Exploring the Nature of Consciousness

Tools like microscopes uncover vast worlds that were previously hidden from us—we could hardly grasp the reality of invisible organisms before the microscope allowed us to perceive them, let alone the realms that have been revealed through telescopes and particle colliders. What tools might we discover in the future to help us reach beyond the familiar experimental neuroscience that Anil Seth and others have relied on so far?

We have many intuitions for the laws of physics because we feel them at work through our senses. In Chapter 6, Annaka contemplates where sensory addition work, like David Eagleman’s, might lead. We also explore the ways science might expand in order to address questions about consciousness, as well as about fields, forces, and matter we don’t naturally perceive.