Tag Archives: Consciousness

On ‘The Creative Brain’

Anna Abraham is the E. Paul Torrance Professor and Director of the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development at the University of Georgia. She is the author of ‘The Neuroscience of Creativity’ and the editor of the multidisciplinary volume ‘The Cambridge Handbook of the Imagination’. In this interview she discusses her latest book, ‘The Creative Brain: Myths and Truths’, which draws on theoretical and empirical work in cognitive psychology and neuroscience, and offers an examination of human creativity that reveals the true complexity underlying our conventional beliefs about the brain.

AI could be the breakthrough that allows humanoid robots to jump from science fiction to reality

Dr. Daniel Zhou Hao is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in AI and Robotics, School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, University of Leicester. He is the founder of the Dynamics and Neural Intelligence (DANi) Lab and the Team Lead of the DriverLeics research-inspired education group in AI-powered robotics and autonomous systems.
Dr. Hao is the Leicester’s PI in the UK Space Agency (UKSA) funded PLATOR project. He is also the Robotics Lead for the ESA/NASA Mars Sample Return DWI Project (ESA Prog. ref: E/019A-02R – MSR SRP E3P2), affiliated with Space Park Leicester. Dr. Hao is the Co-I of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Digital Transformation of Metals Industry (2024), working with School of Engineering.
Dr. Hao’s expertise encompasses Spacecraft AOCS/GNC, Robotics, and AI. His current research interests include autonomous GNC supporting in-orbit servicing and manufacturing, Large language and vision models driven robotics, Reinforcement Learning for Legged Space Robots, AI-driven Robotic Manipulation, and AI for Space Sciences.

The Skin as a Living Canvas: Aging, Identity, and the Conscious Body

Dr. Nita Sharma Das is a Naturopathy expert, educator, award-winning author, and skincare formulator.

“This article explores the skin as a living interface where biology, consciousness, culture, and identity converge. Drawing upon evolutionary theories of aging by scientists such as Peter Medawar and Owen Jones, it reflects on how biological senescence is only one part of the human experience of aging. Integrating perspectives from naturopathy, psychological self-perception, and Indian cultural rituals, the piece reimagines skincare as a ritual of self-respect and self-awareness. Rather than resisting age, it proposes embracing it as a conscious journey—a philosophy I advocate through my work, my book Welcome to Second Spring, and my blog. The article calls for a new way of seeing the aging body not as a site of decline, but as a canvas of lived wisdom and evolving identity.”

Gayle Chong Kwan: Oneiric Archaeologies

Gayle Chong Kwan is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist and academic whose work is exhibited internationally in galleries and the public realm. Her large-scale photographic works, immersive installations, and sensory ritual events are at the intersection of historical and archival research and fine art practice, and position the viewer as one element in a cosmology of the political, social and ecological. She has created a new installation work, ‘Oneiric Archaeologies’, in VR game design, sound, tactile wearable sculptures, and social dreaming to explore the collective re-shaping, re-use, and understanding of Avebury Neolithic site through dreaming.

In a future with more ‘mind reading,’ thanks to neurotech, we may need to rethink freedom of thought

Parker Crutchfield is Professor of Medical Ethics, Humanities, and Law, Western Michigan University. He completed his Ph.D. in philosophy at Arizona State University, working in applied ethics, epistemology and the philosophy of science. As Professor in the Department of Medical Ethics, Humanities and law at WMed, Dr. Crutchfield conducts research in medical ethics.

Your world is different from a pigeon’s – but a new theory explains how we can still live in the same reality

Catherine Legg is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, Deakin University.

“My areas of research include philosophies of language, mind and mathematics. I have long standing interests in the American pragmatists, particularly Charles Peirce, and currently co-edit the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry ‘Pragmatism’. I maintain a side-interest in artificial intelligence, having previously worked as an ontological engineer. I’m also very interested in philosophy of education, and am involved with the Philosophy for Children movement.”

Contemplating Oblivion

Keith Wiley was one of the original members of MURG, the Mind Uploading Research Group, an online community dating to the mid-90s that discussed issues of consciousness with an aim toward mind uploading. He has written a previous book, ‘A Taxonomy and Metaphysics of Mind-Uploading’, about the philosophical interpretation of mind uploading, various invited book chapters, peer-reviewed journal articles, and magazine articles, in addition to several essays on a broad array of topics.

Babies and animals can’t tell us if they have consciousness – but philosophers and scientists are starting to find answers

Henry Taylor is Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Birmingham.

“I’m interested in philosophy of cognitive science, philosophy of mind, metaphysics, and robotics. I have worked on perception, consciousness, attention, peripheral vision, the development of scientific concepts, scientific taxonomy, and robotics. Most of my research involves drawing together work from natural science and philosophy.”

From the mystery and majesty of the universe and beyond

Shanthi Chandrasekar is a multimedia and multidisciplinary artist from Maryland, USA, who has an academic background in physics and psychology, and has been trained in the traditional Indian art forms of Kolam and Tanjore-style painting. While many of her works are influenced by her Indian heritage, her true inspiration comes from the mystery and majesty of the world around her; her muse lives where the scientific overlaps with the spiritual.

Exploring Segments of Dissociation in Neurological Disorder

Luca M Damiani is an Artist, Author and University Fellow, focusing his ongoing creative practice and research on neuroscience/health, technology and nature. His work also crosses over with human rights and social design. Luca has a neurological disability and has had various visual art books and academic articles published, as well as being exhibited internationally.

“Focusing on my neurological-brain trauma (caused by an accident in 2018), my ongoing research-based practice looks at various areas of applied art and design, with the main focus on my own sensory disability as well as various branches of neuroscience, social design and technology.”