Philosophy of Mind Series (Sess 5) Thomas Metzinger: The Ego Tunnel

This Meetup is the fifth in our series on philosophy of mind and will explore the work of Thomas Metzinger.

Thomas Metzinger (1958-present) is a German philosopher and Professor Emeritus of theoretical philosophy at the University of Mainz. His primary research areas include philosophy of mind, philosophy of neuroscience, and applied ethics, particularly focusing on neurotechnology, virtual reality and artificial intelligence. He is considered one of the leading philosophers of his generation focused on the problem of consciousness.

In this Meetup, we will be discussing his work, The Ego Tunnel. Here, he argues that the self is an illusion created by the brain – a virtual model of reality that feels real but isn’t. Metzinger describes consciousness as a tunnel; a narrow, selective simulation of reality constructed by the brain where our experience of ‘reality’ is actually a filtered, internal model. There is no direct access to the external world. The brain creates a “phenomenal self-model”, which gives rise to the feeling of being someone.

The Ego Tunnel is a fascinating work that challenges commonly held beliefs about identity, autonomy, and even reality. By positing that the self is a simulation, Metzinger opens up an opportunity for dialog about how we should treat conscious beings, both human and artificial, and how we might design future minds.

For this Meetup, we will be discussing the following chapters:

Ch 1 - The Appearance of the World - ~10 pages
Ch 2 - A Tour of the Tunnel - ~40 pages
Ch 3 - Out of the Body and into the Mind - ~40 pages
Ch 7 - Artificial Ego Machines - ~40 pages

We will be the Basic Books version Copyright 2009 ISBN 978-0-465-02069-0
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Hope to see you at the session.