The Limits of Consciousness

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Patrick Houssey: If we're going to have a theory of consciousness, it has to explain everything. Scott Fried: I don't think minds are going to be downloaded in the way that they will be eternal. Richard Goyette: The belief in God says there is such an imaginable thing, but it's not accessible to any human.

While operating on a 16-year-old girl who suffered from severe seizures, neurosurgeon Itzhak Fried stumbled on the region of the brain that makes us laugh. To neuroscientist Patrick House, Fried's ability to produce laughter surgically raises deep and disconcerting questions about how the brain works. Join Fried, House, and EconTalk's Russ Roberts for a live broadcast from Jerusalem's Shalem College that is a sequel of sorts to House's earlier appearance on EconTalk. House and Fried discuss the mystery of consciousness and try to square the biological bases for emotions with the circle of our humanity.