FoundationalConceptsNeuroscience

based on a series of robot stories by Isaac Asimov); The Matrix (1999-2003
trilogy by The Wachowskis); A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001 movie initiated
by Stanley Kubrick, completed by Steven Spielberg, and based on the story
“Super-toys last all summer long” by Brian Aldiss). These stories and films
take machine intelligence to extremes of speculation.
“Any living cell carries with it”: Delbriick (1949).
On the origins of life on Earth: Deamer (2011) and Gilbert (1986).
The surprisingly high numbers of solar systems having Earth-like planets,
estimated to be 22 percent of Sun-like stars, meaning billions of such plan-
ets within our own galaxy: Petigura, Howard, and Marcy (2013).
For metaphysical frameworks in philosophy of mind, the online Stanford En-
cyclopedia of Philosophy (http://plato.stanford.edu/) is an excellent resource.
The “hard problem” of consciousness science: Chalmers (1995).
A lovely memoir on contemporary neuroscience and consciousness: Koch
(2012).
Self-awareness in dolphins: Reiss and Marino (2001); in elephants: Plotnik, de
Waal, and Reiss (2006).
“The faculty of bringing back a wandering attention”: James (1890, p. 424).
The Dalai Lama in conversation with scientists: for the first two formal
dialogues (1987 and 1989) between the Dalai Lama and small groups of
cognitive scientists and neuroscientists, see Hayward and Varela (1992)
and Houshmand, Livingston, and Wallace (1999). How the dialogues came
about is described in Houshmand, Livingston, and Wallace (1999, pp. 175-
180). The website of the Mind and Life Institute (http://www.mindandlife
.org/) contains a comprehensive list of all these dialogues, related publica-
tions, and, in some recent cases, conference video recordings.
On Buddhist ideas contributing to Western science: Dalai Lama (2005) and
Wallace (2007, 2012b).
William James’s interest in psi: James (1898/1900, 1986).
Investigations of psi, near-death experiences, and small children who provide
verifiable information suggesting having lived other lives: Stevenson
(1966/1974), Radin (2006), Kelly et al. (2007), Mayer (2007), Leary (2011),
and Kelly (2013).