Anyone looking for easy answers to life’s big mysteries might want to avoid reading Daniel Dennett’s latest work, “Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking.” As profiled in the New York Times, Dennett uses a science-based approach to reach deep philosophical conclusions about some vexing questions. But these conclusions aren’t always what people want to hear.
According to Dennett, consciousness is simply a construct of the workings of the mind and not tied to any other spiritual level. Dennett believes that a computer could theoretically be programmed to mimic all of the workings of the mind, including creating a sense of consciousness. This analytic and blunt approach to philosophy has earned Dennett a reputation as one of the leading philosophers of his era but has also put him at odds with many of his contemporaries who see philosophy as a pursuit less grounded in scientific facts.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com
About the Author: Samuel Phineas Upham is an investor at a family office/ hedgefund, where he focuses on special situation illiquid investing. Before this position, Phin Upham was working at Morgan Stanley in the Media & Technology group. You may contact Phin on his Samuel Phineas Upham website or Twitter.