The Ohio State University Center for Cognitive and Brain Sciences

CogFest 2021

CogFest 2021

Film and Television Event

2021 CogFest Film and Television Event

Cognitive Science and The Good Place

Thursday April 8th at 7pm EDT

Guests joined us virtually to engage in a wide-ranging panel discussion on the cognitive science themes raised by the popular television series, The Good Place (NBC, 2016-2020). We brought together four experts in various cognitive science disciplines who are passionate about the series. They were excited to engage in questions from the audience. The event was free and open to everyone!

 

Expert Panel:

Pamela Hieronymi, Ph.D. (Professor of Philosophy, UCLA)

Pamela Hieronymi

Dr. Hieronymi’s research focuses on ethics, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of action. She served as a Philosophy Consultant for The Good Place, working with creator/producer Michael Schur, as he was writing the original scripts for the show. She is currently writing a book, Minds that Matter, addressing the problem of free will and moral responsibility.

 

Richard Samuels, Ph.D. (Professor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University)

Richard Samuels

Dr. Samuels works at the intersection between philosophy and related disciplines of cognitive science, with interests including cognitive development, reasoning, and numerical cognition. He co-edited The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Cognitive Science and is currently co-authoring Number Concepts: The Nature and Content of Numerical Thought.

 

Damien Williams, M.S. (Doctoral Candidate in Science, Technology & Society, Virginia Tech)

Damien Williams

Mr. Williams’ research interests span philosophy of mind, artificial intelligence, disability studies, and the representations of nonhuman consciousness in pop culture. He is especially interested in The Good Place’s character Janet. He recently published an article titled, Consciousness and Conscious Machines: What’s at Stake?

 

Robin Zebrowski, Ph.D. (Associate Professor of Cognitive Science, Beloit College)

Robin Zebrowski

Dr. Zebrowski studies human embodiment and how it relates artificial intelligence, robotics, and cyborg theory. She has published multiple scholarly papers on The Good Place, including a piece titled, From Clickwheel Through Busty Alexa: The Embodied Case for Janet and Artificial Consciousness. She also teaches a popular course, The Good Place and Philosophy.

Co-sponsored by CCBS, The Wexner Center for the Arts, and the Cognitive Science Club.