Consciousness & Reality (C&R) 2025-26 Series SENSING QUALIA

Wednesday, Jan 21st, 10 a.m. Pacific Time
Online-only event. Zoom link:
https://zoom.us/j/99505485799?pwd=fYOUh2gCTEuDgP8JlEq3ey2dvTr9Ip.1

PAUL SKOKOWSKI
Fellow in Philosophy, St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford
Director, Center for the Explanation of Consciousness, Stanford University

The most difficult problem in understanding consciousness in the natural world, and what is known as the hard problem of consciousness, is accounting for qualia. Here I maintain that a physical explanation of qualia can be provided through recognizing our senses as detectors of physical properties in the world. This approach uses the physical tools on offer and no more. By understanding the function of our sensory modalities, a framework can be provided for studying qualia, and the possibility of consciousness in AI and androids. (This talk is based on work from the forthcoming book "Sensing Qualia: Solving the Hard Problem of Consciousness", U. of Chicago Press, Jan 2026).

ABOUT THE EVENT
This lecture will be accessible to an interdisciplinary audience. Members from all divisions of the participating institutes and universities (Caltech, MIT, Cambridge, Oxford, Stanford, UA, UCB and IMICS) are welcome to join. Select questions from the Q&A window will be answered after the lecture.

ABOUT THE SERIES
The Consciousness & Reality colloquium series promotes interdisciplinary investigations on mind, cognition, consciousness, and the nature of reality. Recordings of previous C&R colloquia can be found on the Caltech and IMICS YouTube channels and on www.imics.org/seminars.