By Irene Pinato
There’s a pervading idea that we all carry inside a vague little voice; it points out our silly actions, assembles undefined clusters of emotions, and drives even our most nonsensical conversations. It accompanies our days with a great deal of noise. Whether to comment on small accidents or meticulously calculated plans, it entertains us in a personal conversation with ourselves in an ongoing process of making sense of the world.
Some call it overthinking, being self-conscious or hyperconscious, and most keep oscillating between those terms with still little idea of what truly makes us conscious. How to define all that chattering in the mind? Where should we place it? We only see where the voice echoes but never where it originates. Ultimately, what does it take to be called “consciousness”?
Asking all these questions might result in even more doubt, but the attempt to make sense of it can open new directions to explore – so many that they might require an entire symposium. “Complex Consciousness: Exploring the Emergence of the Mind” was indeed the very first symposium ever hosted by the UvA student committee “BetaBreak.”
During the event, which attracted over 200 auditors, two students from the BetaBreak team, Jorge Gonzalez Larragoiti and Rowan Coosemans, moderated an interdisciplinary discussion in an attempt to untangle the implications of consciousness in a three-hour conversation. Held on 10 October 2024, the symposium has opened a new season of events in which researchers, professors and other academics are invited to join panel discussions on (mainly) scientific topics. Each month, this allows students and curious passersby to get an insight into what different academic fields are currently up to.
The idea first came to Gonzalez Larragoiti, the chair of the committee, while reading a paper by Stephen Wolfram on the role of the observer. Inspired by the examination of people’s way of processing the physical world, he was caught by the desire to give more voice to the inner world of the observer, his inquiry merging neuroscience and physics.
It’s not the first time that the committee’s attention has landed on neuroscience and its application to other realms: Gonzalez Larragoiti had already been involved in five editions of BetaBreak, where he was able to touch upon topics such as psychedelics, eating disorders and artificial intelligence. Yet, with consciousness, he wished to encompass as many perspectives “to see where these intersect and where they differ from each other,” which made the symposium the most appropriate format.
Gonzalez Larragoiti started working on it in January 2023 and, together with Coosemans, pursued the organisation for the following ten months, which they spent researching the topic, meeting with the speakers and coordinating the logistics of the event. The logistical component is what Gonzalez Larragoiti recalls as more challenging. “They [the speakers] are all extremely busy people, so it was hard to find an available time for everyone and to guarantee that even those coming from outside of Amsterdam could attend,” he reports. The initiative involved multiple institutions, based both in Amsterdam (UvA, VU, Dutch Institute of Emergent Phenomena) and abroad (Imperial College, Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, OIST Graduate University), with a total of eight expert participants. The five speakers brought on stage an equally broad range of fields, from neuroscience to philosophy, including computation, quantum physics and behavioural biology.
To keep the conversation running smoothly, jumping from one realm to another without any visual aids, three panellists facilitated the exchange giving enough room to all interventions, capturing all their perks and peculiarities with thoughtful remarks and questions. They could so offer a well-intertwined outcome, both integrating and contrasting their ideas.
The conversation touched upon the controversies of the (un)necessity, definition and meaning of consciousness, up to how it is intrinsically and eerily bound to people’s sense of being. Is consciousness a defining human experience? Space was left to wonder about the core of “being human,” its contraindication and whether there is a limit to what we can understand. Questions filled the Hall and the speakers welcomed them all, encouraging any appeal to curiosity.
Even after three hours, many members of the audience still hesitated to leave the room. The overall engagement and liveliness were remarked on by the organisers, who expressed their great satisfaction, as well as their desire to make sure the atmosphere carries over to the future editions of BetaBreak events. “It’s a great encouragement to start the year this way! We would love to host this kind of event more often, maybe aiming to have a symposium each year,” Gonzalez Larragoiti concludes, leaving an open invitation for all of those interested to stay informed about BetaBreak’s January edition.
On 20 January, the next edition will feature Dr. Shauna O’Donovan (TU Eindhoven) and prof. Dr. Meike Wortel (UvA) in a conversation on computational biology. The two will tackle how the informatics models of biological systems can be a pioneer transformation in the biotechnological and medical sector. Biodata, personalised treatments, animal testing will be covered, together with other perspectives and limitations that these technologies offer.
For all information about previous and future events, check out BetaBreak’s webpage. The committee is also active on instagram (@betabreak.uva) and most of its past editions are available for a rewatch on its Youtube channel.
Editor’s Note: This article is a guest contribution by Irene Pinato. She is a first-year student at AUC and a member of BetaBreak.
The Herring 