Is the brain just a computer made of flesh? What does neuroscience say about who I am?

Audio mp3 files of A/Prof. Alan Gijsbers’ lecture and the Q & A session following it, and pdf copy of his PowerPoint slides are available for downloading now. (N.B., to save mp3 files to your computer, use right-click and choose ‘Save link as…’)

Lecture only: Download AG-Lec only. mp3 [10.2 MB]

Q & A session: Download AG-Q&A. mp3 [4.1 MB]

PDF of Lecture slides (1 slide per page): Download AG-PPT-1 pp. pdf [ 2.1 MB]

PDF of Lecture slides (2 slides per page): Download AG-PPT-2 pp. pdf [ 1.4 MB]

Watch a similar lecture by A/Prof. Alan Gijsbers, given early this year as a GCRI-ISCAST Lecture at Tabor College, Adelaide here.

Abstract: The idea that a human is hardware made of flesh and the essence of the person, sometimes called the soul, is the software, is superficially attractive. But is this a fair analogy, or are the differences between humans and computers too great to accept that analogy? I will look at how neuroscience describes humans and how we understand those attributes that make us human – our emotions, our reasoning, our subjectivity, our sense of self and our relationships. How do we understand ourselves? Humans are storied animals and our stories shape our own personal understanding and the understanding of our community. We will look at the impact of the fundamental Christian story on who we are and what our hopes will be.

Biosketch: Alan is a specialist physician in Addiction Medicine, and an Honorary Clinical Associate Professor with the Department of Medicine Royal Melbourne Hospital, University of Melbourne. He is the first Head of the Addiction Medicine Service at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the first Medical Director of the Substance Withdrawal Unit at the Melbourne Clinic Richmond and is a Foundation Fellow in the chapter of Addiction Medicine of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

Alan is the National President of ISCAST, a group of Christians interested in the interaction between science and religion. He has lectured in Science and Faith at Ridley College and the Bible College of Victoria. He is a past chairman of the Christian Medical and Dental Fellowship of Australia, and the past National President of Health Serve Australia, an organization of health professionals who seek to provide health and development overseas in the name and spirit of Christ.

N.B. Please also note that resource material from A/Prof. Gijsbers’ ISCAST-CASE lecture can be obtained by going to the link: https://iscast.org/resourcepage,  clicking on Presentations and clicking on the appropriate lecture.

*CASE – http://case.edu.au/