From feeling to knowing with Antonio Damasio

PodcastNovember 22, 2021
A robot shows a picture of a virus to a stick figure, who says, "I'M HUNGRY TOO." Nearby, an orange dog thinks of a bone. Background features a blue and purple gradient.
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It would be interesting to think what would happen if [A.I. had] a little bit of vulnerability, if something about them would be soft and cuddly and they could add something equivalent to a feeling, which is some kind of register of how the body has changed as a result of some set of needs that that body would have.

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Intro

In this episode of the Decision Corner, Brooke speaks with Antonio Damasio – David Dornsife Chair in Neuroscience at the University of Southern California and author of Feeling and Knowing: Making Minds Conscious.

Some of the topics discussed include:

  • Why feelings are integral to our understanding of consciousness.
  • The evolutionary origins of our nervous systems and eventually, our ability to have and regulate our feelings.
  • How feelings have been overlooked in scientific explanations of consciousness, and why a paradigm shift is important.
  • Challenges and opportunities around AI – how can we make robots have feelings?
  • The importance of understanding the unique way human consciousness developed, and what it can teach us about our future selves, as well as our technological developments.

About the Guest

Antonio Damasio

Antonio Damasio is University Professor, David Dornsife Professor of Neuroscience, Psychology and Philosophy, and Director of the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Trained as both neurologist and neuroscientist, Damasio has made seminal contributions to the understanding of brain processes underlying emotions, feelings, and consciousness. His work on the role of affect in decision-making has made a major impact in neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy. He is the author of numerous scientific articles and has been named “Highly Cited Researcher” by the Institute for Scientific Information, and is regarded as one of the most eminent psychologists of the modern era (Google Scholar h-index is 149; over 155,000 citations).

Damasio is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. He has received numerous prizes, among them the Grawemeyer Award [2014] and the Honda Prize [2010], the Asturias Prize in Science and Technology [2005], and the Nonino [2003], Signoret [2004] and Pessoa [1992] Prizes.

Damasio has discussed his research and ideas in several books, among them Descartes’ Error, The Feeling of What Happens, Looking for Spinoza and Self Comes to Mind, which are translated and taught in universities worldwide. His most recent work addresses the evolutionary development of mind and especially the role of homeostasis in the generation of cultures.

About the Interviewer

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Dr. Brooke Struck

Dr. Brooke Struck is the Research Director at The Decision Lab. He is an internationally recognized voice in applied behavioural science, representing TDL’s work in outlets such as Forbes, Vox, Huffington Post and Bloomberg, as well as Canadian venues such as the Globe & Mail, CBC and Global Media. Dr. Struck hosts TDL’s podcast “The Decision Corner” and speaks regularly to practicing professionals in industries from finance to health & wellbeing to tech & AI.

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