we are here reminded yet again that the self is an illusion.

Here this guy is trying to tell us he knows what consciousness is. The most honest stance on this subject today is saying: "We don't know that yet; perhaps we will never know."

This video needs the audio boosted maybe 250-300%, like most of the rest of the channel. I love the content, but it's unwatchably quiet

One of the best explanations of mind, self, and consciousness ever.

I believe he's correct here about how we should study the relationships in our brains that involve consciousness instead of trying to find "where" or "what exactly" consciousness is.

I like his analogy comparing consciousness / awareness with the CEO who doesn't necessarily know much about what is really going on in a company but nevertheless believes and acts as though they do. Work is delegated to the various sub departments. No one person has a view of everything in its total.

Is it really so complicated? An analogy: Two football teams are not a football match. The match is the interaction of the players. In the same way, our consciousness is not the neural networks of our brain, it is the firing patterns that contain information from our senses, from parts of the brain processing this information and some parts that are just making up stuff. Somehow this system bends itself in double and processes information about itself processing information to create the 'self' which gives us the illusion of actually being in charge of what is going on.

He loves waving his arms around when explaining a concept!

Consciousness is an abstraction, a word, a concept, a convenient shorthand for a complex mixture of processes.

He's amazing.

If you had used the word "awareness" you might have gotten a different answer. There are all kinds of consciousness. It's a spectrum. But there's only one ongoing awareness. I believe awareness and thinking are two different processes. You can be aware of your own thought process.

I like the way this man thinks

This man talks common sense. People don't like being told they are not special or mysterious.

I dont like how everyone is so sure of everything about this, "this is how it is", if it were it would be taught in school already, nobody knows thats why they are up there discussing it

This is so wonderful, we hear a lot of opinions, different ones and similar ones from experts, and we should know by now it has to do with each and everyone's brain activity of editing their gathered informations of their lifetime. But what makes the difference? I would say, the freedom and independence required from each part of the brain to solve a task on its own. This freedom is reduced or disabled when forced informations are being manifested to a collective formation of thinking. To understand consciousness and to be conscious, requires the freedom to edit informations from our senses. That is why the emptying of all informations is needed to see whatever from a different perspective. We could build a whole lot of new worlds and possibilities.

IMO, consciousness is specific function of a complex brain. It is a top-level integration of various modules, a centralization of a distributed information processing system into single "place". The question is where exactly is it and how does it look like? Is it a single point, a specific cluster of neurons, or is it also widely distributed across many places and the "center" is only an emergent illusion not directly mapped onto a specific place.

Does consciousness have anything to do with awareness of causation?

I see some people in the comment section here trying to complicate things; the Hard Problem can hardly be explained away by this guy Minsky and his opinions.-

It seems better to ask as to what is meant to be conscious rather than what is consciousness. Its is well known that a person is not consciou when under the effect of anasthesia, or when one is in coma, or has a fit of seizure, for the person does not react to any kind of stimulus, nor does s/he initiate any act or movement of one's own. Then the question would arise why such things happen? What makes it possible for a person to react or be in a state when one does to not react. The answers, it seems, have to be sought in the functions of brain.

We use words without any meaning to describe processes which we dont know. In mathematics we solve difficult problems by transforming the coordinate system into another that makes the unsolvable problem just trivial to realise that the problem lies in a false representation of it. It is not difficult at all to programm a machine with self-reference if you use the right representation: TOPOLOGY is your answer.

I am my complexity.

We move our hands during a conversation for two reasons: 1- We are not finding enough words to express our opinion. 2- We are trying to force our opinion by emphasizing.

I think I get what he is saying. Since he thinks that you are your brain, the extra part called consciousness is an illusion. Unless you are a dualist, this is a distinction without a difference. I could say that I am a conscious brain. Maybe he would agree with that. Who knows? It's hard to get past his vigorous hand waving.

I'm pretty sure this guy is actually just a computer who is trying to make us believe he understands what it is to be conscious.

Marvin is good but I don't think he really explained what is behind "sense of undivided unity".

The interviewer asked him several times about where the sense of self/agency/undivided unity comes from - and Mr. Minsky never really explained it other than to suggest it came from the idea we are a mind and a body. Well, yeah, of course - and where does that experience/idea come from? That's what the interviewer was essentially asking. He could have just said, "I don't know" and it would have been a better answer.

If I lend a book to another person, it is stupid to think that the same person will give me my book back? I wonder what my banker will say if I tell him that just after I get a loan! Lol.

poor sound quality, all videos!

Consciousness is the creation of God - therefore mysterious and unknowable. Freud came the closest to explaining the consciousness. Neuroscientist may eventually identify all the connections and interactions in the brain, but the biomechanics of the brain are not consciouness.

So minskey was (is) involved with epstein.

It's NOT mysterious at all! It's an idea from spookiness-meddlers!

He talks, moves like a robot. What a sad soul. You ask a robot about consciousness and his answer is it doesnt exist. Very predictable. Each time i hear you talking i do not recognize any mercy or humbleness in your face. Content and direct exerience of life needs consciousness. I will nevr waste my time on unconscious man

Poor sound. Soft

Consciousness is only mysterious when you haven't experienced IT ("In-Itself"), in the state of nondual Samadhi(Satori). No problem. Access "Mahamritunjaya mantra - Sacred Sounds Choir" and listen to it for 5 min per day for at least two weeks. In due time you will have a direct experience of Consciousness. You are That, the entire universe is That (Brahman).

No! Too low volume! 👎👎👎

Decrying the use of the word 'consciousness' as a means of obfuscation, followed by a textbook display of hand-waving obfuscation is a sad commentary on the state of affairs in Minsky's field of research.

Scientism

A robot or a program connected and interacts with other part, that doesn't mean its self aware, your smartphone is connected to many parts of itself and other apps, that doesn't mean your smart phone is self aware aka conscious.

Doesn't have a clue what he's even talking about, he's using subjective experience words he can't do that to explain mechanical robotic processes