the panpsychist…
-
A Change of Heart on Fine-Tuning
I’ve spent the last few months exploring an unorthodox explanation of cosmological fine-tuning, which I discuss in this article and this talk. Part of my motivation was dissatisfaction with the two more conventional alternatives: God and the multiverse hypothesis. And part of the my dissatisfaction with the multiverse hypothesis was rooted in Roger White’s intriguing…
-
Galileo’s Error: A Manifesto for a New Science of Consciousness
I’m pleased to announce that I now have publishing contracts in US and UK for my new book ‘Galileo’s Error: A Manifesto for a New Science of Consciousness’. The book will be highly accessible and will explore the problem of consciousness and why a growing number of philosophers and neuroscientists are coming to see panpsychism…
-
Talk: Did the Universe Design Itself?
Here’s a talk I gave at the Ian Ramsey Centre at Oxford Uni recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-Uq_5Lj76Q&t=343s I’ve somewhat neglected this blog recently…but having come to the end of very busy period should be able to do more updates in the near future…
-
First review of ‘Consciousness & Fundamental Reality’
The first review of my book ‘Consciousness and Fundamental Reality‘ has just come out, by Daniel Stoljar of Australian National University. It has flattery at the beginning and end with razor sharp critique in between, which is my favourite kind of sandwich! I will write a response as soon as I get a chance, probably…
-
Fine-Tuning and Panpsychism
This admittedly speculative attempt to give a panpsychist explanation of fine-tuning just out: https://aeon.co/essays/cosmopsychism-explains-why-the-universe-is-fine-tuned-for-life It feels crazy, but I can’t as yet see the problem with the argument…