#111 - Tim Maudlin: Consciousness, Turing Machines, Problems with Quantum Mechanics and Ai
From The Giants Shoulder by Evan McGloughlin
April 13, 2026 · 1h 37m · Season 2 · Episode 108
About this episode
Tim Maudlin discusses the nature of consciousness and its distinction from computation and AI.
Upgrade Your Shaving Experience With Henson (100 FREE BLADES): https://hensonshaving.com/thegiantsshoulder Tim Maudlin is a philosopher of physics at NYU and founder of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics. In 1989 he published a paper proving that consciousness cannot arise from computation — thirty-five years before the world started panicking about whether ChatGPT can think. Expect to learn why no computer programme will ever be sufficient for consciousness, why large language models operate nothing like human brains, the critical difference between intelligence and consciousness that the AI industry keeps collapsing, why Penrose's arguments about consciousness are wrong, why quantum mechanics has nothing to do with the mind, why the mind-body problem may be the most intractable problem in all of science, and much more… Timestamps: 00:00 Why Consciousness Is Not Computable 02:35 Maudlin's 1989 Paper: Computation and Consciousness 06:01 The Thought Experiment: Beer Cans, Windmills and Conscious Machines 08:11 Why Running a Programme Can't Be Enough for Consciousness 10:36 Counterfactuals: What the Machine Would Have Done 13:56 The Cog and Wheel Machine…
People in this episode
Host: Evan McGloughlin
Guest: Tim Maudlin
Topics covered
- consciousness
- computation
- quantum mechanics
- AI
- philosophy of physics
- intelligence vs consciousness
Keywords
- consciousness
- Turing machines
- quantum mechanics
- AI
- computationalism
- neural networks
- mind-body problem
Sponsors
Henson
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: NYU, John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics
Products: Henson
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