Annie Dillard's Insect World

My guest in this episode is (once again!) Erik Hoel: PhD in neuroscience, research assistant professor at Tufts University studying consciousness, and author of the upcoming (phenomenal) novel, The Revelations.

We center the conversation around themes from his novel, which lead us into:

• How fiction, as a form of “intrinsic media”, offers a unique approach for exploring consciousness that non-fiction and TV can’t

• The theories and potentialities at the frontiers of consciousness research

• The relationship between evolution, complexity, consciousness, and emergence

• Some limits of the scientific study of consciousness

• Why we’d better hope that if aliens are out there, they’re more like mammals than insects

If you enjoy this episode, check out my previous conversation with Erik, his stupidly-good essay titled ‘Enter the Supersensorium’, or you can preorder his book here.

Enjoy!