About this episode
Jan 12
340 | Rebecca Newberger Goldstein on What Matters and Why It Matters
At any given moment, an uncountable number of events are happening, but only some of them matter to us. What does it mean for something to matter, and more importantly, what does it mean for us to matter -- to ourselves as well as to others? The need to matter can be motivation t ... Show More
1h 18m
Jan 5
339 | Ned Block on Whether Consciousness Requires Biology
It's become increasingly clear that the Turing Test -- determining whether human interlocutors can tell whether a conversation is being carried out by a human or a machine -- is not a good way to think about consciousness. Modern LLMs can mimic human conversation with extraordina ... Show More
1h 11m
Dec 22
Holiday Message 2025 | The Romance of the University
Time for the holiday message! Rounding off the year with a brief and casual reflection on some issue that doesn't quite rise to the level of a full solo podcast. And hopefully something uplifting.This year, I offer a short apologia for higher education in the liberal arts and sci ... Show More
42m 50s
May 2023
The key to consciousness | Donald Hoffman, Hannah Critchlow, Sam Coleman
42m 18s
Mar 2025
#404 — What If Consciousness Is Fundamental?
2h 20m
Sep 2024
What is consciousness? PART 1 | Iain Mcgilchrist, Roger Penrose and Steve Fuller
<p><strong>Being conscious</strong></p><p><br></p><p>We think we have this thing, consciousness, whether we share it with the entire earth or with only our species, but yet its definition has evaded the efforts of leading philosophers and neuroscientists alike for decades. </p><p ... Show More
14m 9s
Nov 2024
Consciousness predates life | Stuart Hameroff
32m 25s
Jul 2024
#374 — Consciousness and the Physical World
<p>Sam Harris speaks with Christof Koch about the nature of consciousness. They discuss Christof's development as a neuroscientist, his collaboration with Francis Crick, change blindness and binocular rivalry, sleep and anesthesia, the limits of physicalism, non-locality, brains ... Show More
42m 7s
Jun 2024
Consciousness - a science or a philosophy? | Avshalom Elitzur
<p>Why has the concept of consciousness stumped scientists forever? Is there a way of overcoming this impasse?</p><p>Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes</p><p><br></p><p>Join physicist and philosopher Avshalom Elitzur as he fearless ... Show More
35m 4s
Feb 2025
523. Why We Dream, Learn, and Adapt Faster Than Any Other Species | Dr. David Eagleman
Dr. Jordan B. Peterson sits down with neuroscientist, bestselling author, and PBS presenter Dr. David Eagleman. They discuss brain plasticity, how perception works, whether free will exists (and if it’s superordinate), how willingness to engage with higher entropy indicates sophi ... Show More
1h 35m
Mar 2023
Breaking through the consciousness stalemate | Philip Goff
26m 7s
Jul 2024
E106 - Donald Hoffman: The Emerging Science, “We Are ONE Consciousness” - Life, Death & The Simulation
<p>Donald Hoffman is back on Know Thyself today to explore the constraints of time and space, and how they shape our understanding of the world around us. He discusses the "headset analogy" - the idea that our senses act as a kind of cognitive filter, preventing us from ... Show More
2h 20m
Jul 2020
Episode 82, 'The Nature of Consciousness' with Susan Blackmore (Part II - Further Analysis and Discussion)
<p class="">The smell of coffee, the taste of asparagus, the warmth of a hug, and the agony of death: conscious experience makes up the fabric of our world, yet many consider it to be the most intractable mystery in philosophy and science. <em>What is it like</em> to undergo expe ... Show More
41m 34s
The "Easy Problems" of consciousness have to do with how the brain takes in information, thinks about it, and turns it into action. The "Hard Problem," on the other hand, is the task of explaining our individual, subjective, first-person experiences of the world. What is it like to be me, rather than someone else? Everyone agrees that the Easy Problems are h ... Show More
<p>Is materialism a fundamental mistake?</p><p>Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: <a href="https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes</a></p><p>The relationship between the individual hu ... Show More
<p dir="ltr">Sam Harris speaks with his wife, Annaka Harris, about <a href="https://annakaharris.com/lights-on/" target="_blank" rel= "noopener"><em>LIGHTS ON</em></a>, her ten-part audio documentary exploring the perplexities of consciousness and the cosmos. They discuss the har ... Show More
<p><strong>Consciousness predates life</strong></p><p><br></p><p>Did consciousness exist before life? Could such a counter-intuitive idea, in fact, be the answer to the hard problem of consciousness?</p><p>Join anaesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff as he puts forward his theory that ... Show More
<p>Can we free ourselves from stale ideas about consciousness?</p><p>Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: <a href="https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes</a></p><p>Some argue that the ... Show More
