Episode Details

Beyond this episode Curt Jaimungal talks with Claudia Passos, Garrett Mindt, and Carlos Montemayor about the limits of consciousness in infants, animals, and artificial intelligence. They explore how we can recognize consciousness, the moral implications of treating non‑human minds, and whether AI should receive the same ethical consideration as human children.

- 00:00:00 - Introduction
- 00:03:56 - How aware are infants?
- 00:08:36 - Correlates of consciousness
- 00:11:16 - Trauma in infants
- 00:17:00 - Traditional definitions of consciousness
- 00:22:05 - Animal consciousness
- 00:26:05 - Phenomenal consciousness
- 00:35:37 - “You can't be intelligent if you are not autonomous”
- 00:37:00 - Asymmetric moral considerations
- 00:41:00 - Agency needs vulnerability to work
- 00:43:20 - The borders between biology and machine
- 00:46:00 - Building "mini brains"!
- 00:58:40 - Behavioral markers of consciousness
- 01:00:10 - Should AI be given the same ethical consideration as our human children?
- 01:05:16 - Do infants lack moral standing?
- 01:08:14 - Is analogue consciousness relevant?
- 01:14:06 - What do we mean by “autonomy”?
- 01:19:00 - Outro

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Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal features long-form, technically detailed interviews with leading researchers in physics, mathematics, consciousness, and philosophy, exploring topics at the level of active research. For academics, graduate students, and anyone seeking depth beyond popular science.

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