Mahault Albarracin is a PhD student in cognitive computing at the University of Quebec in Montreal. We discuss consciousness, cognition, and machine learning. Watch behind the scenes, get early access and join the private Discord by supporting us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/mlst (public discord) https://discord.gg/aNPkGUQtc5 https://twitter.com/MLStreetTalk Throughout the conversation, we touch upon various philosophical and computational concepts such as panpsychism, computationalism, and materiality. We consider the "hard problem" of consciousness, which is the question of how and why we have subjective experiences. Albarracin shares her views on the controversial Integrated Information Theory and the open letter of opposition it received from the scientific community. She reflects on the nature of scientific critique and rivalry, advising caution in declaring entire fields of study as pseudoscientific. A substantial part of the discussion is dedicated to the topic of science itself, where Albarracin talks about thresholds between legitimate science and pseudoscience, the role of evidence, and the importance of validating scientific methods and claims. We touch upon language models, discussing whether they can be considered as having a "theory of mind" and the implications of assigning such properties to AI systems. Albarracin challenges the idea that there is a pure form of intelligence independent of material constraints and emphasizes the role of sociality in the development of our cognitive abilities. Albarracin offers her thoughts on scientific endeavors, the predictability of systems, the nature of intelligence, and the processes of learning and adaptation. She gives insights into the concept of using degeneracy as a way to increase resilience within systems and the role of maintaining a degree of redundancy or extra capacity as a buffer against unforeseen events. The conversation concludes with her discussing the potential benefits of collective intelligence, likening the adaptability and resilience of interconnected agent systems to those found in natural ecosystems. Pod version: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/machinelearningstreettalk/episodes/Mahault-Albarracin---Cognitive-Science-e2ee5m0 https://www.linkedin.com/in/mahault-albarracin-1742bb153/?originalSubdomain=ca 00:00:00- Intro / IIT scandal 00:05:54 - Gaydar paper / What makes good science 00:10:51 - Language 00:18:16 - Intelligence 00:29:06 - X-risk 00:40:49 - Self modelling 00:43:56 - Anthropomorphisation 00:46:41 - Mediation and subjectivity 00:51:03 - Understanding 00:56:33 - Resiliency Technical topics: 1. Integrated Information Theory (IIT) - Giulio Tononi 2. The "hard problem" of consciousness - David Chalmers 3. Panpsychism and Computationalism in philosophy of mind 4. Active Inference Framework - Karl Friston 5. Theory of Mind and its computation in AI systems 6. Noam Chomsky's views on language models and linguistics 7. Daniel Dennett's Intentional Stance theory 8. Collective intelligence and system resilience 9. Redundancy and degeneracy in complex systems 10. Michael Levin's research on bioelectricity and pattern formation 11. The role of phenomenology in cognitive science