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Darwin's Dangerous Idea
In 1995, Daniel Dennett published a book called Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, which from my understanding is designed to argue evolution is not solely a mathematical equation of chance from organisms got from point A to B. Rather, Dennett explains anything with cognitive abilities had a place to influence change.
Dennett, Daniel C. (1996, June 12). Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life. -
Free Will
Bottom line up front, Daniel Dennett believes we as humans have free will. His primary argument is we as humans have responsibilities and those can only be attributed to a single being. Secondly, he questions could ethics, human values and pursuit of science exist without the ability of freedom or free will.
Thompson, D. L. (2009). Daniel dennett. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/apus/reader.action?docID=601976 -
Cultural Evolution
Daniel Dennett was speaking at the Royal Institution on Information, Evolution, and Intelligence Design of living being and he speaks for a few minutes on cultural evolution. He opens the topic with a quote “Technology is a gift of God. After the gift of life, it is perhaps the greatest of God’s gifts” by Freeman Dyson. He uses this quote to prep his point that technology is not a random gift.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZX6awZq5Z0 -
What is Counsciousness?
Consciousness is described as an illusion due to only being as observable as someone is able to showcase it.
New Scientist. (2019, June 21). What is Consciousness? Professor Dan Dennett explains. [video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm8M_xQrgCk