Michael Edward Johnson is a philosopher, neuroscientist and entrepreneur. He’s the author of Principia Qualia and the Symmetry Theory of Valence. He writes at opentheory.net.
I interviewed Mike focusing mostly on the philosophy in his latest paper A Paradigm for AI Consciousness. I also ask Mike about the nature of Beauty, The Good, his research workflow, and how to nurture a research institute or scene.
00:00:00 - A Paradigm for AI Consciousness
00:15:05 - The brain is ideal for magnifying micro events
WIP
1:13:01 - Why is EM a shocking explanation for woo?
1:16:56 - How can we measure EM standing waves?
1:26:19 - What is the good?
1:32:30 - Why care about qualia morally?
1:39:35 - Why care about the asymmetry (suffering) of a nuclear reactor?
1:45:12 - What is beauty?
1:51:40 - What is good taste?
1:52:44 - Compression as an explanation for beauty
2:04:36 - What’s Mike’s process for research?
2:09:56 - What do you do with fear? You feel it and do it anyway.
2:13:13 - How do you grow a research institute?
2:17:17 - The importance of social bounties
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