We are pleased to announce the following talk, jointly organised by the Forum for Consciousness Studies, the CBC project, and the Oslo Mind Group (OMG). Everyone is welcome!

—

Friday the 17th of September, 14.00-15.30pm (GMT+2), we will host Andrew Lee, a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Oslo, affiliated with the ConsciousBrainConcepts project. His research is on philosophical questions about conscious experiences. He’s particularly interested in questions about (1) how conscious experiences are structured and how to formally model that structure, and (2) the ethical significance of consciousness. In addition to philosophizing about consciousness, Andrew sometimes even has some conscious experiences of his own.

The event will take place online, via zoom (details below).

—

Does consciousness come in degrees?

If the answer is ‘yes’, then some creatures (or mental states) are more conscious than others. If the answer is ‘no’, then such claims are either false or incoherent. In this talk, I’ll (1) argue that the most prominent philosophical objection to degrees of consciousness doesn’t work, (2) develop an analysis of what it is for consciousness to come in degrees, and (3) apply the analysis to various theories of consciousness. I’ll argue that most theories yield the result that consciousness comes in degrees, though what exactly degrees of consciousness are varies across different theories. This means that claims about degrees of consciousness should be treated as substantive hypotheses open to confirmation and falsification, rather than as obvious truths or conceptual confusions.

—

Time plan:
14.00 – Introduction
14.10 – Does Consciousness Come In Degrees?
14.50 – Q&A
15.30 – Tentative end

How to attend:
Link: https://uio.zoom.us/s/66886805387
Meeting ID:  668 8680 5387
Passcode: 878347

While philosophers have investigated the topic of consciousness for hundreds of years, empirical research has only been a focus for the last decades. But in this time, what have we really learned about our internal experience of the world? We invite to a series of lectures focusing on how we investigate consciousness empirically, what we have discovered, and where the road goes next.

To attend, please use this webinar link. The event will also be streamed on YouTube, however, if there are issues with the stream, please use the webinar link instead.

Organized by Conscious Brain Concepts and UiO:Life Science for the Oslo Life Science Conference 2021

Agenda:

19.00: Welcome

19.05: Talk: Progress in empirical consciousness research

Johan Frederik Storm, PhD MD., is a professor of neurophysiology at the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo. His work focuses on the neuroscience of consciousness.

19.35: Talk: Disorders of consciousness and related states

Olivia Gosseries, PhD, is a research associate at the Belgian National Funds for Scientific Research. Her work focuses on altered and modified states of consciousness.

20.05: Talk: Measuring depth of anesthesia

Katie Warnaby, PhD, is a senior research scientist at the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging at the University of Oxford. Her work focuses on anesthesia and the neurophysiology of consciousness.

20.35: Questions

21.00: End

Speakers:

Dr. Johan F. Storm. Johan is professor of neurophysiology at Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo where he heads the Brain Signaling Group and ConsciousBrainConcepts project. His interests concern signaling in the brain, specifically the connections between biophysical and molecular mechanisms within neurons (ion channels, receptors, neuromodulation), and the basis for conscious brain states and cognitive functions such as conscious processing and awareness. He founded and leads Forum for Consciousness Research, and EU- and NRC-funded projects on consciousness, and is an elected member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and The Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters. Website Publications

Dr. Katie Warnaby. Katie is a senior research scientist at Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging at the University of Oxford. There, she uses multimodal neuroimaging to understand the changes in the brain under anaesthesia and during altered states of consciousness. One of her current research goals is to identify and develop objective neurophysiological measures of conscious perception under anaesthesia, and translate these findings to the clinical environment. Website Publications

Dr. Olivia Gosseries. Olivia is a neuropsychologist, research associate at the Belgian National Funds for Scientific Research, and co-director of the Coma Science Group at the GIGA Consciousness at the university of Liege in Belgium. She has a long experience studying diagnosis and prognosis in patients with disorders of consciousness recovering from coma using non-invasive brain stimulation and electrophysiology. She now focuses more on therapeutic interventions in this challenging population. In addition, she has investigated states of consciousness including sleep, anesthesia, coma memory, lucid dreaming, meditation, hypnosis, and cognitive trance. Website Publications  

Is it possible to create a conscious robot? If so, should we?

In the last decade, artificial intelligence has surpassed humans in among others the games of Go and Starcraft. Many researchers believe it’s only a matter of time before we make an artificial intelligence that is smarter than humans in all areas. Most famous of these is Ray Kurzweil who predicts this will happen before the year 2050. But will this intelligence be conscious? What are the implications if it is or not? We invite to a panel discussion where these and other questions will be discussed.

To attend, please use this webinar link. A link to the webinar will be provided later. The event will also be streamed on YouTube, however, if there are issues with the stream, please use the webinar link instead.

Organized by Conscious Brain Concepts and UiO:Life Science for the Oslo Life Science Conference 2021

Agenda:

19.00: Welcome

19.05: Opening talks

• The Emergent Consciousness Module

Inga Strümke, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Simula Research Laboratory. Her work focuses on Explainable Artificial Intelligence. 

• The Secret To Making Artificial Consciousness

Morten Goodwin, PhD, is a Professor in Informatics at University of Agder. His work focuses on Artificial Intelligence. 

• Artificial consciousness or artificial person? 

Einar Duenger Bøhn, PhD, is a Professor in Philosophy at University of Agder. His work focuses on Artificial Consciousness. 

• Reconciling consciousness and predictive models of the brain

Keith Downing, PhD, is a Professor in Artificial Intelligence at Norwegian University of Science and Technology. His work focuses on Artificial Life and Intelligence. 

19.40: Panel discussion

Join Inga, Morten, Einar and Keith as they together with moderator Elina Melteig discuss whether it is possible to create a conscious robot. And if it is, should we make one? What would the ethical implications be? How could we even know if the robot is conscious? Would a generally intelligent machine be conscious, or would a conscious machine be generally intelligent?

20.40: Questions from the audience

21.00: End

Panelists:

Einar Duenger Bøhn is a professor of philosophy at the University of Agder. He has a PhD in philosophy from the University of Massachusetts Amherst (2009). His current interest in the philosophy of technology started from an interest in the metaphysics of consciousness and the resulting differences between the possibilities of artificial intelligence, artificial consciousness, and artificial morality. He is currently working on the notion of a person, and whether it is possible to create an artificial person. He has a book forthcoming on the philosophy of technology. Webpage Publications

Morten Goodwin is a professor of informatics at the University of Agder. His master’s study introduced him to machine learning and artificial intelligence, and he has been bitten by the bug ever since. Goodwin received his master’s degree from the University of Agder, Norway, in 2005, and a Ph.D. degree in 2011 from the Department of Computer Science at Aalborg University, Denmark. His research interests include data-mining, optimization, deep learning, and adaptive learning. He is also an active popular science communicator focusing on the enormous advances in both research and the practical usefulness of artificial intelligence. In the autumn of 2020, he published the book “AI. Myten om maskinene”. Webpage Publications

Keith Downing is a professor of artificial intelligence at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He has a BA in mathematics from Bucknell University, and got his PhD in computer science at the University of Oregon (1990). His journey into artificial intelligence started with computational modelling of the cardiovascular system and he now focuses on evolutionary computation, artificial neural networks, and artificial life. Webpage Publications

Inga Strümke is a postdoctoral researcher at Simula Research Institute. She has a MSc in theoretical physics from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and a PhD in particle physics (2019). The PhD took her into the field of machine learning, where she has been active ever since. Beneath her favourite question, “How does the universe work?”, lies a layer of “How can we understand the world we live in?”, which speaks right to her current work on explainable artificial intelligence. Webpage Publications

Moderator: Elina Melteig, Communication adviser at University of Oslo. Webpage

UPDATE: THIS EVENT IS CURRENTLY CANCELED DUE TO CORONA. WE HOPE TO RESCHEDULE THE EVENT IN THE AUTUMN SEMESTER IF CONDITIONS ALLOW.

The deep relation between human consciousness and moral responsibility seems obvious, but it has some underappreciated complexities. The traditional idea of free will has misled many into thinking it requires some sort of exemption from external determination, when in fact it requires something more interesting: the kind of autonomy that, independently of indeterminism or determinism, can be achieved—or lost—by some complex physical systems under certain conditions. All living things do things for reasons, but only human beings have reasons they can comprehend and act on. The capacity to be “moved by reasons” (as Kant put it) depends on having language, which both enables and depends on a special kind of consciousness so far exhibited only by our species. The difference makes a difference: we don’t—and shouldn’t—hold wolves or orcas morally responsible when they kill people. They are conscious but are not morally competent agents.

Daniel Dennett is a prominent American philosopher, writer, and cognitive scientist whose research centers on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, and philosophy of biology. He is one of the most famous living philosophers and the author of numerous books. He was a student of W. V. Quine at Harvard University, and Gilbert Ryle at the University of Oxford, where he received his PhD in philosophy in 1965. He’s currently Co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies and Professor, Tufts University, Massachusetts, USA (http://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/dennett/).

Books by Dennett:
Brainstorms: Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology (1981)
Elbow Room: The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting (1984)
The Mind’s I (1985)
Content and Consciousness (1986)
The Intentional Stance (1987)
Consciousness Explained (1992)
Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life (1996)
Kinds of Minds: Towards an Understanding of Consciousness (1997)
Brainchildren (Representation and Mind) (1998)
Freedom Evolves (2003)
Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness (2005)
Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon (2006)
Neuroscience and Philosophy: Brain, Mind, and Language (2007)
Science and Religion (2010)
Intuition Pumps And Other Tools for Thinking (2013)
Caught in the Pulpit: Leaving Belief Behind (2013)
From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds (2017)

Dennett on Evolution of Consciousness at the World Economic Forum in Davos, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbOP0IKpsZ0

Programme:
15.30 – 15.35 Opening by Hans Petter Graver President of The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters
15.35– 15.45 Introduction by Johan F. Storm, Neurophysiology, and Dagfinn Føllesdal, Philosophy, Univ. of Oslo
15.45– 16.45 Lecture by Daniel Dennett: Autonomy, Consciousness, and Responsibility
16.45– 17.50 Panel Discussion and questions from the audience

Venue:
Auditorium 1, Georg Sverdrupshus (University Library), University of Oslo, Molkte Moes Vei 39, 0317 Oslo

The event is free of charge, seating on a first come first serve basis.

Hosted by www.bevissthetsforum.no

Integrated Information Theory:
What is it, how did it emerge, and how can we use it?

After decades of progress in cognitive neuroscience consciousness is still eluding understanding. Are scientific theories of consciousness even possible? If so, how close have we gotten so far? In this symposium we discuss the integrated information theory (IIT), a leading theory of consciousness. First, the theory and its development will be put in historical context and the fundamentals of the IIT are introduced. Next, how its general approach sets it apart from other theories and how it has been used to inspire clinically useful tools and applications will be explained. Finally, we will discuss questions from the audience about IIT and consciousness more broadly in a panel discussion.

This event is open for everyone, but please let us know if you will attend by joining our facebook event (https://www.facebook.com/events/814383772339927/), or sending an email to b.e.juel@uio.no.
Hope to see you there!

PROGRAM:
15:00 – 15:05: Introductions by Bjørn Juel and Jeremiah Hendren
15:05 – 15:45: Lecture by professor Johan F. Storm,
Title: Theories of Consciousness: concepts, history, and challenges
15:45 – 16:40: Lectures by Matteo Grasso, PhD, and B. Juel, PhD
Title: IIT: From experience to the brain and back

Break with mingling, snacks and refreshments

17:00 – 18:00 Panel Discussion and questions from the audience

This event is open for everyone!
Hope to see you there.

About the speakers/panelists:

Johan F. Storm is professor of medicine at the University of Oslo, where he leads the Brain Signalling group. He heads two international research collaborations focused on the study of consciousness in EU’s Human Brain Project and the Life Science Initiative at UiO.

Matteo Grasso is a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for sleep and Consciousness (Tononi lab – UW Madison) specializing in philosophy of mind and computational neuroscience.

Bjørn E Juel works as a researcher with Storm (UiO) and a honorary Fellow at CSC.

Jeremiah Hendren is a PhD candidate studying science communication at Uni. of Munich

More information:

If you want to know more about the integrated information theory right now, here are some links you might find interesting:

Podcast episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bei2xLPpFN4

Pop-sci article: https://www.scientificamerican.com/a…/what-is-consciousness/

Public lecture: “Single neuron studies of memories and volitions in the human brain” – by Professor Itzhak Fried.
***
Forum for Consciousness Research and The Norwegian Science Academy invites to a meeting and lecture with the renowned neurosurgeon Itzhak Fried, who is famous for, among other, concept cells, which are neurons that respond to specific concepts, such as Jennifer Anniston!

***
Programme:
17.30: Welcome and introduction by Johan F. Storm, Neurophysiology, University of Oslo
17.35: Itzhak Fried: “Single neuron studies of memories and volitions in the human brain”
18.35: Coffee break
18.45-19.15: Discussion and questions from the audience
***
The ultimate goal of neuroscience is to understand mechanisms of the human brain, including the electrical activity of single brain cells, which for ethical reasons can normally only be studied in animals. Dr. Fried has pioneered the use of invasive brain recordings in patients during various clinical procedures, thus providing a unique access to high-resolution brain signals from humans. Of special value are his rare recordings, in awake humans, of single brain cell activity, providing a unique view of aspects of cognition that are impossible to study in animals, such as imagery, language, and consciousness. In his lecture, Fried will discuss the unique contribution of invasive recordings from patients to cognitive neuroscience, focusing on memory, volition, and consciousness. Humans seem to decide for themselves what to do and when. Studying such volitional acts is a major challenge for neuroscience. Fried will discuss key mechanisms in the generation of voluntary actions: their apparent spontaneity and link to conscious experience, describing patient studies of the cortical basis of conscious volition down to the single-neuron level, the goal-directedness of voluntary action, and how internal generation of action can be linked to goals and reasons.
***
Dr. Itzhak Fried is Professor of Neurosurgery and Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA. He is Director of the Adult Epilepsy Surgery Program there, and Co-Director of the Seizure Disorder Center. Concurrently, he is a Professor of Neurosurgery at Tel-Aviv University in Israel. After a degree in physics at Tel-Aviv University, Dr. Fried completed his Ph.D. at UCLA, and a medical degree at Stanford and neurosurgery training, specializing in epilepsy surgery, at Yale University. He heads the Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, which is centered on the opportunities to study the human brain afforded by the epilepsy surgery. Some of these patients have depth electrodes to evaluate their seizures for subsequent surgery, and used to record single neuron responses during cognitive tasks, including visual perception, memory, navigation, and imagery.

Lab website: www.itzhakfried.com

Key references:
1. I. Fried et al. (2014) Single Neuron Studies in the
Human Brain, MIT press.
2. Mukamel R, Fried I (2012) Human intracranial recordings and
cognitive neuroscience. Annu Rev Psychol. 63:511-37.
3. Fried I et al. (2017) Volition and Action in the Human Brain:
Processes, Pathologies, and Reasons J Neurosci.37:10842-10847.

Abstract

The last decade has witnessed an explosion of research employing recording of electrical activity directly from the human brain. Intracranial recording provides a powerful window into the neural basis of cognition, thought and consciousness and has been applied to a host of human behaviors.

The first key finding was that the human brain generates robust neural activity up to 250 Hz (high frequency band; HFB) with exquisite spatial (millimeter) and temporal (millisecond) resolution.

The second important observation was that HFB activity, a surrogate for local cortical activity, is modulated by slower cortical oscillations with different tasks eliciting unique sub-second distributed spatial-temporal activity patterns.

I will first discuss how intracranial recording has provided novel insights into the neural basis of attention, language, memory and decision-making with the intracranial findings often challenging prior dogma in the field. I will then review our efforts using HFB activity to decode imagined speech in an effort to develop a brain computer interface for treatment of disabling language deficits.

Bio

Dr. Knight is Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at UC Berkeley and Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery at UC San Francisco. He has a BS in Physics from the Illinois Institute of Technology, an MD from Northwestern University Medical School, did Neurology training at UC San Diego, Post-Doctoral training at the Salk Institute and was a member of the Neurology Department at UC Davis from 1980-1998. He moved to UC Berkeley in 2000 and served as Director of the UC Berkeley Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute from 2001- 2011.

Dr. Knight has twice received the Jacob Javits Award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for distinguished contributions to neurological research, the IBM Cognitive Computing Award, the German Humboldt Prize in Neurobiology and the Distinguished Career Contribution Award from the Cognitive Neuroscience Society. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

His laboratory studies neurological patients with frontal lobe damage and also records electrical signals directly from the brain in neurosurgical patients to understand the role of prefrontal cortex in goal-directed behavior.  His laboratory is also engaged in developing a speech prosthesis for use in patients with disabling neurological disorders.

The event is hosted by RITMO Center for Interdisciplinarity Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion (University of Oslo) in collaboration with Forum for Consciousness Research / Forum for Bevissthetsforskning. See here for more information.