IoC Sept 2024 Newsletter

Hi there, and welcome to Ideas on Consciousness! Ideas on Consciousness (IoC) is a student organization and DeCal at UC Berkeley. In this monthly newsletter, we will be sharing details about upcoming cafe hours, social events, relevant local news/events, resource recommendations, and more. For all information related to IoC, check out our linktree here.

Join our Fall 2024 Information Session on Sept 16th!

Come join us for our first event of the Fall 2024 semester on the glade on UC Berkeley Campus:

Memorial Glade
6:00 PM, Sept 16th
University Dr, Berkeley, CA 94708

You’ll get to meet the IoC team as well as learn about:
1. The IoC DeCal! Our DeCal this semester is kicking off with a developed syllabus full of curious and new material related to neuroscience, philosophy of mind, and recent developments in AI. We still have spots available, Wednesdays from 6-8 PM, you can find our application here! Find more information below!
2. Our plans for the Dialogue Series! We have three events planned this semester we’re excited to share; topics which delve into the human experience, altered states, neuroscience, and others.
3. Cafe Hours! You can expect weekly meetings at local coffee shops where we’ll continue to catch up with IoC members and discuss consciousness-related topics.

The IoC DeCal begins on Sept 18th!

The application deadline for the DeCal has been extended to October 1st! Join us for an in depth series of lessons which cover:
Week 1: What is Consciousness?
Week 2: Dualism
Week 3: Non-Dualism & Monism
Week 4: History of Knowledge Frameworks
Week 5: Dreams
Week 6: Altered States: Psychedelics, Meditation, and the Placebo Effect
Week 7: Thought Experiments
Week 8: Challenges to Materialism
Week 9: Near Death Experiences and Other Unexplained Phenomena
Week 10: Consciousness and Machines
Week 11: AI and Ethics

Find more information in our syllabus, and apply here! Any questions? Contact us in our official organization email: [email protected]

Join the IoC Discord!

We have a new, bustling Discord for IoC this semester! Join to take part in consciousness-related discussions or even communicate with our locally-designed philosopher bots:

Mind this Matter

Find our September IoC reading material below! We’ll be exploring these articles and much more in our September events:

• David Chalmers, ‘Consciousness and its Place in Nature.’

  • Looking for a great starting point to the hard problem of consciousness? Here is a stellar introduction!

• Wolfgang Welsch, ‘Rationality and Reason Today.’

  • A real zeitgeist of a read, for those interested in the disastrous state of reason in the world today.

• Kurzgesagt, ‘The Origin of Consciousness – How Unaware Things Became Aware.’

  • A fun little introduction for a fun little email.

Have any articles, books, or materials we should use next month? Contact us here: [email protected]

Food for Thought: 

Quote of the month: “Anuvīksya: the person who sees and creates himself (systva), in the very act of seeing enters into the creation (anupravisat), into all things, beings and selves.”