"In Conversation" Series
Lecturer:
Prof. Liad Mudrik (Tel Aviv University)
Title:
Who and what is conscious? Exploring the possibility of tests for consciousness
Abstract:
One of the greatest challenges for the science of consciousness is to provide the tools to determine which organisms and systems are conscious. Developing such tools is crucial not only for scientific reasons, but also for societal and practical ones. However, this is not an easy feat; in this talk, I will first describe the on going investigation of the neural basis of conscious experience, and then ask how it can inform the attempts to detect consciousness in non-trivial cases. I will present leading tests for consciousness, and explore different approaches to validating and developing such tests, based on neuroscientific theories of consciousness, on functional arguments, and on the natural kind approach. The talk will further highlight the entailed difficulties in the process, and ask how it can be applied to different populations, including artificial intelligence.
Short bio:
Prof. Liad Mudrik is a researcher at the school of psychological sciences and Sagol school of neuroscience at Tel Aviv University. Her research focuses on conscious experience, its neural mechanisms and functions. Mudrik completed two Ph.D. dissertations at Tel Aviv University, in cognitive psychology and in philosophy. She then continued to a postdoctoral fellowshipat the California Institute of Technology, in Christof Koch's lab. In 2019, she was selected as a member of the young Israeli academy of sciences. She is also one of the leaders of the Cogitate consortium, an international adversarial collaboration aimed at arbitrating between theories of consciousness, and is a co-director of the CIFAR Brain, Mind and Consciousness program.
Location:
Eilan Hall, Feldman Building, Second Floor, Edmond Safra Campus.