Public Dialogues

YHouse continues its program of lectures, events, and conversations on exciting and provocative topics at a number of venues around New York City.

Consciousness Club NYC

YHouse invites you to the Consciousness Club, a study group to promote broadly transdisciplinary discussions on the neural and computational bases of consciousness, and how these concepts can be applied to other fields of interest. Our weekly meetings are for you if you are into awareness, science, technology, philosophy, art, and design.

For more information and meeting schedule, check out our Facebook page, or tune in to our Twitter updates.

Although the meetings are open to all, we encourage technical and scientific discussions for this series of meetings.

Cognition Lunch Salon

YHouse continues to organize informal Lunch Salon events hosted by the Program in Interdisciplinary Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study, 1 Einstein Drive, Princeton, N.J., West Building Seminar Room, 2nd floor. The format is an informal chat, followed by longer open-ended discussions among the participants, on the topic of consciousness and cognition. This event is by invitation only. To request an invitation, please email us at info@yhousenyc.org

  • WeWork Park South (map)
  • 110 East 28th Street, 10th-Floor Lounge
  • New York, NY, 10016
  • United States

Consciousness Club #36: Literature and the Problem of Other Minds

Speaker: Erik Hoel (Tufts University)

Abstract: What is the purpose of fictional stories? Why are humans attracted to reading about or watching events that never happened? As the mediums we use to tell stories shifts (such as from novels to TV) what do we lose, and what do we gain? Some have offered explanations to these questions by hypothesizing that forms like literature build empathy, or, as David Foster Wallace put it, are a "cure for loneliness." But what if saying the purpose of fictions is entertainment, loneliness, or even empathy training, is selling fictional stories short? Drawing from contemporary evolutionary biology, the neuroscience of dreams, and philosophy of mind, I propose an answer to these questions that reveals how irreplaceable the novel is in our culture, and how much will be lost should it lose its grip as a medium.

Entrance is free. Eventbrite registration is required. Click here to register.