The Magic of Consciousness

Is consciousness real? Could it be just an illusion manufactured in the theatre of our minds? And what use is it – why did it evolve in the first place? Professor Nicholas Humphrey explores the mystery.

Consciousness is at the core of our very existence. An intangible constant that underpins our experience of the world. But for centuries it has been the frustrating source of a seemingly impenetrable explanatory gap – it is largely a scientific mystery.

As we interact with the world, stimuli trigger physical processes in our body. Nerve cells transmit messages around the body and through the brain. But how do these physical interactions give rise to the conscious sensations we experience? Can we get conscious sensation from nerve cells alone?

In this video theoretical psychologist Professor Nicholas Humphrey asks whether consciousness could all be an illusion. Could it be a mirage constructed in the theatre of our minds? Perhaps the questions we should ask are not centred on sensations themselves, but merely on the appearance of those sensations.

And why does consciousness, in any form, exist at all? How did it evolve? The answer might lie in our social interactions. Consciousness elevates our interpretation of the world and the people around us. It alters our psychological profile and breathes joy into our experiences, and makes us value life itself.

[YouJustGotGerrowned]

Boy, I can't wait for all the Youtube comments to figure out what has puzzled scientists for thousands of years.

[ecclenctica]

"Consciousness is an illusion" But surely this statement is nonsense.
The experience of illusion itself is an expression of consciousness.

[Moonbogg]

I can see how the "contents" of consciousness can be illusory, but subjectivity itself is, in my opinion, the heart of the mystery.  Perceiving things to be something that they aren't is understandable.  What has me perfectly stumped is how you can somehow cross the fence that separates objective, material existence and find yourself on the other side where even the faintest glow of experience is possible.
I am starting to think that perhaps the fence which separates the two is a more important illusion that could be focused on.

[TheRoyalInstitution]

NEW FILM: Professor Nicholas Humphrey tackles one of science's greatest conundrums: The magic of consciousness.

[RainbowWorrior]

Hello Kindred, Thank you for this opportunity for me either to answer the two questions, fear & consciousness or create a further question.


I was brought up in an area where the general consensus was any problem would be measured against how hard you could thump them before they did you, I am 47 years of age & a carpenter, I hold nor follow any religious beliefs. I always used to say, I believed it wasn't folk that change only situations, I also done some time as a member of the Parachute regiment, being a large person in build.


Back to the questions posed, I went out one night in the city I lived in with my best friend, to celebrate my becoming a father as well as it being my birthday, we went off to 10 bin bowling drinking very little but enjoying the bowling, the song playing all night was, Tubthumping(i get knocked down) by Chumbawamba, I great tune but played to death. so around midnight we headed home via a kebab shop, then we entered the main park in the city as a shortcut to get home.


We were having a great time I would say more or less sober, My best friend went off into a bush for a pee whilst telling me a really bad joke, regardless of my laughing at the really bad punch line, As I laughed I noticed a male figure coming right up to me, without warning punching me on my left had side, just above my waste.


Next thing, I punched him back, then restrained him to the ground by his throat, asking him who the hell did he think he was. By this time my friend was leaning over my shoulder looking at my attacker laughing saying you have picked the wrong guy, I should point out my friend is just over 6 feet tall & into martial arts, the attacker looked like he was looking at a ghost when he stared at me and cried he was really sorry & wouldn't do it again, he also said at one point he was a student. 


After about 5 minutes I let him go and he disappeared as quickly as he had appeared, it was raining and cold, end of November and we were at the center of the park, so both my friend and I proceeded on our way not being too bothered about what just happened, please bare in mind my environment and parachute regiment, so pretty calm and unaffected, not shocked or fearful or even upset, certainly not running on adrenalin or anything like it, we were joking about the look on the guys face so about 7 or 8 minutes in total feeling really good,  then I felt something warm trickle down to my waste, I remember thinking this to be a very odd sensation, as the area he punched me felt cold to my mind, All the time I was holding him, I remember thinking it feels like if you got a piece of metal and placed it on your skin exactly where his fist hit me.


As I sliped my hand under my coat, jersey, t shirtand flet what was running down me, two of my fingers slid into the hole his 8” bread knife blade had made, the nano second my mind registered what had happened and I mean nano second, I felt immense pain, my lung collapsed, I couldn't see or walk and because the knife was spun in a circular fashion, it had sliced though sever parts of my intestine, I was later told I suffered peritonitis (poisoning of the blood) because the bowel contents was directly flowing into my blood supply, I was like a real drama queen.


My best friend carried me to the exist of the park then put me on the roadside whilst he attempted to look like a madman shouting for folk to stop and help, so this took a while, during which time, I was looking up but not seeing anything but hearing everything around me, then I felt myself starting to slip away, all of a sudden I felt myself feeling nothing, hearing nothing and then opening my eyes to seeing myself laying on the grass verge directly under me, I remember thinking, how is this possible, I looked at my hands, legs and body which were all attached to me, don't worry no shiny lights or gates stuff, but I remember thinking I am still complete, I could also see my friend in the road whilst cars where trying to avoid hitting him. then someone stopped and got me and my friend to the hospital.


Where I was saved after a 14 hour operation, although for the first couple of weeks they were telling my family including my pregnant partner that they didn't hold out much hope.


When I woke after the operation, I felt a huge amount of pain, also I had to use an oxygen mask to breath for about the first 5 or 7 days, but I could see and move my legs.


I was eventually diagnosed with PTSD and given counseling, this stopped within the fist year, which didn't help anyway, after around five years I had managed to stop suffering from this and started to really remember what happened that night, even now whilst writing this when I ask myself the question, how would you feel if someone walked up and stabbed you, My immediate response to myself is always the same,  “blind rage”, again when asking myself what do you think would be affected if someone stabbed you here, i.e the same place, again immediately to myself comes “probably be left paralyzed”. the surgeon said they believed I had died before I had got to them.


Now the questions, what is consciousness, I believe it to be our very essence of what we are, an energy form, living in a physical form like someone wearing a suit, the pain all in my head, after about 3 years, my close to retirement GP spoke to me about my still believing I needed pain killers daily for the pain I kept feeling, he explained regardless of my anger that maybe If I could spend some time reading up on phantom pain as there was no reason in his mind, that I should still be feeling pain, baring in mind my mind had a very good basis for comparison for pain then so I was very annoyed with him suggesting it was all in my mind, but he was absolutely right.


by the end of the first five years, I understood that my soul, essence, spirit, whatever you wish to call it, had ten fingers & ten toes, but I believe the form I was holding was residual memory.


Another example of pain, I was in a very bad car crash around 10 years ago, I had a small fracture in my lower spine which led to me taking co-codamol for years to help elevate the pain, Then I remembered the stabbing and the pain not being real form that, so I stopped taking the drug and started to think more positively about my condition as well as exercising more as I did not like to take the prescribed drug.


Then one night I was giving my wife a massage, the reson I am explain this will become apparent, I was standing behind her whilst she sat on one of our dinning chairs,  as I massaged her shoulders and back, I was feeling very relaxed, then my wife asked “you haven't mentioned your back for ages, how is it?” As I was thinking what I was about to say, which was going to be, magic, no problems or discomfort at all, but before I could start to say this, I felt the pain which was really intense, I explained what had happened to my wife then tried to focus away from the  pain but also considering when it comes back so observing self, sure enough, as I focused away the pain went, as soon as I started thinking about it in any shape or form, after about 1 week of thinking and talking about this, no more pain, completely disappeared, again maybe it was my minds basis for comparison. 


Pain is something taught, like anger as both born from fear within, , whist I had the PTSD I felt more like a psychitzophrenic, There was obviously two of me, it was so intense after the stabbing, if you imagine your memory's being stored in an old grey three story filling cabinet, as each event happens it goes into the lever arch folder alongside all the others, for me it was like someone threw all the memories up in the air which then landed on the floor around the cabinet, leaving only one memory prevalent, the stabbing, I could still see the memories but not clearly as I kept getting distracted away and back to the trauma. eventually I got all my memories back where they belonged, prior to then this taught me a great deal about the two within me, 1 the person born as me, the other, the experiences of me or in other words my baggage, which I never realised existed, the influence our baggage has is huge on us.


So if this doesn't not answer either of your questions, perhaps you could explain why they cannot be?
When I understood this, I was at One with self and the field, all living things.


PS your video also made me remember one day in science class, when we sat down, the teacher told us he wished to do an experiment to test the draft speed going from one end of the room to the other. I was at the back of the class.


Our teacher held a jar, he said it had very strong mint extract, so as soon as folk could smell it, they had to put up their hands, easy enough, as he lifted the lid off the large jar, within 1 second, I had my hand up as well as 90% of the class, the rest had colds or couldn't be bothered, anyway, the teacher then explained it was only water in the jar, nothing else, the experiment was to teach us how easily manipulated we can be, regardless of how strong we believe ourselves to be, even after being told this, when it was my turn to smell like everyone else, we could still smell and even taste mint.


I think, therefore I am.


I trust this to be of some use to you, I have enjoyed writing about it, please also bare in mind, now all behind me, I understand it was the best thing which ever happened to me to open my mind to what we truly are, through a very surreptitious event, as with everyone else.

[Ontologistics]

The fundamental problem in this presentation is that you (Humphrey) think that there could be a difference between your alleged "appearance of [pain]" and "real [pain]". But, if you reflect upon the matter (as it were), there is no difference here. An illusion is still a state of consciousness. Therefore this explanation is wholly inadequate, and belongs to the past.

[modvs]

I never understood the "illusion" trump card. There has to be something "veridical" (non-illusory) by which to make a contrast. Or are there just degrees of illusion? The impossible triangle presupposes veridical, possible triangles- otherwise your run of the mill right angle, with an adjacent of 25 degrees, is also an illusion from which you could never distinguish from the impossible one. Illusion turtles all the way down?

[MrCanigou]

6:42 To Descartes principle, Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh kindly and usefully retorted "I don't think therefore I am", to which you beautifully add "I feel therefore I am".
Splendid vids as usual !

[Kevin_McGeary]

You made a good point about how consciousness helps us survive by making us more empathetic to other conscious creatures. That certainly helped our own species or "tribe' survive.
 Did you purposely avoid the more obvious reason consciousness evolved?   Consciousness enables us to review our memories and imagine various future possibilities before we move. It is mostly about the fact that we are mobile creatures in a competitive environment.  By using the wonderfully evolved data processing orchestra we are better equipped to avoid dangers and acquire food, shelter and reproductive companions.  The more we had to relocate in response to environmental challenges, the more consciousness played a role in survival.The reason consciousness is difficult to define is that it is not one thing. It is a mixed bag of many complex organic activities and we are already finding that even the symbiotic bacteria that we carry are an essential part of the consciousness orchestra. It is so beautifully complex that folks are tempted to rush to one of the thousands of supernatural explanations before they have credible evidence.

[falcon]

"The body is an extension of my soul", "The matter is an extension of the spirit". Blake said it already.

[PiersPearsonLund]

The purpose of life is to feel life.

What this means on one level is that consciousness is the re experience of memory of an experience.
IF it is a new experience then we are openly memorizing it and constructing the conscious frame and picture of the experience for future reference. This is why a new journey takes a long time whereas the next experience of the journey feels shorter. We are not recording it all, just the delta, the difference.
Evolutionarily this is advantageous because it helps us to survive. It helps us to find food, mates and avoid danger.
When we feel something intangible we are remembering and replaying the neural record of how we should react to that circumstance or potential experience.
This doesn't always have to be experienced directly. We can learn it third hand through media and being educated by other's experiences.
How is this true? Because our feelings can be wrong and our memories are fallible, our senses even more so. Our educated guess can be completely wrong and once the experience is actually experienced we can then edit the mistaken recording and be more sure of it's correctness. Even if it is still full of holes.
This is why some experiences are beyond us. We simply cannot relate to them. Death, childbirth for a genetic male etc...
Ultimately a new experience is a wonder because we give it a blank page and put upon it all our feelings.

[paullenovo]

My guess is that out there in spacetime is that everything is so uncertain so random so incomprehensible that creation constructed itself lifeforms like ourselves in order to experience itself. It created in its own way an interface to make sense of things and to guide itself through this space. Perhaps all lifeforms are there doing the same in order to experience itself. I believe everything is consciousness trying to be conscious of itself.

[GurgleApps]

Was hoping this would answer the question I've been asking myself since I was a child, but it doesn't. Of course consciousness is an illusion in the sense that what I experience as red is just my internal representation of what signals my eyes are sending to my brain. But why do I need the subjective experience of red, or pain, or heat etc. and how does that work?

[wgaskill]

One of the gifts that humans have is being able to create models (in our brain) of other people. We can emulate other people's actions, voices, and even thoughts. Consciousness may be the capability to model ourselves, and in turn, to model ourselves modeling ourselves. The illusion is like placing 2 mirrors facing each other, where you can "see into infinity".

[chandrabkmenon]

I think, therefore I am - I feel therefore I am. Is not feeling akin to thinking? Do I simply think that I feel something, or do I feel that I think something? What is the difference between thinking and feeling? Do we not feel when we think? Do we not think when we feel? Are thinking and feeling not synchronous? Are they distinct or the same? Consciousness is awareness of thought or feeling - more correctly, of thought and feeling. Can thought be distinct from feeling? Are they not inseparable parts of a whole - a whole that we call consciousness?

[RetireMentalityChallenged]

Organisms find themselves evolved into a state or niche, they are armed with sensory apparatus and the neural network, to such an extent they are at the leading edge of the evolutionary point in the ongoing unceasing constant change that is the universe unfolding. There is no time. Only change. Consciousness is the neural apparatus keeping track of change, meaning time is an index for the mind. the reverberations of short term memory and the ability to form long term memory is the goal of being aware.

[IceBreaker]

Unless or until we can delve into the non-physical, speculating about non-physical consciousness is only sidestepping the question. Pretty much what Descartes did.

Consciousness is real, physical and it seems to be linked with the perception of time. Now, Time may very well not exist in the Universe and it may be a biological illusion but the creation of personal timeline is very much physical, separating our existence in past (memories), future (imagination) and present (conscious existence).

This also means that, at least at some level, consciousness is not a unique human trait. And this opens up a huge window of experimental exploration.

[ImissSaganCarl]

Mr. Chopra wrote "The hard problem of consciousness cannot be solved by assuming a physicalist ontology", Why not? I believe our brains generate our perception/consciousness just as our brains generate the sounds and colours as we percieve them in our heads, Colours don't exits per se, it's our brain transforming light of different wavelenghs into colours (i.e. our brains "paint" what we see in our mind's eye. Similarly with sound.

I think it's a matter of time before scientists figure this out. I know this statement sounds preposterous now, but it would also have been just as preposterous to state that our brains generate sounds and colours 200 years ago.

[quine]

Explaining everyone else's consciousness is not so hard; it is the explanation of your own that presents the hard problem. It is much like trying to lift yourself up off the floor by pulling on your own bootstraps. If you are strong enough, it will work for lifting others around you, but never yourself.

[dagilisa]

While I don't think it's possible to dismiss the benefits of consciousness mentioned at the end of the video, for all we know these benefits are exaptations, not adaptations. What is the initial evolutionary drive for consciousness? Where can we find its benefits at an initial, basic level?