Podcasts about sackler centre

Anil Seth is a prominent British neuroscientist and professor of cognitive and computational neuroscience at the University of Sussex. He is best known for his work on consciousness and perception, particularly his research into how our brains construct our experience of reality. Seth has developed influential theories about the nature of consciousness, including the idea that our perceptions are essentially controlled hallucinations shaped by our prior beliefs and expectations. He is also the co-director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science and has authored several books, including "Being You: A New Science of Consciousness" (2021). Seth is a frequent public speaker and has given popular TED talks on consciousness, making complex neuroscientific concepts accessible to a wider audience.

To access our conference library of 200+ fascinating psychology talks and interviews (with certification), please visit: https://twumembers.com Prof. Donald Hoffman is Professor Emeritus of Cognitive Sciences at the University of California, and the author of over 100 scientific papers and three books, including Visual Intelligence, and The Case Against Reality. Prof. Anil Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he is also Director of the Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science. His new book: Being You has won several awards and was a Sunday Times Bestseller. This conversation explores parallels in their theories of consciousness but also the areas where their thinking diverges. The topics covered include: — How the reality we experience every day is an illusion — Whether or not artificial intelligence will ever become conscious — Mathematical proof that the space-time paradigm is doomed and the early research investigating what might be underneath. — The practical implications of Donald's and Anil's theories - both for society and for every day life. And more. You can learn more about Anil's work at https://anilseth.com/ and follow Donald on X at @donalddhoffman. Anil's book: https://bit.ly/3Sw0Ogp Donald's book: https://bit.ly/3SCwTTA --- Prof. Donald Hoffman, PhD received his PhD from MIT, and joined the faculty of the University of California, Irvine in 1983, where he is a Professor Emeritus of Cognitive Sciences. He is an author of over 100 scientific papers and three books, including Visual Intelligence, and The Case Against Reality. He received a Distinguished Scientific Award from the American Psychological Association for early career research, the Rustum Roy Award of the Chopra Foundation, and the Troland Research Award of the US National Academy of Sciences. His writing has appeared in Edge, New Scientist, LA Review of Books, and Scientific American and his work has been featured in Wired, Quanta, The Atlantic, and Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman. You can watch his TED Talk titled “Do we see reality as it is?” and you can follow him on Twitter @donalddhoffman. Anil Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, and the Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. He is a Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellow, and a Senior Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. Professor Seth is Editor-in-Chief of Neuroscience of Consciousness, sits on the steering group and advisory board of the Human Mind Project, and was President of the British Science Association Psychology Section in 2017. He is the author of 'Being You" (https://amzn.to/3E4PI8K), the co-author of the ‘30 Second Brain', and contributes regularly to a variety of media including New Scientist, The Guardian, and the BBC. His 2017 TED talk has been viewed more than 9 million times. Professor Seth's research bridges neuroscience, mathematics, artificial intelligence, computer science, psychology, philosophy and psychiatry. He has also worked extensively with playwrights, dancers and other artists to shape a truly humanistic view of consciousness and self. You can keep up to date with his work at http://www.anilseth.com. --- Interview Links: — Prof Hoffman's profile: http://www.cogsci.uci.edu/~ddhoff — Prof Hoffman's book: https://bit.ly/3SCwTTA — Prof Seth's website: http://www.anilseth.com/ — Prof Seth's book: https://bit.ly/3Sw0Ogp

How can collective artistic experiences help us to understand how our minds work?  This short audio Spark introduces the Dream Machine – one of ten UK-wide projects from Unboxed.  Anil Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex and co-director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science; he also wears other hats including Editor-in-Chief for a leading neuroscience journal and he's a best-selling author. In this neurologically soothing Spark, you can enjoy some of the atmospherics of a twenty first century Dream Machine - and the words of Professor Seth - as he explains how new frontiers in neuroscience are being crossed in this collaborative space between Arts and Sciences.  With atmospheric music by Jon Hopkins.  Disclaimer: This Spark has been created using material recorded online during the pandemic - so the sound quality varies in places, but this shouldn't prevent you from enjoying the material.  Presentation by: Anil Seth – Neuroscientist Music by Jon Hopkins: Jon Hopkins Dream Machine: About - Dreamachine  Produced by: Unboxed - a UK-wide festival of creativity that brought together Arts, Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEAM). Brought to you by: The RSA - the royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce. Where world-leading ideas become world-changing actions. Subscribe for new episodes weekly and visit our website to find out more about our Design for Life mission and our global changemaker community - the RSA Fellowship: theRSA.org 

To access full episodes and our conference library of 200+ fascinating psychology talks and interviews (with certification), please visit: https://twumembers.com. Embark on a profound exploration of consciousness with Mark Solms, Anil Seth, Iain McGilchrist, and Donald Hoffman in this captivating compilation. Delve into the perplexing question of how conscious experience emerges from the intricate dance of neurons and synapses, challenging conventional notions. Join these esteemed minds as they unveil the brain's role as a predictive engine, crafting our perceptions instead of passively processing external inputs. Traverse discussions on perception, time, emotions, and the intricate interplay between matter and consciousness. Discover the universe of creativity and resistance shaping our reality. Engage in conversations about the deep connections between life, intelligence, and consciousness, gaining insights into our existence as both individuals and integral parts of the broader cosmos. --- Bios Iain McGilchrist Dr Iain McGilchrist is a Psychiatrist and Writer, who lives on the Isle of Skye, off the coast of North West Scotland. He is committed to the idea that the mind and brain can be understood only by seeing them in the broadest possible context, that of the whole of our physical and spiritual existence, and of the wider human culture in which they arise – the culture which helps to mould, and in turn is moulded by, our minds and brains. He was formerly a Consultant Psychiatrist of the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley NHS Trust in London, where he was Clinical Director of their southern sector Acute Mental Health Services. You can keep up to date with his work at https://channelmcgilchrist.com. Anil Seth Anil Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, and the Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. He is a Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellow, and a Senior Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. Professor Seth is Editor-in-Chief of Neuroscience of Consciousness, sits on the steering group and advisory board of the Human Mind Project, and was President of the British Science Association Psychology Section in 2017. You can keep up to date with his work at www.anilseth.com. Donald Hoffman Prof. Donald Hoffman, PhD received his PhD from MIT, and joined the faculty of the University of California, Irvine in 1983, where he is a Professor Emeritus of Cognitive Sciences. He is an author of over 100 scientific papers and three books, including Visual Intelligence, and The Case Against Reality. He received a Distinguished Scientific Award from the American Psychological Association for early career research, the Rustum Roy Award of the Chopra Foundation, and the Troland Research Award of the US National Academy of Sciences. You can watch his TED Talk titled “Do we see reality as it is?” and you can follow him on Twitter @donalddhoffman. Mark Solms Professor Mark Solms is best known for his discovery of the forebrain mechanisms of dreaming, and for his pioneering integration of psychoanalytic theories and methods with those of modern neuroscience. He holds the Chair of Neuropsychology at the University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital (Departments of Psychology and Neurology). His other positions have included: Honorary Lecturer in Neurosurgery at St. Bartholomew's & Royal London School of Medicine, Director of the International Neuro-Psychoanalysis Centre, London, and Director of the Arnold Pfeffer Center for Neuro-Psychoanalysis at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute. Professor Solms' books include: Clinical Studies in Neuro-Psychoanalysis (winner of the NAAP's Gradiva Award Best Book, Science Category in 2001), The Brain and The Inner World (2002), and most recently: Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness (2021).

Anil Seth is a professor of cognitive and computational neuroscientist at the University of Sussex, co-director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, and an author. What is the Self? What does it mean that we are the same person we were 10 years ago? Why do we have a subjective experience of reality at all? Is consciousness created or perceived? These are fundamental questions that philosophers and neuroscientists have been trying to answer for centuries. So can a new science of consciousness give us the answers? Expect to learn why answering the problem of consciousness is such a difficult challenge, why you wake up as the same person everyday, whether we know for a fact that animals are conscious, why perception often is divorced from objective reality, just how reliable our memories are, how to trust your brain even when it's incredibly fallible and much more... Sponsors: Get 5 Free Travel Packs, Free Liquid Vitamin D and more from AG1 at https://drinkag1.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Get a Free Sample Pack of all LMNT Flavours with your first box at https://www.drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom (automatically applied at checkout) Get £150 discount on Eight Sleep products at https://eightsleep.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Extra Stuff: Check out The Perception Census - https://perceptioncensus.dreamachine.world/ Read Being You - https://amzn.to/3ppLiIj Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom - Get in touch. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/modernwisdompodcast Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does consciousness mean to you? It's something that's fundamental to who we are as humans. And yet it's a concept that many of us would struggle to define – scientists and philosophers included. But today's guest is someone who has spent many years and countless hours studying it, and is keen to share what he has learned. Anil Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Science at the University of Sussex and Co-director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. He is a globally respected neuroscientist and author of the Sunday Times bestseller Being You: A New Science Of Consciousness. And he is someone who excels at making complex ideas simple as evidenced by the fact that his TED talk has been viewed over 12 million times to date. After 20 years researching the brain, Anil's ideas on perception, reality, and what it means to be you, will have you reconsidering everything you've taken for granted about your experience of the world. And if that sounds scary, it really isn't. You don't need any prior knowledge of neuroscience, philosophy, or spirituality to enjoy this episode – but it will leave you feeling enlightened in all three areas. During this conversation we consider death, ritual and the cultural idea of reincarnation. We talk about Near Death Experiences and what we can potentially learn from them and we dive into what consciousness and the self really mean. Anil also sets out his theory that our brains don't read the world, they write them – all of life is a controlled hallucination. The way we encounter reality, he asserts, is a construction. Our thoughts and perceptions are merely interpretations of external and biological cues. We're all hallucinating, all the time. It's just that when we agree on those hallucinations, we call it reality. Anil's work is fascinating and I'm convinced it could pave the way for a humanity that's more connected, considerate, and humble. This is a conversation that I think will have you reflecting and thinking deeply about the world and your place within it. I hope you enjoy listening.Support the podcast and enjoy Ad-Free episodes. Try FREE for 7 days on Apple Podcasts https://apple.co/feelbetterlivemore. For other podcast platforms go to https://fblm.supercast.com.Thanks to our sponsors:https://www.vivobarefoot.com/livemorehttps://www.athleticgreens.com/livemoreShow notes https://drchatterjee.com/366DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your doctor or qualified healthcare provider. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on the podcast or on my website. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anil Seth is a neuroscientist, author, and public speaker who has pioneered research into the brain basis of consciousness for more than twenty years. He is the author of Being You: A New Science of Consciousness, as well as the best-selling 30 Second Brain, and other books. He is a Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he is Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, and is Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Program on Brain, Mind, and Consciousness, and of the Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme: From Sensation and Perception to Awareness. He has a TED talk on consciousness and appeared in several films, including The Most Unknown and The Search. He has written for Aeon, The Guardian, Granta, New Scientist, and Scientific American. He was the 2017 President of the British Science Association (Psychology Section) and winner of the 2019 KidSpirit Perspectives award. He has published more than 180 academic papers and is listed in 2019 and 2020 Web of Science ‘highly cited researcher' index, which recognizes the world's most influential researchers over the past decade."This is a point in philosophy that the world as it is can never be directly apprehended by our minds. We are shielded from it by what's called a sensory veil. There are, for instance, no such thing as colors that are out there. As the artist Cezanne said, 'The colors are where the brain and the universe meet.' And color is, I think, a really good example because it is, in a sense, less than what's there because our eyes are only sensitive to three wavelengths of this huge electromagnetic spectrum, which goes all the way from x-rays and gamma rays to radio waves. And we live in a tiny, thin slice of that reality. But then out of those three wavelengths we experience our brains generate many more than three colors and almost an infinite palette of colors. So there's no sense in which our perception could ever reveal the world as it really is, that it reveals the world in a way that's very useful for us as organisms hell-bent on continuing to live and to survive."www.anilseth.com www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/566315/being-you-by-anil-seth https://perceptioncensus.dreamachine.world/ https://dreamachine.world/ @anilksethwww.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

"This is a point in philosophy that the world as it is can never be directly apprehended by our minds. We are shielded from it by what's called a sensory veil. There are, for instance, no such thing as colors that are out there. As the artist Cezanne said, 'The colors are where the brain and the universe meet.' And color is, I think, a really good example because it is, in a sense, less than what's there because our eyes are only sensitive to three wavelengths of this huge electromagnetic spectrum, which goes all the way from x-rays and gamma rays to radio waves. And we live in a tiny, thin slice of that reality. But then out of those three wavelengths we experience our brains generate many more than three colors and almost an infinite palette of colors. So there's no sense in which our perception could ever reveal the world as it really is, that it reveals the world in a way that's very useful for us as organisms hell-bent on continuing to live and to survive."Anil Seth is a neuroscientist, author, and public speaker who has pioneered research into the brain basis of consciousness for more than twenty years. He is the author of Being You: A New Science of Consciousness, as well as the best-selling 30 Second Brain, and other books. He is a Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he is Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, and is Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Program on Brain, Mind, and Consciousness, and of the Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme: From Sensation and Perception to Awareness. He has a TED talk on consciousness and appeared in several films, including The Most Unknown and The Search. He has written for Aeon, The Guardian, Granta, New Scientist, and Scientific American. He was the 2017 President of the British Science Association (Psychology Section) and winner of the 2019 KidSpirit Perspectives award. He has published more than 180 academic papers and is listed in 2019 and 2020 Web of Science ‘highly cited researcher' index, which recognizes the world's most influential researchers over the past decade.www.anilseth.com www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/566315/being-you-by-anil-seth https://perceptioncensus.dreamachine.world/ https://dreamachine.world/ @anilksethwww.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

Anil Seth is a neuroscientist, author, and public speaker who has pioneered research into the brain basis of consciousness for more than twenty years. He is the author of Being You: A New Science of Consciousness, as well as the best-selling 30 Second Brain, and other books. He is a Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he is Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, and is Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Program on Brain, Mind, and Consciousness, and of the Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme: From Sensation and Perception to Awareness. He has a TED talk on consciousness and appeared in several films, including The Most Unknown and The Search. He has written for Aeon, The Guardian, Granta, New Scientist, and Scientific American. He was the 2017 President of the British Science Association (Psychology Section) and winner of the 2019 KidSpirit Perspectives award. He has published more than 180 academic papers and is listed in 2019 and 2020 Web of Science ‘highly cited researcher' index, which recognizes the world's most influential researchers over the past decade."This is a point in philosophy that the world as it is can never be directly apprehended by our minds. We are shielded from it by what's called a sensory veil. There are, for instance, no such thing as colors that are out there. As the artist Cezanne said, 'The colors are where the brain and the universe meet.' And color is, I think, a really good example because it is, in a sense, less than what's there because our eyes are only sensitive to three wavelengths of this huge electromagnetic spectrum, which goes all the way from x-rays and gamma rays to radio waves. And we live in a tiny, thin slice of that reality. But then out of those three wavelengths we experience our brains generate many more than three colors and almost an infinite palette of colors. So there's no sense in which our perception could ever reveal the world as it really is, that it reveals the world in a way that's very useful for us as organisms hell-bent on continuing to live and to survive."www.anilseth.com www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/566315/being-you-by-anil-seth https://perceptioncensus.dreamachine.world/ https://dreamachine.world/ @anilksethwww.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

"This is a point in philosophy that the world as it is can never be directly apprehended by our minds. We are shielded from it by what's called a sensory veil. There are, for instance, no such thing as colors that are out there. As the artist Cezanne said, 'The colors are where the brain and the universe meet.' And color is, I think, a really good example because it is, in a sense, less than what's there because our eyes are only sensitive to three wavelengths of this huge electromagnetic spectrum, which goes all the way from x-rays and gamma rays to radio waves. And we live in a tiny, thin slice of that reality. But then out of those three wavelengths we experience our brains generate many more than three colors and almost an infinite palette of colors. So there's no sense in which our perception could ever reveal the world as it really is, that it reveals the world in a way that's very useful for us as organisms hell-bent on continuing to live and to survive."Anil Seth is a neuroscientist, author, and public speaker who has pioneered research into the brain basis of consciousness for more than twenty years. He is the author of Being You: A New Science of Consciousness, as well as the best-selling 30 Second Brain, and other books. He is a Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he is Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, and is Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Program on Brain, Mind, and Consciousness, and of the Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme: From Sensation and Perception to Awareness. He has a TED talk on consciousness and appeared in several films, including The Most Unknown and The Search. He has written for Aeon, The Guardian, Granta, New Scientist, and Scientific American. He was the 2017 President of the British Science Association (Psychology Section) and winner of the 2019 KidSpirit Perspectives award. He has published more than 180 academic papers and is listed in 2019 and 2020 Web of Science ‘highly cited researcher' index, which recognizes the world's most influential researchers over the past decade.www.anilseth.com www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/566315/being-you-by-anil-seth https://perceptioncensus.dreamachine.world/ https://dreamachine.world/ @anilksethwww.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

Anil Seth is a neuroscientist, author, and public speaker who has pioneered research into the brain basis of consciousness for more than twenty years. He is the author of Being You: A New Science of Consciousness, as well as the best-selling 30 Second Brain, and other books. He is a Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he is Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, and is Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Program on Brain, Mind, and Consciousness, and of the Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme: From Sensation and Perception to Awareness. He has a TED talk on consciousness and appeared in several films, including The Most Unknown and The Search. He has written for Aeon, The Guardian, Granta, New Scientist, and Scientific American. He was the 2017 President of the British Science Association (Psychology Section) and winner of the 2019 KidSpirit Perspectives award. He has published more than 180 academic papers and is listed in 2019 and 2020 Web of Science ‘highly cited researcher' index, which recognizes the world's most influential researchers over the past decade."Whenever we are conscious, we are conscious of something, or of many things. These are the contents of consciousness. To understand how they come about, and what I mean by controlled hallucination, let's change our perspective. Imagine for a moment, that you are the brain.Really try to think about what it's like up there, sealed inside the bony vault of a skull, trying to figure out what's out there in the world. There's no light, no sound, no anything - it's completely dark and utterly silent. When trying to form perceptions, all the brain has to go on is a constant barrage of electrical signals, which are only indirectly related to things out there in the world, whatever they may be. These sensory inputs don't come with labels attached... How does the brain transform these inherently ambiguous sensory signals into a coherent perceptual world full of objects and people, and places?"– ANIL SETHBeing You: A New Science of Consciousnesswww.anilseth.com www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/566315/being-you-by-anil-seth https://perceptioncensus.dreamachine.world/ https://dreamachine.world/ @anilksethwww.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

"Whenever we are conscious, we are conscious of something, or of many things. These are the contents of consciousness. To understand how they come about, and what I mean by controlled hallucination, let's change our perspective. Imagine for a moment, that you are the brain.Really try to think about what it's like up there, sealed inside the bony vault of a skull, trying to figure out what's out there in the world. There's no light, no sound, no anything - it's completely dark and utterly silent. When trying to form perceptions, all the brain has to go on is a constant barrage of electrical signals, which are only indirectly related to things out there in the world, whatever they may be. These sensory inputs don't come with labels attached... How does the brain transform these inherently ambiguous sensory signals into a coherent perceptual world full of objects and people, and places?"– ANIL SETHBeing You: A New Science of ConsciousnessAnil Seth is a neuroscientist, author, and public speaker who has pioneered research into the brain basis of consciousness for more than twenty years. He is the author of Being You: A New Science of Consciousness, as well as the best-selling 30 Second Brain, and other books. He is a Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he is Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, and is Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Program on Brain, Mind, and Consciousness, and of the Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme: From Sensation and Perception to Awareness. He has a TED talk on consciousness and appeared in several films, including The Most Unknown and The Search. He has written for Aeon, The Guardian, Granta, New Scientist, and Scientific American. He was the 2017 President of the British Science Association (Psychology Section) and winner of the 2019 KidSpirit Perspectives award. He has published more than 180 academic papers and is listed in 2019 and 2020 Web of Science ‘highly cited researcher' index, which recognizes the world's most influential researchers over the past decade.www.anilseth.com www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/566315/being-you-by-anil-seth https://perceptioncensus.dreamachine.world/ https://dreamachine.world/ @anilksethwww.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

"ChatGPT can play on our anthropomorphic tendencies and convince us that there's a mind there, even though what it's going on is just statistics under the hood. And that's dangerous if we live in a world where we feel like we're interacting with other conscious minds, even though we know we are not. And we nonetheless feel it's conscious because of the way our mind works, not because of the way its system works."Anil Seth is a neuroscientist, author, and public speaker who has pioneered research into the brain basis of consciousness for more than twenty years. He is the author of Being You: A New Science of Consciousness, as well as the best-selling 30 Second Brain, and other books. He is a Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he is Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, and is Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Program on Brain, Mind, and Consciousness, and of the Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme: From Sensation and Perception to Awareness. He has a TED talk on consciousness and appeared in several films, including The Most Unknown and The Search. He has written for Aeon, The Guardian, Granta, New Scientist, and Scientific American. He was the 2017 President of the British Science Association (Psychology Section) and winner of the 2019 KidSpirit Perspectives award. He has published more than 180 academic papers and is listed in 2019 and 2020 Web of Science ‘highly cited researcher' index, which recognizes the world's most influential researchers over the past decade.www.anilseth.com www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/566315/being-you-by-anil-seth https://perceptioncensus.dreamachine.world/ https://dreamachine.world/ @anilksethwww.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

Today we welcome Dr. Anil Seth. He is the Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he is also Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. His research has been supported by the European Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. Dr. Seth's 2017 main-stage TED talk is one of the most popular science TED talks, with more than 13 million views. His latest book, which has received numerous accolades, is called Being You: A New Science of Consciousness.In this episode, I talk to Dr. Anil Seth about the new science of consciousness. Although we don't exactly know how or why consciousness exists, Dr. Seth thinks this shouldn't stop us from exploring its properties. One of the things he explores in his research is the conditions for consciousness. Everyone has their own way of perceiving the world. Perceptual diversity exists and we would be misguided to try and standardize consciousness on a single dimension. We also touch on the topics of intelligence, panpsychism, free will, AI technology, and the after life. Website: www.anilseth.comTwitter: @anilkseth Topics02:08 The hard problem of consciousness07:02 The value of inner experiences12:22 Experiencing is consciousness15:51 Panpsychism 19:01 The condition for consciousness21:38 Neuroscience of consciousness27:32 Perceptual diversity37:09 Perception Census43:00 Can we measure consciousness?49:13 Individual differences in experiencing 56:40 Experience of free will is not an illusion1:09:24 Cybernetic free will1:12:55 Can artificial intelligence produce consciousness? 1:24:24 The desire to persist

In this episode we have the fascinating proposition that what we call reality is in fact a hallucination we all agree on, to consider. We've already heard in this second series in Episode #28 from physicist Paul Davies on ‘The implications of Einstein', that indeed matter is energy and as such the world we see as solid objects with space between them, isn't truly like that. We've also heard from cognitive scientist Don Hoffman that we see the world optimised for ‘fitness' in the evolutionary sense, and not for truth i.e not to see it as it actually is. So in the same vein in this episode we're going to find out from a brilliant neuroscientist that we are in what he calls a ‘controlled hallucination'. That neuroscientist is none other than Anil Seth. Anil Seth is a professor of cognitive and computational neuroscience at the University of Sussex. He is also the co-director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. He has published over 100 scientific papers and is the editor-in-chief of the Oxford University Press publication ‘Neuroscience of Consciousness'. His TED talk ‘Your brain hallucinates your Conscious reality' has more than 11 million views. His new book ‘Being You: a new science of consciousness', which expands on most of what we'll discuss today, is a Sunday times top 10 best seller, and a New statesmen, Economist and Bloomberg book of the year. I've wanted to speak with Anil since I heard about his theory, as it seemed to match some of my worries about the disconnect between what we perceive and what is actually there, and how much of what we see is coming from our own mental and biological state, and our biases at the time. What we discuss: 00:00 Intro 05:41 A ‘prediction machine' perceiving from the inside-out, as well as perceiving sensory info outside-in. 10:00 Interoception: predictions about the body for self-control/regulation 14:00 The rubber-hand illusion: the prediction machine is not perfect 19:00 The risk of our best predictions being considered truth rather than hypothesis 23:00 Cultural humility about differences in our perceptions and beliefs 24:15 Why we call reality is a ‘controlled hallucination' 31:30 The body has shaped the predictive brain for survival 34:00 Brain body bidirectionally vs reductionism 37:30 Supervenience 38:00 Can different levels of description be primary to each other? 46:00 The self is illusory References: Anil Seth's best seller, ‘Being you' The Perception Census - Call for participants Immanuel Kant's idea: Noumenon, 'the world is hidden behind a sensory veil' Pareidolia - seeing patterns in things The Dream machine - Interactive flickering light experiment

How, on this planet, did we go from molten lava and shifting tectonic plates to sentient beings? How are you awake and aware right now? Who and where and what exactly is the “you” that is experiencing everything?Guest Anil Seth says that exploring these questions can lead to real and radical changes in your life, including reducing your emotional reactivity.Seth is a Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science and Editor-in-Chief of Neuroscience of Consciousness. His TED Talk on consciousness has been viewed over 13 million times. Most recently, he is the author of Being You: A New Science of Consciousness.In this episode we talk about: How brains give rise to consciousness The bundle theory of selfThe comfort in thinking of the self as impermanentA new way to think about emotional statesHow Seth's personal experience with long COVID has changed his own sense of selfThe question of whether we have free willWhether machines can be conscious – and whether we should be afraid of artificial intelligenceFull Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/anil-seth-469See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, Dr. Nader sits down with Dr. Anil Seth to discuss that consciousness is all there is. From Dr. Seth's perspective, for all of us, our experiences are real and they depend on the brain and the body in intimate ways. The nature of that intimate dependance is the question. Anil Seth is a Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at University of Sussex, where he is also Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. He is a Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellow, Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for the Advanced Research Program on Brain, Mind, and Consciousness, and also Co-director of the Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme: From Sensation and Perception to Awareness. He is also the author of the top 10 Sunday Times Bestselling book, “Being You: A New Science of Consciousness”. Dr Anil Seth | Twitter https://twitter.com/anilkseth Dr Anil Seth | Website https://www.anilseth.com Dr Anil Seth | Book https://www.anilseth.com/being-you/ Dr Anil Seth - Ted Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyu7v7nWzfo Dr Tony Nader | Instagram http://instagram.com/drtonynader Dr Tony Nader | YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/DrTonyNader Dr Tony Nader | Facebook http://facebook.com/DrTonyNader Dr Tony Nader | Twitter http://twitter.com/drtonynader

Shermer and Seth discuss: “mind” and “consciousness” in context of understanding how molecules and matter give rise to such nonmaterial processes • controlled hallucinations • the hard problem of consciousness • the self and other minds • consciousness and self-awareness as emergent properties • Where does consciousness go during general anaesthesia? After death? • Star Trek TNG episode 138 “Ship in a Bottle”: a VR inside a VR that is indistinguishable from reality • Are we living in a simulation that itself is inside a simulation? • Does Deep Blue know that it beat the great Gary Kasparov in chess? • Does Watson know that it beat the great Ken Jennings in Jeopardy!? • Is Data on Star Trek sentient, conscious, and with feelings? • Can AI systems be conscious? • free will, determinism, compatibilism, and panpsychism. Anil Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he co-directs of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. He is also Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Program on Brain, Mind, and Consciousness, and of the Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme: From Sensation and Perception to Awareness. Dr. Seth is Editor-in-Chief of Neuroscience of Consciousness (Oxford University Press) and he sits on the Editorial Board of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B and on the Advisory Committee for 1907 Research and for Chile's Congreso Futuro. His new book is Being You: A New Science of Consciousness.

Today we're privileged and delighted to have one of the world's leading researchers in neuroscience, Anil Seth. Anil is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex and Founding Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. He has published over 100 scientific papers and book chapters and is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Neuroscience of Consciousness. His TED talk on consciousness and controlled hallucination has been viewed over 12 million times and stands as one of TED's most popular science talks. Today we'll dig deep into (what Cal Fussman would call) the big questions of neuroscience: Is my reality the same as yours (do we see the same color red)? What does it mean to be you? Why did we evolve to have consciousness? Are different states of consciousness such as we see in comas, sleep, and general anesthesia measurable and clearly definable? What is consciousness and where in the brain can we find it? Why does a brain adapted to basic, hunter gatherer survival also include the capacity to compose symphonies, write philosophy, debug software code, go to the moon and ponder questions about the nature of its own existence? Will we ever be able to deconstruct the basic elements of consciousness and reconstruct them in a computer AI? This episode was a lot of fun and will probably be one of my most favorite. With that said, exploring our current understanding of the brain, consciousness, and the fundamental reality of who we are and how we experience the world around us is just not something you can knock out in an hour. That's why I can't recommend to you enough to check out Anil's new book, “Being You.” With that said, let's get started…

Neuroscientist Anil Seth shares his thoughts on the role of neuroscience in explaining human consciousness, why our perception of reality might be a controlled hallucination, and how psychedelics are challenging our understanding of the mind. Anil Seth is a Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he is also the Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. Anil is also a Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellow, Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Program on Brain, Mind, and Consciousness, and Co-Director of the Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme: From Sensation and Perception to Awareness.​ Anil edited and co-authored the best-selling 30 Second Brain (Ivy Press, 2014), was consultant for Eye Benders (Ivy Press, 2013; winner of the Royal Society Young People's Book Prize 2014) and contributes to a variety of media including the New Scientist, The Guardian, and the BBC. Anil also writes the blog NeuroBanter. Find out more: futurespodcast.net CREDITS Produced by FUTURES Podcast Recorded, Mixed & Edited by Luke Robert Mason FOLLOW Twitter: twitter.com/futurespodcast Facebook: facebook.com/futurespodcast Instagram: instagram.com/futurespodcast

Get early access to our latest psychology lectures: http://bit.ly/new-talks5 Right now, billions of neurons in your brain are working together to generate your conscious experience. How does this happen? According to neuroscientist Anil Seth, we're all hallucinating all the time; when we agree about our hallucinations, we call it “reality.” This talk will provide an insight into how consciousness emerges from the brain, and how changes to our brain can result in bizarre experiences of consciousness. You'll learn about the latest research in the new science of consciousness and how cutting-edge experiments in neuroscience are shedding light on the underlying neural mechanisms that give us our conscious experience in normal life, as well as in neurological and psychiatric conditions. -- Anil Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, and the Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. He is a Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellow, and a Senior Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. Professor Seth is Editor-in-Chief of Neuroscience of Consciousness, sits on the steering group and advisory board of the Human Mind Project, and was President of the British Science Association Psychology Section in 2017. He is the co-author of the ‘30 Second Brain', and contributes regularly to a variety of media including New Scientist, The Guardian, and the BBC. His 2017 TED talk has been viewed more than 9 million times. Professor Seth's research bridges neuroscience, mathematics, artificial intelligence, computer science, psychology, philosophy and psychiatry. He has also worked extensively with playwrights, dancers and other artists to shape a truly humanistic view of consciousness and self. You can keep up to date with his work at www.anilseth.com. Links: - Get our latest psychology lectures emailed to your inbox: http://bit.ly/new-talks5 - Check out our next event: http://theweekenduniversity.com/events/ - Prof Seth's book: https://amzn.to/2ATvqkK - Prof Seth's website: http://www.anilseth.com/ This episode is sponsored by our upcoming Day on Consciousness Online Conference, taking place on January 30th 2022. In this series of talks, we'll be exploring the fascinating mysteries of human consciousness, with a specific focus on theories that go beyond the materialist paradigm. We'll have lectures from three internationally bestselling authors including: — Consciousness, Purpose and Values - Dr Iain McGilchrist — Nonduality and the Nature of Consciousness - Rupert Spira — The Extended Mind - Annie Murphy Paul By attending live, you can interact with the speakers in the Q&A sessions, connect with like minded participants during the conference, and get lifetime access to the recordings and all available materials from the sessions. The event is CPD accredited, and a certificate qualifies you for five hours of CPD. Additionally, all tickets come with a 100% satisfaction guarantee - meaning if you're not satisfied with your learning experience, you'll get a full refund, with no questions asked. As a listener of this podcast, you can get a discount on your ticket, if you go to bit.ly/consciousness-2022, and use the discount code: POD when registering.

Indre continues to pursue her fascination with the neural basis of consciousness in this week's episode. In her never ending quest to understand how the biology of the brain gives rise to every experience we've ever had, ever will have, and everything in between, she has picked the brains of a number of experts in the field over the years. Today is no exception as she revisits this favorite topic by welcoming to the podcast Anil Seth, Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, and Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, for a discussion about his new book Being You: A New Science of Consciousness.    Show Links: Inquiring Minds Podcast Homepage Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds See https://omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information. Being You: A New Science of Consciousness Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anil Seth is a Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex. He is Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science and is Editor-in-chief of the journal Neuroscience of Consciousness. His research has focused on interoception, emotion, self, and consciousness, and how the brain perceives both the outside and inside worlds through a process of hypothesis generation. His new book, Being You: The New Science of Consciousness, is available now.

In this episode of the Making Sense podcast, 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 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. In addition to delivering new insights into the nature of consciousness, his research has helped shape novel approaches to psychiatric disorders, as well as driving innovative methods in machine learning and in brain-inspired technologies. His recent book—Being You: A New Science of Consciousness—explores what it means to “be you”—that is, to have a specific, conscious experience of the world around you and yourself within it. Website: www.anilseth.com Twitter: @anilkseth Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.

Those of us who think that that the laws of physics underlying everyday life are completely known tend to also think that consciousness is an emergent phenomenon that must be compatible with those laws. To hold such a position in a principled way, it's important to have a clear understanding of “emergence” and when it happens. Anil Seth is a leading researcher in the neuroscience of consciousness, who has also done foundational work (often in collaboration with Lionel Barnett) on what emergence means. We talk about information theory, entropy, and what they have to do with how things emerge.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Anil Seth received his D.Phil in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence from the University of Sussex. He is currently a professor of cognitive and computational neuroscience at Sussex, as well as co-director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. He has served as the president of the Psychology Section of the British Science Association, and is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Neuroscience of Consciousness. His new book is Being You: A New Science of Consciousness.Web siteGoogle Scholar publicationsWikipediaAmazon author pageTwitterBarnett and Seth, “Dynamical independence: discovering emergent macroscopic processes in complex dynamical systems” (2021)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Anil Seth is a professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex and a leading expert on the neuroscience of consciousness. He is the editor-in-chief of the journal Neuroscience of Consciousness and is also the co-director of both the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science and the Canadian Institute For Advanced Research's program in Brain, Mind, and Consciousness.  He has a new book coming out called Being You. 

Anil Seth is a Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he is also Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. His TED talk has over 10 million views, and he's been featured on many big-name podcasts such as Making Sense with Sam Harris and BBC's Life Scientific. Anil comes to the study of consciousness with the perspective of physics and the natural sciences. In this episode, we talk about his personal experiences, the influence of one-of-a-kind thinkers like Oliver Sacks and Gerald Edelman, and how to bring together perspectives from many disciplines to solve large problems. Anil has a new book coming out at the end of this year called "Being You: A New Science of Consciousness." Keep an eye out for it! Anil's website: https://www.anilseth.com/ Anil's twitter: https://twitter.com/anilkseth Anil's newsletter: https://www.anilseth.com/mailing-list Cody's website: https://codykommers.com Cody's Twitter: https://twitter.com/codykommers

How does our brain dictate the way we see the world? And how can we hack this process in the quest to design better, smarter technology? Anil Seth has devoted his career to studying questions like these. He is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Sussex, the co-director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science and the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Neuroscience of Consciousness. He's doing a live online event The Neuroscience of Consciousness, on Sunday 17 May at 9pm NZ time.

Anil Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he is also Co-Director (with Prof. Hugo Critchley) of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. He is also a Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellow, a Senior Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and Co-Director of the Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme: From Sensation and Perception to Awareness. He has edited and co-authored several popular science books, such as the best-selling 30 Second Brain (Ivy Press, 2014). His TED talk (recorded in Vancouver in 2017) has had over 7 million views and he features in the Vice/Motherboard feature documentary The Most Unknown, now streaming on Netflix. He explores consciousness and shares his innovative approaches to public engagement and education in this Impacted podcast. Find out more at: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/impacted

In this intriguing episode of Bulletproof Radio, Dave welcomes Anil Seth, a leading researcher, writer, and public speaker on consciousness science, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence. Anil has broad experience communicating new ideas from the forefront of research in these areas, which confront some of humanity’s greatest questions and challenges.In his work, Anil seeks to understand the biological basis of consciousness by bringing together research across neuroscience, mathematics, artificial intelligence, computer science, psychology, philosophy and psychiatry. He’s currently a professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex and founding co-director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science.As well as pioneering this interdisciplinary approach, Anil is recognized for his influential theories about how conscious experiences of the world and self are (distinct) forms of ‘controlled hallucinations.’ His TEDtalk “How Your Brain Hallucinates Your Conscious Reality” has been viewed nearly 7.4M million times.This episode will up-end what you think about perception and reality—and how much, or little, control, we really have. Here’s a sneak peek at the conversation:About Perception“Perception doesn't come from the outside in. It really goes the other direction. It comes from the inside out.”“The purpose of perception is not to figure out objectively what's out there in the world. The purpose of perception is to enable our adaptive behavior.”“We need to develop ways of training our perception.”About Sensory Experience“Language carves up the sensory world in some more bits.”“The same things in your brain are happening when you're having a hallucination, perceiving something that other people don't, as when you engage in normal perception. It's just some aspects of the balance has changed.”“As humans, we don't just passively experience a stream of sensory information. We're always actively sampling our worlds.”

In this intriguing episode of Bulletproof Radio, Dave welcomes Anil Seth, a leading researcher, writer, and public speaker on consciousness science, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence. Anil has broad experience communicating new ideas from the forefront of research in these areas, which confront some of humanity’s greatest questions and challenges.In his work, Anil seeks to understand the biological basis of consciousness by bringing together research across neuroscience, mathematics, artificial intelligence, computer science, psychology, philosophy and psychiatry. He’s currently a professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex and founding co-director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science.As well as pioneering this interdisciplinary approach, Anil is recognized for his influential theories about how conscious experiences of the world and self are (distinct) forms of ‘controlled hallucinations.’ His TEDtalk “How Your Brain Hallucinates Your Conscious Reality” has been viewed nearly 7.4M million times.This episode will up-end what you think about perception and reality—and how much, or little, control, we really have. Here’s a sneak peek at the conversation:About Perception“Perception doesn't come from the outside in. It really goes the other direction. It comes from the inside out.”“The purpose of perception is not to figure out objectively what's out there in the world. The purpose of perception is to enable our adaptive behavior.”“We need to develop ways of training our perception.”About Sensory Experience“Language carves up the sensory world in some more bits.”“The same things in your brain are happening when you're having a hallucination, perceiving something that other people don't, as when you engage in normal perception. It's just some aspects of the balance has changed.”“As humans, we don't just passively experience a stream of sensory information. We're always actively sampling our worlds.”

Consciousness is a curious and complex phenomenon. There are many ideas about what consciousness means and how it comes about, but I came across a compelling and relatively simple argument when I attended TEDFest this year - where the TED2017 conference was livestreamed for TEDx conference organisers from around the world, all convened in New York. In this show I speak with Dr Anil Seth, Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex in the UK. He is also Co-Director at the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. We talk about how the brain tries to make sense of the world outside, but also integrates information coming from inside the body to help us perceive the world and our place in relation to it. We talk about the origin of emotions, mindfulness, mental illness and possible applications for the framework he proposes. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/sarb-johal/message

It’s the size and shape of a cauliflower, and weighs about 3 lbs. And yet the average human brain has so many intricate and complex connections that if you counted one connection every second it would take you more than three million years. Professor Anil Seth has devoted his career to trying to understand the brain, puzzling over the mystery of consciousness itself. He’s Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the Sackler Centre at the University of Sussex, and the author of a popular book, “The 30-second Brain”. In Private Passions, he muses on how our consciousness of the world, and of ourselves, is “one of the big central mysteries of life”. And it’s a mystery we face every day – when we fall asleep and when we wake up. In conversation with Michael Berkeley, Anil Seth explores the concept of free will (he doesn’t believe in it); why music evokes such strong memories; and how meditation changes the structure of the brain. Music choices include Chopin, Bach, Nina Simone, and an ancient Hindi mantra. A Loftus production for BBC Radio 3 Produced by Elizabeth Burke

In this episode, we go deep into a scientific look at consciousness. We ask, how do our brains experience reality? What is consciousness? Is our perception of reality nothing more than a “controlled hallucination?” What is the “hard problem of consciousness” and what are the major aspects of consciousness? How can we use the neuroscience of consciousness to better ourselves and improve our lives? And much more with our guest Anil Seth.  Anil Seth is the professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex. He is the co-director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, the editor in chief of Neuroscience of Consciousness, and was the President of the British Science Association for psychology in 2017. His TED talk has been viewed over 2.5 million times and his work featured in The Guardian, the BBC, New Scientist, and more! How does our brain experience reality?Consciousness is a funny thing - we don’t have a good definition of it, but everyone knows what consciousness is There is a subjective experience of consciousness for being humanThe questions of consciousness are some of the most important and urgent questions we can askWhat is the “hard problem of consciousness?” and why is it so important?What are the problems of consciousness? The easy problem is figuring out how brains do what they do, how they implement functions, guide behavior, allow the world to be sensed, how the brain works as a mechanism - this will keep neuroscientists and biologists busy for a long time The hard problem is explaining how and why any of this should have anything to do with conscious experience and why conscious experiences happen However detailed your understanding of the brain is - it will leave untouched the question of how/why consciousness exists in the first place The three major aspects of consciousness (they inter-related and not necessarily independent) Conscious level - a scale from being completely lacking in consciousness (a coma, dead) all the way to being fully awake and fully conscious Conscious content - when you’re conscious you’re conscious OF something The experience of being a particular person When we perceive things, our brain is taking energy waves and electrical signals and interpreting them into prior predictions and expectationsOptical illusions really demonstrate how adapted our visual system isInformed skepticism is an incredibly valuable thinking framework - the scientific method and a healthy dose of humility help us move towards truthHow Anil’s own battle with negative emotions and negative emotional states has been shaped by the work he does in neuroscienceWhat interventions have helped Anil battle his own depression? Going for a long walk in the country Exercise Fresh Air Nature When you’re in the thick of it - you forget these interventions work, but they DO work Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps Anil as well You aren’t defined by your own suffering - does having the Flu define you as a person? Why should a psychological issue? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of the podcast, 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 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. In addition to delivering new insights into the nature of consciousness, his research has helped shape novel approaches to psychiatric disorders, as well as driving innovative methods in machine learning and in brain-inspired technologies. His recent book—Being You: A New Science of Consciousness—explores what it means to “be you”—that is, to have a specific, conscious experience of the world around you and yourself within it. Website: www.anilseth.com Twitter: @anilkseth Episodes that have been re-released as part of the Best of Making Sense series may have been edited for relevance since their original airing.

Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience Anil Seth looks at the neuroscience of consciousness and how our biology gives rise to the unique experience of being you. Anil provides an insight into the state-of-the-art research in the new science of consciousness. Distinguishing between conscious level, conscious content and conscious self, he describes how new experiments are shedding light on the underlying neural mechanisms in normal life as well as in neurological and psychiatric conditions. Anil Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he is also Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. He is Editor-in-Chief of Neuroscience of Consciousness and is on the steering group and advisory board of the Human Mind Project. He has written popular science books, including 30 Second Brain, and contributes to a variety of media including the New Scientist, The Guardian, and the BBC.

Anil Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex and Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. He is Editor and Co-Author of 30 Second Brain (Ivy Press, 2014), Consultant for Eye Benders (Ivy Press, 2013; winner of the Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize 2014) and contributes regularly to a variety of media including the New Scientist, The Guardian, and the BBC. Anil writes the popular blog NeuroBanter. Paul Fletcher is Bernard Wolfe Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge. His research explores psychosis using combined functional neuroimaging and pharmacological experiments.

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 brain. As well as running the interdisciplinary centre and carrying out experiments that test ideas about consciousness, Anil Seth has co-written a popular book, The 30 second brain, and was the consultant on Eye Benders, the winner of the Junior Royal Society Book Prize in 2014. He talks to Jim al-Khalili about how scientists can study altered states of consciousness, such as sleep and coma. He explains how he uses virtual reality to understand conditions where our idea of ourselves is distorted, such as in the Alice in Wonderland syndrome.

Invasive alien species from the cursed Signal Crayfish to the scourge of gardeners, the Japanese Knotweed, are considered some of the biggest threats to biodiversity. This year the EU has launched new legislation that attempts to limit their spread. But how big a threat are they to ecosystems? Science writer Fred Pearce author of The New Wild argues that ecologists are committed to protecting pristine environments from alien invaders, when we should be embracing the changing ecology that invasive species enable. Adam Rutherford discusses the conflicting approaches to invasive species with Fred Pearce and Dr Helen Roy - a scientist at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. Corals make up only 0.1% of the ocean floors, but account for up to a quarter of all marine life. A new exhibition at The Natural History Museum is showcasing some of the work of the Catlin Seaview Survey, which is compiling a huge pictorial health check of various reefs to act as a snapshot against which all future reef changes can be compared. We hear from Dr Ken Johnson, the Museum's main coral researcher, and Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, - Chief Scientist for the Catlin Seaview Survey. There's a big gap in understanding the evolution of our brains. But experts, from geologists to computer scientists by way of marine biologists have recently been meeting at the Royal Society, for a symposium entitled 'Origin and Evolution of the Nervous System' to assess what evidence there is. Roland Pease reports. And we explore a new advance in virtual reality. Anil Seth, professor of Consciousness Studies at the Sackler Centre at Sussex University has been experimenting with our sense of self, and our experience of the world, by using a hi tech headset combined with 360 degree cameras to transport your whole experience to a different space. Virtual reality becomes "substitutional" reality'. Producer Adrian Washbourne.

Making Predictive Coding More Predictive, More EnactiveRon Chrisley, Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science & Dept of Informatics, University of Sussex, UKPresented at the 16th annual meeting of the Association for the Scientific Study of ConsciousnessCorn Exchange, Brighton, July 3rd, 16:30-18:30: Concurrent Session 2.Abstract:Predictive coding (PC) architectures (e.g., Dayan, Hinton, Neal & Zemel, 1995; Rao & Ballard, 1999) have been recently proposed to explain various aspects of consciousness, including those involved in binocular rivalry (Hohwy, Roepstorff & Friston, 2008), and presence (“the subjective sense of reality of the world and of the self within the world”) (Seth, Suzuki & Critchley, 2011). It is argued that the potential of PC explanations of consciousness has been obscured by overemphasis of a number of features that are typically held to be essential to the PC approach, but which in fact are not central, and may be detrimental, to PC explanations of consciousness. For example: 1) the components of PC architectures that do the work of explaining consciousness can be de-coupled from hypotheses concerning (e.g. Bayesian) optimality; 2) the structure of the models employed by PC architectures is typically not predictive in any direct sense, being instead a representation of the causes of sensory input (Hohwy, Roepstorff & Friston, 2008); 3) these models are typically disconnected from action, accruing the familiar limitations of disembodied accounts (with (Seth, Suzuki & Critchley, 2011) being a notable exception); 4) the winner-take-all promotion of a model to be the content of consciousness can be eliminated, thus enabling PC architectures to accommodate anti-realist or at least more critically realist views of consciousness (Dennett 1991). A more general architecture, Enactive EBA (following (Chrisley & Pathermore, 2007)), is proposed to preserve the strengths of PC architectures, while avoiding the above limitations and suggesting new hypotheses and experiments to test them.Media:PodSlides: iPod-ready video (to be added later)Audio: (.mp3; 4.7 MB; 19 min 40 sec)Slides: presented 12 (.pdf; 0.5 MB)Slides: all 33 (.pdf; 1 MB)