Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture

Lecture | David Sloan Wilson "Mind, Brain, and Culture from a Generalized Darwinian Perspective"

David Sloan Wilson | Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology / Biological Sciences Binghamton University | State University of New York  "Mind, Brain and Culture from a Generalized Darwinian Perspective"  Generalized Darwinism refers to any process combining the three ingredients of variation, selection, and replication (VSR). It is both old and new: Old, because all the insights associated with Darwinism during its first few decades were in ignorance of the proximate mechanisms of VSR. New, because with the advent of Mendelian genetics, the entire study of evolution became focused on genes, to the exclusion of other VSR processes. A return to generalized Darwinism didn’t commence until the closing decades of the 20th century and is now in full swing, with profound implications for our understanding of mind, brain, and culture.     Link to ProSocial World website: https://www.prosocial.world/ If you would like to become an AFFILIATE [https://cmbc.emory.edu/about/join.html] of the Center, please let us know. Subscribe to our YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/@emorycmbc1507] to get updates on our latest videos. Follow along with us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/emorycmbc/] |  Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/EmoryCenterForMindBrainAndCulture/]   NOTE:  The views and opinions expressed by the speaker do not necessarily reflect those held by the Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture or Emory University.

Lunch | Apurva Ratan Murty & Jared Medina "To Predict or To Explain"

Apurva Ratan Murty | Assistant Professor, Psychology | Georgia Institute of Technology  Jared Medina | Associate Professor, Psychology | Emory University  "To Predict or To Explain"  What is even the point of our science? Is it to build models that predict what brains and minds will do even if we don’t fully understand how, or is it to explain the inner workings of the mind and brain, even if our models fall short of accurate predictions or practical mental health benefits.  In this debate-styled meeting, Jared Medina will argue for explanation as the soul of science. Without causal, interpretable, mechanistic accounts, we’re just playing with high-tech models and curve-fitting. For him the goal of our science is about generating understanding in human interpretable terms.  On the opposing side, Apurva Ratan Murty will champion prediction as the only reliable test of scientific understanding. If your theory can’t predict new data, it has limited value. Models that generalize, however messy or uninterpretable, are the real engines of discovery and measure of progress.  This brings us to the core of the conflict. Is prediction sufficient for explanation, or even preferable? Can we trust models we do not understand, or does demand for interpretability needlessly limit our predictive power? Should we be architects of models as tools to describe, anticipate, and control brain behavior, or storytellers who illuminate the architecture of the mind?  Join us as we debate these foundational questions and consider what our field should value most and how these seemingly opposing frameworks co-exist. If you would like to become an AFFILIATE [https://cmbc.emory.edu/about/join.html] of the Center, please let us know. Subscribe to our YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/@emorycmbc1507] to get updates on our latest videos. Follow along with us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/emorycmbc/] |  Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/EmoryCenterForMindBrainAndCulture/]   NOTE:  The views and opinions expressed by the speaker do not necessarily reflect those held by the Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture or Emory University.

Lecture | Gil Weinberg "Embodied Creative Machines"

Gil Weinberg | Professor, School of Music and Founding Director of the Center for Music Technology | Georgia Institute of Technology  "Embodied Creative Machines"  Human creativity is directly linked to embodied interaction with the physical environment. At the Robotic Musicianship Group at Georgia Tech, we explore how embodiment effects and enhances both human and artificial creativity. The talk will present a wide range of robotic projects developed at Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology over the last 20 years, from robotic musicians that compose, improvise, and interact with humans in a variety of musical genres, through robotic dancers that respond to human movement, to prosthetic robotic arms that enable amputees to play musical instruments.  Gil Weinberg is a professor and the founding director of Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology, where he leads the Robotic Musicianship group. His research focuses on developing artificial creativity and musical expression for robots and augmented humans. Among his projects are a marimba playing robotic musician called Shimon that uses machine learning for Jazz improvisation, and a prosthetic robotic arm for amputees that restores and enhances human drumming abilities.  Weinberg presented his work worldwide in venues such as The Kennedy Center, The World Economic Forum, Ars Electronica, Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt Museum, SIGGRAPH, TED-Ed, DLD and others. His music was performed with Orchestras such as Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the National Irish Symphony Orchestra, and the Scottish BBC Symphony while his research has been disseminated through numerous journal articles and patents. Dr. Weinberg received his MS and PhD degrees in Media Arts and Sciences from MIT and his BA from the interdisciplinary program for fostering excellence in Tel Aviv University.  Gil Weinberg :: https://www.gilweinberg.com/ SEE BELOW FOR SOME OF THE VIDEOS PREVIEWED IN PRESENTATION.  THE AGE OF AI :: https://youtu.be/UwsrzCVZAb8?si=9rfi3NSCwIe1n0NR&t=863  SHIMON IN CONCERT :: https://youtu.be/zG8VWPL35qI?si=54IKr0E8ax26x9Jc  BRAINWAVES / “FISH AND CHIPS” :: https://www.gilweinberg.com/brainwaves?pgid=m2acvhzk1-f5d71d01-9eb3-4cae-a336-1dbf7f335ade EYEDRUM EXHIBITION :: https://www.gilweinberg.com/brainwaves?pgid=m2acvhzk1-c6092737-f02b-4a58-942b-42e685ea9595 NERVE BEATBUGS :: https://youtu.be/B7WlkVGH1fs?si=I2xWeoqUOWVCPBkc HAILE :: https://youtu.be/OT2Lp00ib1Y?si=jPupqd-Qb9gCYuHE THREE-ARMED DRUMMING :: https://youtu.be/fKryPingtww?si=U7SrChs-n-5ctTZW  DRUMMING PROSTHETIC CONCERT @ KSU :: https://youtu.be/6xc2_p-q9tU?si=I7tnesxJyhQUpNAn  JASON BARNES EMG PROSTHETIC ARM SHOWCASE :: https://youtu.be/4rakPJHH7KU?si=sUrBc2zlTiCYvhSy  JASON BARNES - GUINESS WORLD RECORDS :: https://youtu.be/cVFcJ3TMrok?si=C104ssuxrU6Hn_SK  WORLD’S FIRST BIONIC DRUMMER :: https://youtu.be/GKW7cg45EwY?si=1jBmN1ABFXiP-lxb  SKYWALKER HAND :: https://youtu.be/8t8p43m1Iuw?si=SKhs2BTMX6qP-GXz  GIL WEINBERG: LUKE SKYWALKER PROSTHESIS CONTROLS FINGERS AND PLAYS PIANO :: https://youtu.be/HjW1kIt5iQg?si=kHcuIHgsLnAWJvMy   If you would like to become an AFFILIATE [https://cmbc.emory.edu/about/join.html] of the Center, please let us know. Subscribe to our YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/@emorycmbc1507] to get updates on our latest videos. Follow along with us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/emorycmbc/] |  Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/EmoryCenterForMindBrainAndCulture/]   NOTE:  The views and opinions expressed by the speaker do not necessarily reflect those held by the Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture or Emory University.

Lecture | Héctor Álvarez "Dilating Time: Tempo as Contemplative Tool in Ota Shogo’s Poetics of Deceleration"

Héctor Álvarez | Theater Studies, Emory University  "Dilating Time: Tempo as Contemplative Tool in Ota Shogo’s Poetics of Deceleration"  This talk explores Ota Shogo's groundbreaking wordless play "The Water Station" as a paradigm of temporal expansion in contemporary theater, examining how extreme deceleration creates unique spaces for audience reflection and embodied awareness. Together we'll investigate how slowed theatrical time functions not merely as stylistic choice but as philosophical intervention—challenging our accelerated cultural rhythms and opening possibilities for deeper environmental and existential awareness.  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Héctor Álvarez is an interdisciplinary artist and scholar working in performance, theater, film, and contemporary opera, who has recently joined the faculty at Emory in Theater Studies. This event marks the first in a planned series of dialogues between the Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture and the Keio University Centre for Contemplative Studies in Tokyo, Japan, an interdisciplinary group of contemplative scholars, cognitive scientists and artists.       If you would like to become an AFFILIATE [https://cmbc.emory.edu/about/join.html] of the Center, please let us know. Subscribe to our YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/@emorycmbc1507] to get updates on our latest videos. Follow along with us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/emorycmbc/] |  Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/EmoryCenterForMindBrainAndCulture/]   NOTE:  The views and opinions expressed by the speaker do not necessarily reflect those held by the Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture or Emory University.

Lecture | Shay Welch "The Bio-Psycho-Social Affect Loop, HyperSensitivity, and Radical Embodied Cognition"

Shay Welch | Associate Professor of Philosophy | Spelman College  "The Bio-Psycho-Social Affect Loop, HyperSensitivity, and Radical Embodied Cognition" If you would like to become an AFFILIATE [https://cmbc.emory.edu/about/join.html] of the Center, please let us know. Subscribe to our YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/@emorycmbc1507] to get updates on our latest videos. Follow along with us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/emorycmbc/] |  Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/EmoryCenterForMindBrainAndCulture/]   NOTE:  The views and opinions expressed by the speaker do not necessarily reflect those held by the Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture or Emory University.