Daniel Dennett: Do We Have Free Will? [Ep. 406]

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Welcome everyone to a fascinating deep dive with the late Daniel
Dennett! In our interview, we tackled fascinating problems like
free will, human consciousness, ethics, and the philosophy of
science. He also explained why he’s sounding the alarm on AI!
Shortly after our interview, Daniel sadly passed away at the age of
82. He was a renowned philosopher, thought-provoking writer,
brilliant cognitive scientist, and vocal atheist. He was the
co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies, the Austin B.
Fletcher Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University in
Massachusetts, a member of the editorial board for The Rutherford
Journal, and a co-founder of The Clergy Project. Known as one of
the "Four Horsemen" of New Atheism, he was at the forefront of
discussions on consciousness, free will, and the impact of
Darwinian evolution on religious belief. Dennett's works, including
"Breaking the Spell" and "Consciousness Explained," have provoked
both admiration and controversy, challenging readers to reconsider
deeply held beliefs about the mind and its relationship to the
physical world. Needless to say, I was thrilled to have Dan on the
show! The world has truly lost an extraordinary soul and a
groundbreaking thinker. RIP Key Takeaways: 00:00:00 Intro 00:09:27
Judging a book by its cover 00:12:29 Dan's critique of Sam Harris's
position on free will 00:21:43 The evolutionary advantage of music
00:29:01 Language, nonverbal communication, and artificial
intelligence  00:34:33 Are brains computers? 00:46:04 Sounding
the alarm on AI 00:51:38 Bioengineering and bioethics 
00:57:21 Philosophy of physics  01:02:47 The evolution of
academia 01:09:08 Audience questions  01:23:10 Outro —
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