Origins of the Mind - Antonio Damasio, MD, PhD | The FitMind Podcast

Dr. Antonio Damasio is a neurologist, psychologist and best-selling author.
He's the Founder & Director of the Brain and Creativity Institute, which researches human emotions, memory, communication, and decision-making, and is regarded as one of the most influential psychologists of the modern era.
On this episode, we discuss the evolution of the mind, the surprising role of feelings in consciousness, and why we have a brain in the first place.
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SHOW NOTES
0:00 | Introduction to Antonio Damasio, MD, PhD
2:07 | Why Do We Have a Brain?
4:00 | Brain & Nervous System Are One
6:08 | Evolution of the Mind
10:28 | Minds are Representation Machines
16:51 | Distinguishing Between Feeling & Emotions
19:04 | Feelings are the Beginning of Consciousness
22:38 | Nervous Systems Produce Feelings/Consciousness
29:30 | Understanding Feelings is of Utmost Importance
34:34 | How Feelings Impact Culture, Politics, Relationships, & Everything Really
39:37 | Building Conscious Machines with Vulnerability
43:30 | Rapid Fire Questions

[@LewisMarkMonticello]

41:18 Fabulous insight.

[@aadvijverberg7342]

This interview really gives a broad perspective on Damasio's thinking about the how and why of the neurosystem and brain and the importance of feelings as a starting point.

[@DMK195601]

One of the best interviews I've seen with this great man. Thank you.

[@marvincore_]

Thank you

[@roginebacani8669]

Help sir... 🙏🇵🇭🇯🇵🇪🇹🇱🇷🥺

[@roginebacani8669]

Help sir... 🙏🇵🇭🇯🇵🇪🇹🇱🇷🥺

[@Elizabeth-mp6tr]

Why did man "evolve" into a complex "organism" when others have not? What is special about man and not other organisms if we have evolved to these "complex of structures which is our nervous system?" Dr. Damasio is just explaining the reactions of other organisms and making the conclusion that this is how we evolved. I wish Dr. Damasio were not so limited to evolutionary thoughts. Why then did we develop morality -- through evolution? This has not explained, in my mind, any reasoning different from simple organisms. And if evolution is the answer, then why are we now destroying our world in such a short evolutionary time frame? Wouldnt evolution be specific to the survival of the species? If we are so "intelligent" why are we destroying our world? I find this discussion limited in an evolutionary reasoning.

[@user-hn9ov7fu2r]

We didn't develop the basic emotions (anget, enjoyment,fear) was there ,and in teh process whatever we face our ancestors used emotion and reasoning to form rules or moral codes which become their habit and that habit energy transmitted from generation to generation and lives inside you that's why we are still having that habitual emotion even env Today now pretty face

[@AnalyticalSentient]

Accurate axiology is rooted in valence. Historically we've been ignorant and biased towards self-preservation, and preservation patterns that probabilistically aligned with survival of species. Our pro-social, emotive mammalian or 'ape brain' capacities consists of much of our organic moral sense that allowed for our being more than totally selfish organisms. Though psychological egoism is inescapable and a self-interested lens is inevitable regardless of how constructive or destructive we function as in relation to others Anyhow, somehow we still haven't intellectually advanced enough to overcome such old biases to any nearly complete level yet, still mired in nepotism and other arbitrary tribalisms. Nepotism, sexism, racism, classicism, nationalism and speciesm are all equally irrational in a strictly logical sense. The only intrinsically urgent object of logical import is valence (though we can only directly detect our own, thus the wide spectrum of assholes can continue to exist). I'm no better fundamentally; I'm an asshole also, though much less so in following this understanding and path of effort to become better than my base biological animal nature.

[@Elizabeth-mp6tr]

@@AnalyticalSentient Abiogenesis explains everything and nothing. We still don't know who "Our Creator" is, with science and evolution. There is a very limited viewpoint to life without the belief in God as an Intelligent Designer! Our bodies are a miracle that are to be discovered and maybe, never will we find the final answer, in our limited minds, until we believe in God.

[@AnalyticalSentient]

@@Elizabeth-mp6tr Way to not address a single piece of my actual comment.

[@JavierBonillaC]

I read Descartes error a long time ago and the quality of the content of that book is truly admirable. You won’t feel you’ve read an uninteresting page in the who.e book. This man is not only very very wise, but he is also great at explaining things.

[@adventmunga1871]

Hh