Zombies and the History of Consciousness

In this essay in Aeon Magazine, IFF director Margaret Wertheim looks at the history of how consciousness has come to be perceived as a scientific problem. Beginning with a discussion of the philosophical idea of zombies and current neuroscientists’ interest in such creatures, the essay asks why consciousness is considered a “problem” and how has it been framed as one. Medieval theologians didn’t sit around debating whether human are conscious – they knew for a fact that we are – so when and why did this become an intellectual issue? How did the subject enter into scientific discussions, and what paths are scientists now taking to try and get a grip on this ineffable human quality?

In conjunction with the essay, Aeon’s Conversations forum invites readers to weigh in on the question: “How do you know you are not a zombie?”

What do you think? Is our interior landscape of emotions and feelings primary? Are we, as T.H. Huxley proposed, “conscious automata”? Or perhaps merely “meat machines”? Join us for the discussion.

Aeon Magazine is a digital magazine of ideas and culture, founded by Brigid and Paul Hains. Publishing long-form essays, along with opinion pieces and short films, Aeon is committed to asking big questions and seeking out fresh answers by leading thinkers in science, philosophy and society. Essays are supplemented by the Conversations forum which asks readers to join authors in discussing and debating positions.

As the COP21 talks get underway in Paris today, IFF director Margaret Wertheim, is interviewed about art, science, climate change, and the value of “play tanks” on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Life Matters Radio National program with Natasha Mitchell. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that meaningful progress is made this week on greenhouse gas emission targets.

Science & Pretzels Salon 

IFF director, Margaret Wertheim is currently serving as a Vice Chancellor Fellow at the University of Melbourne. On Thursday, 26 November 2015, please join us at the University’s Carlton Connect Initiative building for the latest Science and Pretzel Salon hosted by the Australian-German Climate & Energy College.

When: Thursday, 26 November 2015, 11.00am – 12.00pm

Where:  Level 1, LAB-14, 700 Swanston Street (See Map)

RSVP: Eventbrite

In this event, Margaret will discuss the IFF’s Crochet Coral Reef project and its resonances for thinking about and enacting change in relation to the destruction of oceanic environments due to global warming.

The salon will be chaired by Ellycia Harrould-Kolieb (a PhD candidate from the School of Geography and Australian-German Climate & Energy College), whose research focuses on the science-policy interface of ocean acidification.

Register for the event: here

Event invite

Event webpage

The Australian-German Climate & Energy College is a joint project of the University of Melbourne and the German government based at the university’s Carlton Connect Initiative center. The college brings together doctoral students from around the world to form a focused cluster of thinkers who’s research is concerned with issues surrounding climate change, energy use, and creating a sustainable life on our planet.

On September 17+18, the National Gallery of Victoria presents Parallels – Journeys into Contemporary Making, a 2-day long international symposium on the changing roles of craft in contemporary culture and society. Speakers include: Italian crafter/designer Antonio Arico; Melbourne Architect John Wardle; Netherlands design team Formafantasma (Simone Farresim and Andrea Trimachi); Veena Sahajwalla, director of the Center for Sustainable Research and Technology at the University of New South Wales; Trevyn and Julian McGowan of the Southern Guild in Cape Town, South Africa; and Mavis Ganambarr from the Echo Island Arts collective in the Australian Northern Territory.

Institute For Figuring director Margaret Wertheim will deliver the closing keynote address, on the Woolly Wonder of the Crochet Coral Reef project, and its resonances for craft practice in the age of global warming.

Parallel’s Conference website.

Margaret Wertheim Keynote webpage.

Location: National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), 180 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, Australia

Time and Date: Friday September 18, 2015 @ 4:50pm

This week, IFF directors Margaret and Christine Wertheim are presenting keynotes at the Unruly Techniques Symposium at Deakin University, Melbourne Australia.

Unruly Techniques: Linking Knowledge Practices Through Art, Science and Technology

Friday 14 August 2015, 10.00am – 5.45pm

The ways in which knowledge is acquired and acted upon have become increasingly unruly. That is to say, rules may be adhered to in myriad ways inflected by individual, cultural, historical and geo-political factors.

Cooperation and collaboration are needed to negotiate the rules of knowledge engagement and their application to common concerns regarding technological mediation, institutional structures, embodied engagement, diversity, social justice and the frontiers of the human-non-human collective.

At Deakin University, the Unruly Techniques Symposium provides a forum to contextualize and discuss the proposition that while innovation appears at the level of the disciplinary field of research, the production of new knowledge emerges from a complex web of techniques and practices occurring below the threshold of any particular discipline.

Structured around the five keynote presentations, followed by panel discussions and Q&A sessions, the symposium aims to initiate university-wide dialogs and explore a collection of practices that best equip researchers to build practical approaches to collaboration that can inform our actions for the future.

Symposium Brochure PDF

Symposium webpage

Symposium Schedule:

9.30am Arrival 

10.00am – 10.15am Welcome: Deakin University Vice-Chancellor Prof Jane den Hollander

10.15am – 10.30am Introduction: Conference Organizer, Jondi Keane (School of Communication and Creative Arts, Deakin University)

10.30am – 11.15am Keynote 1: Anna Munster (Associate Professor, Department of Art and Design, University of New South Wales)

11.15am – 12.00pm Keynote 2: Vaughan Prain (Professor of Education, Latrobe University)

12.00pm – 12.30pm Panel Discussion 1 (see list of panellists)

12.30pm – 1.30pm Lunch 

1.30pm – 1.45pm Introduction: 

Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research Prof Lee Astheimer, (Deakin University)

1.45pm – 2.30pm Keynote 3: Christine Wertheim, (Department of Critical Studies, California Institute of Arts; Co-Director, Institute For Figuring – Los Angeles)

2.30pm – 3.15pm Keynote 4: Takashi Ikegami (Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, University of Tokyo)

3.15pm – 3.45pm Panel Discussion 2 (see list of panellists)

3.45pm – 4.00pm Afternoon Tea 

4.00pm – 4.45pm Keynote 5: Margaret Wertheim (Director, Institute For Figuring – Los Angeles)

4.45pm – 5.15pm Panel Discussion 3 (see list of panellists)

5.15pm – 5.45pm Plenary Speakers and panellists

6.00pm – 7.00pm Drinks

Leonardo da Vinci, the Codex Leicester, and the Creative Mind

@ Minneapolis Institute of Arts

June 21 – August 30, 2015

From June 21 – August 30, the IFF’s Crochet Coral Reef will be on show alongside Leonardo da Vinci’s celebrated Codex Leicester, the book containing his famous drawings of water. The exhibition, Leonardo da Vinci, the Codex Leicester, and the Creative Mind, at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, is a rare chance to see da Vinci’s original drawings and related water-themed theories, including his ideas about the cause of tides and origin of the moon. The wider exhibit surrounding the Leonardos offers an examination of the interface between art, science, mathematics and nature. As curator Alex Bortolot writes: “The exhibition is organized to explore ways in which ‘thinking on paper’, curiosity, and observation lead to innovation.” In addition to the IFF’s Crochet Coral Forest and a selection of newly curated miniature Coral Pod Worlds, the show includes a special section devoted to the mathematics behind the Crochet Reef project. Picking up on the watery theme, the exhibition also features Bill Viola’s celebrated video installation The Raft. [See MIA Press Release.]

MIA website.

More information coming soon.