Tuesday, May 21, 2013

The Amygdaloids, "Mind-Body Problem"


Kids were very different then. They didn't have their heads filled with all this Cartesian Dualism.
--Monty Python, Episode 14
I've posted before (also see here) about the Amygdaloids, a rock band made up of Joseph LeDoux (lead vocals and rhythm guitar) and Daniela Schiller (drums and vocals), both neuroscientists at New York University; Tyler Volk (lead guitar and vocals), a biology professor at NYU; and Amanda Thorpe (bass and vocals), a neuropsychologist and music therapist who has done graduate study at NYU. The video above (sorry for the bit of herky-jerkiness in the first few seconds) was made this past Saturday evening (May 18, 2013) at the Second Annual Heavy Mental Variety Show, held at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute and sponsored by The Helix Center.

When the band took a break, magician Mark Mitton put on a very entertaining show, and taught us all how to look and sound like we were catching falling objects in paper bags. "Mind-Body Problem" was the band's finale for the evening. Below is a video of a discussion about the mind-body problem (in the Cartesian sense) between the Amygdaloids' Joe LeDoux and NYU philosopher Ned Block. The video ends with a segue into the Amygdaloids doing "My Mind's Eye."