The Conscious Mind at 30 — Bochum, 18

01About

Looking back, looking forward.

In 1996, David Chalmers' The Conscious Mind. In Search of a Fundamental Theory (Oxford University Press) shook the philosophy of mind by presenting rigorous philosophical arguments and ingenious thought experiments against the physicalistic mainstream. Chalmers introduced the hard problem of consciousness and offered a range of non-reductive approaches to consciousness.

When Chalmers' book appeared, the prevailing assumption was that consciousness would yield to neuroscience as soon as the science caught up. Thirty years later the science has caught up considerably, with brain imaging, large-scale adversarial collaborations, and rapidly advancing AI all reshaping the empirical landscape and raising new questions about artificial consciousness.

Incidentally, the date of the conference also marks the 70th anniversary of the famous Dartmouth conference (18 June 1956) where the term artificial intelligence was coined.

Yet the hard problem Chalmers introduced — why physical processes give rise to subjective experience at all — remains unsolved, and, by some lights, unsolvable on materialist terms.

In this workshop we celebrate the massive influence of The Conscious Mind and look forward to the future of the science of consciousness.

02Schedule

Two days of dialogue.

08.30

Registration Pick up badge and Powerstrips for poster hanging · until 08.55
09.00

Welcome by Lucia Melloni & Tobias Schlicht
09.15

Lucia Melloni David J. ChalmersNew York University The Conscious Mind at 30. Looking back and looking forward
10.30
Coffee Break
10.45

Claudia Passos-Ferreira Martine Nida-RümelinUniversity of Fribourg Easy Problems are Rare
11.45

François Kammerer Keith FrankishUniversity of Sheffield The Mystery of Chalmers and Dennett: A Tale of Two Paradigms
12.45
Lunch Break
14.00

Rony Hirschhorn Lucia MelloniRuhr-Universität Bochum Testing Theories, Expanding Minds: A Roadmap for Consciousness Science
15.00

Lara Bräuchle Johannes KleinerUniversity of Bamberg The Hard Problem in Light of Mathematical Consciousness Science
16.00
Coffee Break
16.30

Krzysztof Dolega Axel CleeremansUniversité Libre de Bruxelles The Value of Consciousness
17.30

Poster Session Early-career researchers on the rooftop · Cash bar with alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks · Virtual Reality surprise event by Jan Schulten
20.00
Workshop Dinner · Restaurant Tapas, BochumBy reservation only · speakers, chairs and organizers

09.00

Maria Kasmirli Tobias SchlichtRuhr-Universität Bochum Organizational Invariance and Artificial Consciousness
10.00

Albert Newen Christian ListLMU Munich Consciousness and Objectivity
11.00
Coffee Break
11.30

Tobias Schlicht Hedda Hassel MørchInland Norway University An Argument based on Phenomenal Powers Against Reductive and Non-Reductive Functionalism
12.30
Lunch Break
13.30

Leonard Dung François KammererCNRS, Strasbourg Putting the Paradox of Phenomenal Judgment Back onto Its Feet
14.30

Niccolò Negro Liad MudrikTel Aviv University Using Prediction Maps to Guide Theory-Testing in the Search for the Neural Basis of Consciousness
15.30
Coffee Break
16.00

Liberty Severs Anil SethUniversity of Sussex Prospects and Pitfalls for Real Artificial Consciousness
17.00

Lucia Melloni Roundtable With David J. Chalmers
18.00
Farewell Drinks on Rooftop
20.00
Dinner in TownBy reservation only · speakers, chairs and organizers

04Posters

Early-career research.

Twenty posters will be presented Thursday evening on the Kunstmuseum rooftop. Click to reveal titles.

For poster presenters: Please bring your poster in DIN A0 portrait (maximum). Powerstrips for hanging can be collected at the registration desk on Thursday morning between 08.30 and 08.55.

For all participants: During the rooftop poster session there will be a cash bar with alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Please bring some cash.

Julian BraunwarthGöttingen, B.A.

The Fading and Dancing Qualia Argument: Does Consciousness Arise from Scale-Invariant Properties?

Kayla CarnationRuhr-Universität Bochum, B.A., M.Sc.

Bodily Affect and Phenomenal Overflow: Extending the A/P Debate

Bruno CortesiIUSS Pavia, Ph.D.

Zombie Worlds Are Inconceivable — But Physicalism Still Fails

Eduardo Estevão QuirinoUniversity of Vechta

Demonic Conceivability

Timothy FullerIndependent researcher, B.A.

Minimal Minds and Anthropocentric Bias: Rethinking the Starting Point of Consciousness Theory

Rony HirschhornTel Aviv University, Ph.D. candidate

Public Intuition and the Functionalist Claims of The Conscious Mind

Ting HuanGoethe-Universität Frankfurt, Ph.D. candidate

The Architecture of Blame: Phenomenal Valence, and the Limits of Computational Agency

Mathis Immertreu, Achim Schilling & Patrick KraussFAU Erlangen-Nuremberg

No Pressure, No Core: Environmental Difficulty and the Emergence of Damasio's Core Consciousness Precursors in RL Agents

Lukas KobCzech Academy of Sciences, Ph.D.

Reconsidering Neural Replacement Scenarios Clarifies the Commitments of Biological Naturalism

Johan LargoUniversity of Luxembourg, Ph.D. candidate

LLMs, Unconscious Thinking and Conscious Understanding

José LuisUniversity of St Andrews, Ph.D. candidate

The Given and the Self-Luminous: Sellars, Candrakīrti, and the Temptation of Phenomenal Immediacy

Jakub MihálikCzech Academy of Sciences, Ph.D.

Russellian Monism and the Possibility of Artificial Consciousness

Daniel MüllerUniversity of Osnabrück, Ph.D. candidate

Pangelonium Poetics — Illusionism Beyond the Phenomenal

Niccolò Negro & Albert NewenTel Aviv University · Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Artificial Consciousness: Theoretical Speculation or Justified Expectation?

Alfred Olsen

An Investigation of Premise 3 in Chalmers's Zombie Argument

Erik SchulzArizona State University, undergraduate

On the Success of Reverse Conceivability Arguments

Ayush SrivastavaIIT Bombay, Ph.D. candidate

Dreaming, Consciousness, and the Hard Problem: Revisiting Chalmers at 30

Yannik SteinebrunnerUniversität Basel, Ph.D. candidate

What Does It Mean to "Take Consciousness Seriously"?

Finn ThwaiteKing's College London, Ph.D. candidate

Consciousness, Reduction, and the Limits of Emergence

Victor Tremblay-BaillargeonUniversité de Montréal / NYU, Ph.D. candidate

The Everett Interpretation and Personal Identity

05Venue & travel

At the Kunstmuseum.

Location

Kunstmuseum Bochum
Kortumstraße 147
44787 Bochum, Germany

The Kunstmuseum sits in the center of Bochum, a short walk from the main train station.

From Bochum Hauptbahnhof

Tram U308: direction Schürbankstraße, alight at Planetarium-Bochum, then a 7-minute walk. About 12-15 minutes total.

On foot: about 1.3 km along Kortumstraße, roughly 15-18 minutes.

Taxi: 5-7 minutes, estimated €9-13.

QR code: scan to open the route from Bochum Hbf to Kunstmuseum Bochum in Google Maps

Scan for directions Opens the route from Bochum Hbf to Kunstmuseum Bochum in Google Maps.

Arrival by air & rail.

Bochum sits in the heart of the Ruhr region and is easy to reach by train from both Frankfurt and Düsseldorf airports. Book all train tickets through Deutsche Bahn.

From Frankfurt Airport (FRA)

Frankfurt Airport has its own long-distance railway station inside the airport: Frankfurt Flughafen Fernbahnhof. Take a direct ICE train to Bochum Hauptbahnhof.

About 2 hours, direct ICE.

DB search: Frankfurt Flughafen Fernbahnhof → Bochum Hbf

From Düsseldorf Airport (DUS)

Use the airport's own station, not Düsseldorf city centre:

Follow signs to the SkyTrain inside the airport.
Take the SkyTrain to Düsseldorf Flughafen Bahnhof.
Take a direct regional or long-distance train to Bochum Hbf.

About 30-45 minutes total.

Please do not travel via Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof. Trains run directly from Düsseldorf Flughafen Bahnhof to Bochum Hbf, which is faster and simpler.

The Conscious
Mind at 30

The poster.