Alva Noë
Alva Noë is a contributor to the NPR blog 13.7: Cosmos and Culture. He is writer and a philosopher who works on the nature of mind and human experience.
Noë received his PhD from Harvard in 1995 and is a professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is also a member of the Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences and the Center for New Media. He previously was a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He has been philosopher-in-residence with The Forsythe Company and has recently begun a performative-lecture collaboration with Deborah Hay. Noë is a 2012 recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship.
He is the author of Action in Perception (MIT Press, 2004); Out of Our Heads (Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2009); and most recently, Varieties of Presence (Harvard University Press, 2012). He is now at work on a book about art and human nature.
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In his new book, Chasing the Scream, Johann Hari hasn't quite found the answer, says commentator Alva Noë. But he does succeed in reminding us that there's nothing inevitable about what's next. -
Many addicts opt for self-medication over encounter — they turn inward and shut out the world, says commentator Alva Noë, as he ponders a new book on addiction by Johann Hari. -
David J. Linden's new book on touch brings into focus all the things we still don't understand about the neural basis of this sense, says commentator Alva Noë. -
When machines, smarter than us, make machines smarter than them, futurists argue, the 'singularity' will have arrived. Commentator Alva Noë, a skeptic, wonders about imparting values — and control. -
Philosopher Alva Noë explores ideas in a new book that suggests consciousness and self is best looked at by combining insight from Western science, Indian philosophy and contemplative practices.
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The basic phenomenon of speaking, expressing meaning in words — and also that of copying or recording what we hear — is laid bare before our eyes by artist Alvin Lucier, says commentator Alva Noë. -
A new book by Scott Weems on humor and human nature raises fascinating questions about why we laugh. Commentator Alva Noë cracks up easily and asks for help collecting some more jokes. -
Doping in sports is back in the news. And once again we are reminded that our attitudes on the topic are complicated and not entirely transparent even to ourselves. Commentator Alva Noë wonders where we draw the line when it comes to altering our physical and chemical selves. -
While most baseball players come to the knuckleball after all else fails, one youngster has caught the media's attention by adopting the pitch early on. It's a unique story that could also bring historic change to the game. -
Faculty at San Jose State University are rebelling against pressure from their own administration to integrate MOOCs — massively open online courses — into their teaching. Across the country the issue is being debated on campuses and in state houses. Commentator Alva Noë's dips his toe into the conversation.
