New Online Seminar Series

[Johannes Kleiner]

Dear all,

I hope very much that you are all doing well in these difficult times!

For a while now, Joanna, Xerxes, Sean, Robin and I have been planing for a new online seminar series. I'm very happy to tell you today that we're finally ready!

As in the previous years, part of the seminar will be devoted to discussing new ideas, visions and recent results. This time, we would like to put more emphasis on critically assessing the use of mathematics in studying consciousness. How exactly do mathematical approaches integrate with and depend on neuroscientific and philosophical research? Do they allow to go beyond what non-formal approaches can do? If so, how? Etc.

To answer these and similar questions, we will host talks, discussion sessions, background lectures and tutorials. Our overall goals in doing so are:

• To review the various mathematical approaches that are being used to date in consciousness science.
• To discuss the underlying visions and the current progress of each.
• To assess the merits and drawbacks of the mathematical method as a whole in this context.
• To develop a rigorous understanding of how precisely mathematics can be used to address the problem of consciousness.
• To identify key questions that a mathematical science of consciousness should address.
• To help establish a comprehensive methodology of mathematical consciousness research, which is intimately tied to both empirical and conceptual research in neuroscience, philosophy and related disciplines.
  

We are very happy to have a number of very interesting speakers confirmed already. Further announcements will follow soon.

Anil Seth, Sackler Center for Consciousness, University of Sussex
Karl Friston, University College London
David Balduzzi, Deep Mind Google
Ryota Kanai, Araya, Tokyo
Bill Saeger, University of Toronto
Andrew Haun, Center for Sleep and Consciousness, UW-Madison
Rafi Malach, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
Nao Tsuchiya, Monash University, Australia
Joe Dewhurst, Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
Jeffrey Yoshimi, University of California

As in the previous events, we hope to create an open-minded and non-dogmatic atmosphere. This is one reason why we would like to cordially invite you all to join the seminar. To do so, simply visit the seminar's website (https://seminar.math-consciousness.org), click on the tab "Join" and follow the explanations there. Further information about the seminar is given in the tab "Details" and will be announced to those who have joined soon.

We hope to see many of you online in the next couple of months!

Stay safe!

The organizers

Joanna Szczotka (Sussex and Cracow)
Xerxes D. Arsiwalla (Barcelona)
Sean Tull (Oxford)
Robin Lorenz (Oxford)
Johannes Kleiner (Munich)

[Johannes Kleiner]

Dear all,

I hope this email finds you all well!

The new online seminar series is well underway. There's a good interest in the seminar and we're glad to have hosted three talks already, with 18 more to come this year. Since we have recently received corresponding questions, two very brief notes to all participants of the last seminar:

1.) Please note that we have created a separate mailing list for the new seminar, as not all of you may want to join. If you would like to join, please go to https://seminar.math-consciousness.org/ and click on "Join" on the upper right.

2.) As usual, announcement emails may have gone to your spam folder. In case you did not receive any emails so far, please check your spam folder or local filter.

With best wishes on behalf of all organizers,

Johannes

PS: All recordings of the new seminar are available on the same YouTube channel as the previous seminar: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7Eq7alQ9gJgAVhVS3IcvQw