It's pretty obvious to each of us that we are conscious, as we go about our days and feel the experience of just ‘being ourselves'. But how do we know that someone else is conscious?
It’s something we lose during dreamless sleep, under anaesthesia or in a coma. But what exactly is consciousness? On the one hand, it’s pretty obvious - it’s what we all feel ... Show More
Aug 15
How long does light last?
When listener Rob from Devon, UK, heard of a newly detected planet light years away, he was struck by the sheer scale the light must travel to reach us here on Earth. It got him wondering: How long does light last? What’s the oldest light we’ve ever observed? And does light ever ... Show More
26m 29s
Aug 8
Can we stop the rain?
CrowdScience listener Rit, from Pune in India, is staring out of his window at the falling rain. It’s been pouring for four days now, and shows no sign of stopping. The laundry is piling up, all his shoes are wet, and he’s worried about the effect it’s having on the environment, ... Show More
32m 21s
Apr 2023
#113 — Consciousness and the Self
Sam Harris speaks with Anil Seth about the scientific study of consciousness, where consciousness emerges in nature, levels of consciousness, perception as a “controlled hallucination,” emotion, the experience of “pure consciousness,” consciousness as “integrated information,” me ... Show More
1h 44m
Aug 2023
Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist
What links conscious experience of pain, joy, color, and smell to bioelectrical activity in the brain? How can anything physical give rise to nonphysical, subjective, conscious states? Christof Koch has devoted much of his career to bridging the seemingly unbridgeable gap between ... Show More
17m 12s
Jun 2015
Anil Seth on consciousness
Anil Seth is professor of cognitive and computational neuroscience at the Sackler Centre at the University of Sussex, where he studies consciousness.His research has taken him in all kinds of directions, from reading philosophy, to computing and virtual reality, and mapping the b ... Show More
37m 42s