David Chalmers
David Chalmers is a philosopher. He was born in 1966 and lives in Australia.
Since 2004 he has been a professor of philosophy at the Australian National University.
He has challenged other philosophers to solve the "hard problem of consciousness". This is the problem of explaining the relationship between physical and mental states. For example, the brain has a physical way of processing information and this makes an experience, a mental state.
David Chalmers Media
Chalmers on stage for an Alan Turing Year event at De La Salle University, Manila, 27 March 2012
The "fading qualia" (left) and the "dancing qualia" (right) are two thought experiments about consciousness and brain replacement. Chalmers argues that both are contradicted by the lack of reaction of the subject to changing perception, and are thus impossible in practice. He concludes that the equivalent silicon brain will have the same perceptions as the biological brain.
