The mind often feels like a given – it allows us to think, feel, decide, and create. Yet we rarely pause to ask: what actually is the mind, and where are its boundaries? On 14 May, the Vilnius University (VU) Discussion Club invites you to explore the mind from different perspectives: as a biological process, a subjective experience, a structure of thought, and increasingly, as something we attempt to recreate through technology. The event will be held in English.
Are we our minds, or are we separate from them? Is the mind merely the result of neural activity? How do physical processes give rise to consciousness, experience, and the sense of self? Or is the mind not confined to the brain at all, emerging instead through language, relationships, and culture? How do neural processes generate not only consciousness, but also meaning? How does language influence memory, identity, and the sense of self?
Today, as we build systems that can imitate aspects of thinking, the question becomes even more complex: can we understand the mind by trying to replicate it? Does artificial intelligence bring us closer to an answer, or does it reveal how much we still do not understand?
This discussion is an invitation to pause and reconsider something that feels familiar, yet remains deeply unresolved.
The discussion will feature Senior Researcher and Group Leader at the Center for Behavioral Sciences and Mental Health at the Italian National Institute of Health Prof. Igor Branchi, psychiatrist and researcher at the University of Freiburg Prof. Claus Normann, philosopher and writer at the Institute of Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy, Vilnius University Prof. Kristupas Sabolius, and researcher at the Institute of Computer Science, Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, Vilnius University Assoc. Prof. Linas Petkevičius. Ieva Šiugždaitė will moderate the event.
The Discussion Club will take place on 14 May, from 18:00 to 20:00, in the Statehood Room at the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania (Gedimino Ave. 51, Vilnius). Registration for the event can be found here. The event will be held in English.