About us
Café Philo is a way of meeting interesting, inquiring people who enjoy talking about life's big issues and conundrums in a convivial atmosphere.
We discuss a wide range of topics that include: the way we live our lives, ethics, current affairs and topical social issues. We aim to have one topic per month with up to 12 people in a discussion. A facilitator gently steers the discussion to help keep things moving, interesting and balanced.
Our discussions are non-party-political and free of religious or ideological dogma (most of the time at least). We encourage a healthy mix of the serious and humorous, so you can be guaranteed a lively, stimulating and fun evening. Our meetings are discussions - not debates, and certainly not arguments. We try to be respectful of everyone's point of view, even if we don't agree with them.
The group isn't aimed at academics or experts - just ordinary people from a variety of backgrounds who share a common interest in exchanging ideas about things which matter in life and meeting like-minded people. So if you're a heavy-duty philosopher you may find this group a bit lightweight. For anybody else, come along and get stuck into a decent conversation over a coffee or beer.
In addition to our regular discussions, we'll arrange some purely social evenings as well.
About the organiser: I've been running Cafe Philo in Bristol for over 10 years. I've now moved to Bromley. Let's see if there is sufficient interest to form a local group here.
It is free to attend our events. I run this group on a not-for-profit basis. However Meetup charge fees for using their platform so periodically I ask for donations to cover these costs. Regulars are asked to donate £10 per year if they can.
Upcoming events
1
Can a machine be conscious?
The George Inn, 111 High St, Beckenham BR3 1AG, London, GBNOTE: the pub does not charge for our space on the understanding that we all purchase something from the bar. Please support them.
I'll be there from around 7pm if anyone would like a social like a social chat before we get started.What do we mean by “consciousness” when applied to people and animals. What are the essential characteristics of “conscious” entities?
Why is “consciousness” important? (As opposed to sophisticated problem-solving skills, language and other aspects of "intelligence").
How and why might consciousness have evolved?To what extent could a machine exhibit the essential elements of consciousness? If it did, would that make it conscious? Or would something always be missing – would the machine only qualify as a “simulation” of consciousness. What would be the difference?
What ethical issues would arise if machines ever do achieve some level of consciousness? How would we cope with them.
Would machines have rights and responsibilities?
In what sense could they be held to account? and how?What motivates people to try to build conscious machines?
These are deep and fascinating questions which will doubtless lead to a great discussion. Some prior reading/watching would be helpful.
For example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06-iq-0yJNM Seth/Chalmers discussion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consciousness
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_consciousness
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consciousness/Hope to see you there.
8 attendees
Past events
11
