An Evidence-Based Critical Review of the Mind-Brain Identity Theory

My conversation with the Galileo Commission

I had an interesting conversation with the Galileo Commission on "An Evidence-Based Critical Review of the Mind-Brain Identity Theory."

The question is: Does neuroscience confirm that mind, consciousness, sentience, life, agency, feelings, and emotions are a mere neurological phenomenon? The common belief, on which all the modern AI/AGI hype is based, is that neuroscience has overwhelmingly proven materialism to be right—that is, it has supposedly shown that the brain is the seat of consciousness, it ‘generates’ intelligence, is the mind, and this is all that we are.

In this short presentation, I highlight the numerous facts and findings of neuroscience that tell a very different story. There is no conclusive evidence that the brain ‘produces’ consciousness and, to the contrary, several down-to-earth neurological facts allow for, or even suggest, a post-material conception of the mind.

For those interested in digging deeper into the subject: See also my paper here.