COGST 2621 Minds and Machines
Course description
Throughout history, metaphors drawn from technology of the time have been proposed to understand how the mind works. While Locke likened the newborn’s mind to a blank slate, Freud compared the mind to hydraulic and electro-magnetic systems. More recently, many have endorsed Turing’s proposal that the mind is a computer. Why is this idea attractive and what exactly is a computer? Is it at all plausible that the cells of your brain are computing? Could a computer ever really have a mind, beliefs, emotions and conscious experiences? What are these mysterious things anyway? Could a machine ever count as a person and make choices based on its own free will? Is it really so clear that we have this kind of free will?
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Previously offered classes
Summer 2025: Online course
| Section ID: | COGST 2621 001-LEC |
| Number: | 1484 |
| Session: | Summer 6-week |
| Class dates: | June 23-August 1, 2025 |
| Mode of instruction: | Online (sync) |
| Days / times: | M-F 2:30 PM - 3:45 PM |
| Final exam/project due: | Tuesday August 05, 6 PM - 8:30 PM (see Final exams) |
| Credit: | 3 |
| Grade: | Student option |
| Instructor: | Dietl, E. (eag264) |
| Max. enroll: | 20 |
| Related: | Cross-listed with PHIL 2621 001-LEC |
| To enroll: | See Register and Dates & Deadlines for enrollment information. See Online Learning FAQs. This course is open to all registrants, including undergraduates and precollege students. |