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If Brains are Computers, Who Designs the Software? - with Daniel Dennett

The Royal Institution · lecture · Watch on YouTube

Consciousness & cognitionPhilosophy & ethicsEvolution & genetics

What it is

Daniel Dennett's Royal Institution lecture on whether the brain is a computer and where its software comes from. He argues that minds are built by evolution and culture, with competence arising without comprehension.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Cited as an excellent entry point to Dennett's thinking on minds, memes and competence without comprehension.

  • 3 people recommended it
  • 4 different months
  • 1 strong recommendations
  • first 2018, last 2024

What HN commenters said

  1. “I discovered him with the excellent Royal Institution talk”

    Excellent talk that introduced the commenter to Dennett

    az09mugen, 2024-04 · Strong recommendation · in “Daniel Dennett has died”

  2. “I'd recommend Daniel Dennett's talk If Brains are Computers, Who Designs the Software? as a counterpoint to this article”

    Dennett's computationalist counterpoint on minds and software

    13415, 2020-07 · Recommendation · in “Why general artificial intelligence will not be realized”

  3. “He did a nice talk at the RI on it some time ago”

    Dennett on competence without comprehension

    rthrfrd, 2024-03 · Recommendation · in “Claude 3 catches researchers testing it”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: daniel dennett, consciousness, cognitive science, evolution, memes

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