Is the Brain a Predictive Machine?

Is the world you are experiencing a mere forecast created by your brain? Research in neuroscience has suggested that you don’t see the colour of the sky but you anticipate its blueness and use your sense of vision to adjust this prediction. This radical idea explains how your brain can be one step ahead of reality, but also susceptible to placebos and illusions. In this event, psychiatrist Paul Fletcher, neuroscientist Karl Friston, expert in artificial intelligence Demis Hassabis and philosopher Richard Holton will discuss the implications of this idea. 

Paul Fletcher is Bernard Wolfe Professor of Health Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge.

Karl Friston is Professor of Neuroscience at University College London.

Demis Hassabis is Vice President of Engineering at Google DeepMind.

Richard Holton is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge.

Suggested hashtag for this event for Twitter users: #LSEbrain