Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris & Ayaan Hirsi Ali

In 2007, when The Four Horsemen was filmed, Ayaan Hirsi Ali was originally supposed to take part in the discussion but had to cancel at the last moment due to a personal emergency. Now in 2012, the discussion continues without the late Christopher Hitchens but includes Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Richard Dawkins & Daniel Dennett. Oxford, 9 May 2012

A discussion between evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins and neuroscientist/philosopher, Daniel Dennett on the similarities between biological evolution and the evolution of culturally contagious ideas, or "memes", such as religion.

Daniel Dennett- Consciousness Explained

I've been reading Daniel Dennett's groundbreaking book from 1992 called Consciousness Explained. It has been a fairly dense read for someone like myself with an art background, but Dennett does go to great pains to make it very accessible for non-scientists. I was happy so see this short You Tube clip on a few of the subjects addressed in the book.

Dennett describes the fragmentary nature or consciousness -- the modularity of our brains manifests as attention to aspects of input and process. Other videos of Dennett discussing consciousness: ...