Sam Harris
In this episode 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,” measures of “brain complexity,” psychedelics, different aspects of the “self,” conscious AI, and many other topics.
Anil K. Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex and Founding Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. In his work, he seeks to understand the biological basis of consciousness by bringing together research across neuroscience, mathematics, artificial intelligence, computer science, psychology, philosophy and psychiatry. Through the Sackler Centre the aim is to translate an understanding of the complex brain networks underpinning consciousness into new clinical approaches to psychiatric and neurological disorders.
Seth is also Editor-in-Chief of the academic journal Neuroscience of Consciousness (Oxford University Press). He has published more than 100 research papers in a variety of fields, and he holds degrees in Natural Sciences (MA, Cambridge, 1994), Knowledge-Based Systems (M.Sc., Sussex, 1996) and Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence (D.Phil., Sussex, 2000). He has been a Research Fellow at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego, California, where we worked with Nobel Laureate Gerald Edelman (2001-2006).
Twitter: @anilkseth
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the baseball is also conscious…. But the bat seems to have the upper hand. Baseball Glove: "Why is Daddy hurting Mommy???"
When I grow up, I want to be ANIL SETH.
I'm 33. Shouldn't be long now.
Dude sounds like Wilfred.
Check out Leo Gura
So many fatuous comments about the impossibility of science mastering and understanding consciousness- science can and will figure it out in time. You naysayers sound like the patent officer who rejected the wright brothers because “it is impossible to fly”
Help! Am I the only person who thinks there’s no « hard problem »? If we know the brain is just neurons, chemicals and synapses, and we have evolved to the point where we can follow our thoughts and feelings, why do we need anything more than that? I can see my brain guessing and setting up questions and solutions, just as primitive man did. Language makes it easier, but we’re still just figuring out how to survive. Thanks guys, for a great discussion.
Am i the only one who genuinely benefits from having these podcasts in .75 speed? I hope im not slow but this helps me stay with the conversation instead of slowly "not hearing" it, as my mind takes over
I.I.N information integration 😀
You guys are reducing consciousness to something mechanical. Just because we have language, does not mean we have the ability to define such phenomenon into a set of words. There is also a lot of conceptual ideas that does not mean anything to a common man listening to this conversation. Science cannot be used to explain consciousness. There is constant use of prediction as a way we perceive something to be true. In my view it is the knowing that allows us to perceive what we see.
Visual thought engineering coniousiness
How is this for a definition on consciousness : it is an experience that is capable of being committed to and recalled back from memory, capable of being re-processed in the brain with a new memory or enhanced memory committed back to storage.
Sam's podcasts are of great quality! I can't believe that cat videos on YouTube have more views than videos such as his. Humanity is a big joke!
Anil Seth is just brilliant! If you haven't seen his royal institution talk here you go and you're welcome! https://youtu.be/xRel1JKOEbI
What would be the difference between an android and a zombie?
Crushing chat 🤯
Trying to understand the nature of self-awareness or consciousness, is beyond our understanding and out of our reach, and always will be, no matter how much science struggles to unravel its mysteries, we will only ever have a biochemical insight into the nature of the self, but the essence will remain unknowable.
"Nothingness After Death" Debunked: https://youtu.be/BLqBUikfNxE :: Why consciousness (of some form) will continue, via another organism, after we die.
Unconsequential. I forgot this video almost immediately after watching it.
I'm always slightly amused by the fact that no one really seems to be able to pin down the "self", just extremely long explanations of cognitive processes that allow us to perceive our reality and give our sense of "self" the info it needs to know where and what it is.
So where is the "self" within the cognitive processes? Where am I amidst the neurones?
What part of me is it that experiences all of these biological processes? What part of me suffers through the hangover? Where and what exactly is that ultimate ingredient required for consciousness, the I in the biological entity?
No one seems to be able to answer that, just lots of info regarding how the sense of self perceives it's sense of self, but no self being self evident.
I'm confused now.
"This is the test, dummy"…..thankyou sooo much Mrs Harris, that just brought a huge smile to my face!
Harris thinks the solution to religious sectarianism is to cancel all religions. WHAT A JOKE. This guys an absolute con artist, pseudo-intellectual that tries to take "meditation" out of the very tradition that it comes from and pretend the rest is of no value. No one wants your atheistic trash you small man.
Consciousness, no such thing umbrella term we use like life-force because we don't understand the processes that govern self-aware biological machine – Hinton godfather of modern AI.