Little Brains, Big Thoughts

Event Description:

Presentation of the book “Pensieri della mosca con la testa storta” (Thoughts of the fly with a crooked head) (Adelphi)
In conversation with the author
Giorgio Vallortigara – Professor of Neuroscience and Animal Cognition, University of Trento
Introduces
Pietro Pietrini – Director, IMT School
Moderate
Chiara Palmerini – Scientific journalist

Do you need a “complex” brain to have a conscience? With less than a million nerve cells, a bee can distinguish different human faces, a painting by Monet from one by Picasso, or to classify certain stimuli as the same or different from each other. As human beings we are no less. But our brains have nearly one hundred billion neurons. The real question is: what do we do with all those who advance to us?

Between chicks that know how to count, pigeons that recognize spelling and ants capable of learning, we will discuss with the author Giorgio Vallortigara about intelligence, big and small brains, and what distinguishes “us” from “them”.

The event will be live streamed on the IMT School’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.