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The last three links are interviews of Francis Crick by Sue
Blackmore.
Imagine sitting by a California swimming pool surrounded by flowers
and hummingbirds and trying to interview the great biologist
Francis Crick, writes Sue Blackmore. If it sounds
peaceful, it wasn't. At the age of 78 and in failing health,
Francis was more than a match for me.
"Now let me say why I think all that's nonsense," he said at
one point, and "You ask that only because you're interested in
Buddhism". But what a treat it was to be able to delve into his
theories of consciousness and discover the reasons why he thinks
we'll one day find the neural basis for consciousness.
My partner, Adam
Hart-Davis, enjoyed the visit too. When we arrived at the door
Francis greeted us warmly and then dismissed Adam instantly "You
can go to the kitchen with
Odile" he said, and Adam crept off like a lamb.
This was one of the last interviews I did for my book "Conversations
on Consciousness". I hadn't set out to write a book at all.
The interviews started when I went to one of the wonderful Tucson
consciousness conferences and hoped to make a radio programme
about it. I so loved doing the interviews that I just carried on
doing them, and you can now hear three of my favourites (see below
for links).
Dan
Dennett had to be in the book. I have known him many years and
reckon that his 1991 "Consciousness
Explained" is still the best analysis of consciousness there
is. But I've never understood how he comes to think we really have
free will. So spending an hour or more asking him all the questions
I'd agonised over was a wonderful treat.
I had no publisher's advance, or any other funds, to travel so
I had to grab my consciousness heroes when and where I could.
Happily V.S.
Ramachandran came to Bristol to give a lecture and stayed with
my old friend Richard
Gregory. So I cycled over to Richard's flat, with its ancient
telescopes and mechanical toys, and Richard plied us with coffee
and chocolate biscuits while Rama and I argued about qualia, Zen,
zombies, mind and the nature of self. Do I now understand any of
those things? No way.
You can hear the interviews here:
Dan Dennett,
VS Ramachandran and
Francis Crick.
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