Kinds of Minds, Daniel C. Dennett
Kinds of Minds, Daniel C. Dennett
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Kinds of Minds
Toward an Understanding of Consciousness

Author: Daniel C. Dennett

Narrator: Daniel Henning

Unabridged: 6 hr 21 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 05/03/2019

Synopsis

Combining ideas from philosophy, artificial intelligence, and neurobiology, Daniel Dennett leads the reader on a fascinating journey of inquiry, exploring such intriguing possibilities as: Can any of us really know what is going on in someone else's mind? What distinguishes the human mind from the minds of animals, especially those capable of complex behavior? If such animals, for instance, were magically given the power of language, would their communities evolve an intelligence as subtly discriminating as ours? Will robots, once they have been endowed with sensory systems like those that provide us with experience, ever exhibit the particular traits long thought to distinguish the human mind, including the ability to think about thinking? Dennett addresses these questions from an evolutionary perspective. Beginning with the macromolecules of DNA and RNA, the author shows how, step-by-step, animal life moved from the simple ability to respond to frequently recurring environmental conditions to much more powerful ways of beating the odds, ways of using patterns of past experience to predict the future in never-before-encountered situations. Whether talking about robots whose video-camera "eyes" give us the powerful illusion that "there is somebody in there" or asking us to consider whether spiders are just tiny robots mindlessly spinning their webs of elegant design, Dennett is a master at finding and posing questions sure to stimulate and even disturb.

About Daniel C. Dennett

Daniel C. Dennett is the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University and the author of numerous books including Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking, Breaking the Spell, Darwin's Dangerous Idea, and Consciousness Explained.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Joshua Nomen-Mutatio

I listened to this via audio book format as read wonderfully by Dennett himself. Last night/early morning I woke up abruptly in the grip of a vague sort of existential terror and once I got my footing again, I felt a type of comfort in hearing Dennett's calm yet extremely engaged and enthusiastic vo......more

Goodreads review by Riku

Raises very potent questions but answers almost none. Dennett is content with showing 3-4 potential ways of looking at any question and then telling us that to go beyond is a challenge even for modern science. The arguments are smooth and the book gives a good evolutionary understanding of the way w......more

Goodreads review by Greg

Dan Dennett wrote a fairy tale. No really. It begins a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away (think about it). And it's a beautiful story about minds...all kinds of minds. Dennett tell us a story through space and time that explains not only the evolution of minds from simple molecules, but of the......more

Goodreads review by Paul

It's a fairly interesting read. Dennett employs philosophy, evolution, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence to examine the nature of minds. Most irritating, however, is Dennett's arrogance. I found myself adding ' I would argue that' before every time he said 'it is', and adding ' and some peop......more

Goodreads review by Gendou

A nice, short book that examines the philosophy of mind, consciousness. One theme is exploring what sets humans apart, and what we have in common with other animals. Another theme is the moral issue of pain and suffering. I wouldn't say this book is very mind-blowing, no outrageous conclusions are reac......more

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