24/04/2022
13:00-16:00 GMT
Rose Hill, Brighton, United Kingdom
guest reader: Andy Clark
texts by: Lisa Feldman Barrett and Anil K. Seth
Admission is free, but you must RSVP a spot in advance to attend. Register via the form HERE
More info HERE
The theory that the human brain is a “prediction machine” has enjoyed growing support from neuroscience research communities in recent years, with some going so far as to describe conscious experience as a “deception” or “hallucination” driven by our learned expectations of what’s coming next.
Extending this idea to the full sensory world containing not only predictions of what we expect to see and hear, but also predictions of the hidden, visceral signals that allow our bodies to self-regulate, one could say that the entire experience of owning a body and being a self is part of a such a false reality.
But how much of what you experience is truth and how much of it is based on your learned expectations and biases? Metaphors like “deception” and “hallucination” can be deceptive themselves. What does it really mean to say that the brain “predicts” your self into being?
In this reading group we’ll try to tackle some of these questions by reading two texts by leading neuroscientists whose work supports the “prediction machine” hypothesis. We will also be joined by a special guest, philosopher of cognition Andy Clark, who will help us to work our way through these complex ideas as we discuss.
Guest Reader
Andy Clark is Professor of Cognitive Philosophy at the University of Sussex. He is the author of several books including Surfing Uncertainty: Prediction, Action, and the Embodied Mind (Oxford University Press, 2016), Mindware (Oxford University Press, Second Edition 2014), Supersizing the Mind (Oxford University Press, 2008), and Being There: Putting Brain, Body And World Together Again (MIT Press, 1997). Academic interests include artificial intelligence, embodied and extended cognition, robotics, and computational neuroscience. From 2017-2021 he was PI on a European Research Council Advanced Grant: Expecting Ourselves: Embodied Prediction and the Construction of Conscious Experience. He is currently PI on an ERC Synergy Grant, XScape. Material Minds: Exploring the Interactions between Predictive Brains, Cultural Artifacts, and Embodied Visual Search.
About the Reading Room
THE READING ROOM is a nomadic event initiative dedicated to creating community-oriented, public platforms for encounters with contemporary ideas in science, culture and society. At its core, The Reading Room concept revolves around the reading of texts curated by invited guests – artists, scientists and scholars – who join our reading sessions as part of an open discussion while also providing context and perspective for unpacking dense and difficult scholarly writing.
The series stems from a belief that keeping a close connection across disciplinary boundaries in the arts, sciences and humanities, through historical and emerging theories is invaluable to developing a grounded perspective on social life and professional practice. Especially in the 21st century, where theory, practice and social responsibility merge ever more seamlessly.
The Reading Room is organized across different times and geographies by artist-researchers Sissel Marie Tonn, Jonathan Reus and Flora Reznik, and was originally supported through generous financial assistance from the artist initiative iii and Stroom Den Haag, both based in The Hague.