The Evolution of Purposes - Presented by Prof Daniel Dennett

Рет қаралды 92,157

12 жыл бұрын

In his talk, Professor Dennett discusses the following:
Before there was life on Earth, there were no purposes, no reasons. Things just happened. How could purposes emerge from such purposeless conditions?
Looking back at the evolution of life on the planet, we can now see -- if only dimly -- the patterns that led to the exquisite functional organisations of matter that living forms exhibit. We human beings are the only living things that can represent these reasons, and comprehend them, but that does not make them illusory.
Recorded at the Carillo Gantner Theatre, Sidney Myer Asia Centre at the University of Melbourne on 15 November 2011.

Пікірлер: 22

@alexalcan 11 жыл бұрын

Fascinating.. I never saw it this way. Dennett keeps blowing my mind.

@SacredSocietyAP 11 жыл бұрын

The reason for being is to become beings of reason.

@Aanalleinoneman 11 жыл бұрын

I think that line almost brought a tear to my eye lol almost because I'm still watching the vid

@unbornanddeathless 12 жыл бұрын

can anyone help me? i would like to use his differentiation about Why? in the begging of the lecture. the process narrative vs. justification to my thesis, where can i find written reference or source for this? thanks.

@patheally 11 жыл бұрын

Actually, the special feature of a 'do' loop is that it iterates at least once before it tests for the condition otherwise it's the same as a 'for' loop.

@lettersquash 10 жыл бұрын

I note that telic reasons pertain to the future, but to part of a cycle which was also a significant past within the real evolutionary process. Eg, we close the house because that's a human habit, BECAUSE this increases our children's safety as it has in the past.

@GBart 10 жыл бұрын

46:15 - hey, kid! I'm a computer! Stop all the downloadin'!

@InCog2020 11 жыл бұрын

I was hoping he would speak on the purpose of life; I was mistaken, lol. I did find his lecture VERY enlightening and his Turing Metaphor initiated a cascade of revelations in my mind. I'm not sure that I agree with him on intentionality... I will have to roll that around a bit. One funny thing I noticed was this creepy stare: 11:24,12:31,17:36, 22:22.

@ninanotturna 12 жыл бұрын

No. Having "faith" means to believe something in absence of evidence (in some cases even *contrary* to evidence). It also means one needs to make more assumptions than the *Occam's razor* principle would require. What Dennett is talking about isn't faith-based, as it actually *is* supported by evidence. Consciousnesses wasn't the main topic here, but Dennett has wrote about it extensively... And yes, every single one we know of (up to now) has required a body. No evidence to the contrary yet.

@JosephStern 11 жыл бұрын

'Algorithms'. From Al-Khwarizmi, the Persian astronomer --- not from the word 'rhythms'.

@TheFifthGreatApe 12 жыл бұрын

Dennett @ 2:13

@brianmcmahon1546 11 жыл бұрын

He looks like Darwin.

@MumblingMickey 11 жыл бұрын

I'm not sure this is correct in the grand scheme of things. I accept Dennets general definition of 'purpose' but I think he's forgetting that its not just living organisms that are subject to the laws of mutability, or even reproduction in rare cases. [See Complex adaptive systems Murray Gell-Mann 1994] Given the complexity even of inorganic structures all of the outputs will be subject even to Dennetts definition of purpose. RFC

@conoba 11 жыл бұрын

I came here to watch this, because of reasons.

@astrobassist 12 жыл бұрын

8:00 "Darwin shows hows to make honest science of teleology"

@Diosukekun 12 жыл бұрын

"we are the ONLY reason representers" hasn't been proven and is an unreasonable assumption without evidence. it has not yet been proven that animals don't represent reasons and relate them to each others in their languages. it's not fair to rule out the possibility

@eqapo 11 жыл бұрын

Did Dennett just steal a bit from Louis C.K.?

@MBarberfan4life 11 жыл бұрын

Hmmm, I don't know how humans have a purpose if we are just matter and particles. Purpose really is illusory. It all ends the same as it was determined. By the way, I am an atheist.

@matingilardi 11 жыл бұрын

Why? Why? Why? Why? Oh, shut up lol P.S. That part

@IanAtkinson555 12 жыл бұрын

If you're not more qualified than Dennett in this field - shut up! Dualism can't take us any further, but monism is carrying us forward! Some of us find this interesting and no matter how much you want to restrict free speech - you're not going to be allowed to do so.