Episode
#1236 Paul Thagard - Dreams, Jokes, and Songs: How Brains Build Consciousness
- Podcast
- The Dissenter
- Published
- Apr 3, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 4756
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not_requested
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Summary
******Support the channel****** Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedissenter PayPal: paypal.me/thedissenter PayPal Subscription 1 Dollar: https://tinyurl.com/yb3acuuy PayPal Subscription 3 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/ybn6bg9l PayPal Subscription 5 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/ycmr9gpz PayPal Subscription 10 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/y9r3fc9m PayPal Subscription 20 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/y95uvkao ******Follow me on****** Website: https://www.thedissenter.net/ The Dissenter Goodreads list: https://shorturl.at/7BMoB Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedissenteryt/ Twitter: https://x.com/TheDissenterYT This show is sponsored by Enlites, Learning & Development done differently. Check the website here: http://enlites.com/ Dr. Paul Thagard is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Waterloo and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Cognitive Science Society, and the Association for Psychological Science. The Canada Council awarded him a Molson Prize (2007) and a Killam Prize (2013). He is a philosopher, cognitive scientist, and author of many interdisciplinary books, the latest one being Dreams, Jokes, and Songs: How Brains Build Consciousness. In this episode, we focus on Dreams, Jokes, and Songs. We start by talking about how to approach consciousness philosophically and scientifically. We discuss several theories of consciousness, and why we need a new one. We explore Dr. Thagard’s NBC (Neural representation, Binding, Coherence, and Competition) theory of consciousness. We talk about how social factors influence consciousness. We discuss explanations for dreams and jokes. We talk about consciousness in non-human animals. We discuss whether machines or AI systems can become conscious. Finally, we talk about the mind-body p…