Thirty years after David Chalmers' landmark book, philosophers and scientists gather at Kunstmuseum Bochum to ask what we have learned, and what remains hard.
Featuring David J. Chalmers in 1996 — and again today. The conference takes place at Kunstmuseum Bochum on 18 and 19 June 2026, in dialogue with the philosophers and cognitive scientists who have shaped the field over the last thirty years.
Call for posters open until 1 April 2026. Submit abstracts (≤700 words) to franziska.klasen@rub.de.
Download posterIn 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.
In this workshop we celebrate the massive influence of The Conscious Mind and look forward to the future of the science of consciousness.
Twenty posters will be presented Thursday evening on the Kunstmuseum rooftop. Click to reveal titles.
The Kunstmuseum sits in the center of Bochum, a short walk from the main train station.
From Bochum Main Train Station, take subway U308 in the direction of Schürbankstraße and get off at Planetarium-Bochum. From there it is a 7-minute walk to the museum.
Participation is free of charge. To secure a seat, please register by email to Franziska Klasen.
Registration deadline: 1 June 2026
Register by email