Making Sense with Sam Harris #264 — Consciousness and Self (Rebroadcast)
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Oct 21, 2021 
Anil Seth, a Professor of cognitive and computational neuroscience and author of 'Being You: A New Science of Consciousness,' dives deep into the scientific study of consciousness. He discusses how consciousness may emerge in nature and presents perception as a 'controlled hallucination.' The conversation tackles intriguing distinctions between anesthesia and sleep, and the unsettling reality of anesthesia awareness. Seth also explores consciousness in AI and connects these ideas to themes of the self, expanding our understanding of human experience.
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Defining Consciousness
- Defining consciousness technically is challenging, as definitions evolve with scientific understanding.
- Focus on the shared understanding of consciousness as subjective experience.
Nagel's Definition
- Nagel's definition of consciousness as "what it's like to be a system" is a good starting point.
- Moving beyond this definition risks changing the subject to more tractable but less relevant concepts.
The Hard Problem
- The hard problem of consciousness highlights the mystery of subjective experience arising from physical systems.
- It distinguishes between the "easy" problem of brain function and the "hard" problem of experience itself.
