Is Reality Just A Hallucination In The Brain? - Anil Seth

Anil Seth is a professor of cognitive and computational neuroscientist at the University of Sussex, co-director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, and an author.

What is the Self? What does it mean that we are the same person we were 10 years ago? Why do we have a subjective experience of reality at all? Is consciousness created or perceived? These are fundamental questions that philosophers and neuroscientists have been trying to answer for centuries. So can a new science of consciousness give us the answers?

Expect to learn why answering the problem of consciousness is such a difficult challenge, why you wake up as the same person everyday, whether we know for a fact that animals are conscious, why perception often is divorced from objective reality, just how reliable our memories are, how to trust your brain even when it's incredibly fallible and much more...

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#consciousness #self #psychology

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00:00 Intro
00:28 The Real Problem of Consciousness
04:39 Why is the Self Rooted in Consciousness?
13:10 Thought Experiments to Understand Consciousness
19:39 Are We Experiencing a Controlled Hallucination?
22:40 Looking at Perception Through an Evolutionary Lens
32:29 Studying How to Alter the Predictive Brain
41:17 Where Does Consciousness Arise?
45:38 Testing the Consciousness of Lower Animals
49:36 The Most Common Definitions of Consciousness
59:10 The Challenge of Testing the Internal Processes of Animals
1:05:32 Anil’s Experience with LSD
1:11:04 How Anil’s Studies Have Impacted His Outlook
1:15:58 Where to Find Anil

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Get in touch in the comments below or head to...

[ChrisWillx]

00:00 Intro
00:28 The Real Problem of Consciousness
04:39 Why is the Self Rooted in Consciousness?
13:10 Thought Experiments to Understand Consciousness
19:39 Are We Experiencing a Controlled Hallucination?
22:40 Looking at Perception Through an Evolutionary Lens
32:29 Studying How to Alter the Predictive Brain
41:17 Where Does Consciousness Arise?
45:38 Testing the Consciousness of Lower Animals
49:36 The Most Common Definitions of Consciousness
59:10 The Challenge of Testing the Internal Processes of Animals
1:05:32 Anil’s Experience with LSD
1:11:04 How Anil’s Studies Have Impacted His Outlook
1:15:58 Where to Find Anil

[LR-krsz]

Ex materialist here: i use to say if i ever saw a ghost I would believe i'm going crazy rather than believe the ghost is real.
My friend once said, but what it we both saw the ghost? To which i replied, then i would have to take things more seriously. Fast forward a few years and me and a friend are doing lsd together and experiencing at the very least a convincing illusion of telepathy.
I think Anil Seth needs to continue his psychedelic explorations in group settings and see if he still has the same beliefs

[IKEMENOsakaman]

"Brain is the most important organ" says the Brain.

[curtweston]

FINALLY someone has brought Trigger’s broom into the philosophical debate on personal identity 😂 I’ve been waiting 15 years for that, so thank you, Chris 🙇🏻‍♂️

[billbadson]

The Ship of Theseus idea, and understanding how our "self" is the pattern we're arranged in, and not the cells themselves, opened me back up to ideas I used to think of as magical, like true resurrection, from dry bones, from dust, from nothing at all. Whatever brought the universe into being, it brought me into being, and it could do again. It would be no greater a miracle to create me again from nothing than it was the first time I came from nothing.

[eduardomartin]

"Contrary to what everyone knows is so, it may not be the brain that produces consciousness -- but rather, consciousness that creates the appearance of the brain..."

[brunotoledo]

Commenting for the algo but also to say this was worth the wait. Very thoughtful and provoking questions.

[Xxcyclonexx]

The fact that I can feel pain and pleasure, along with joy and sadness in my dreams. Basically every emotion in real life has been felt when I dream.
.
We operate in conscious reality, not base reality.

[seankovarik]

I always wondered since I was a kid if people see the world as I see it. Like how do we know that the colour red looks the same to me as it does to someone else. Fascinating

[anissaferringer]

I listened for a long time before subscribing to the newsletter, and boy was I missing out. Best email of the whole week, thank you!

[aelfredrex]

Stub your toe on the coffee table and reality quickly reveals itself.

[ZacksRockingLifestyle]

16:10 this whole discussion is practically describing the story of the video game SOMA.

[davidbrinnen]

18:00 Mauler did a breakdown of a game called Soma on his channel, much of the game revolved around questions of identity and what the consequences would be it were possible to copy the mind from the brain to something else which would allow that mind to continue to function - "after a fashion" - it is a horror game...

[thelanavishnuorchestra]

As someone who's autistic (and so had to learn how allistics think) and who has experienced psychedelics, I've long been aware of the variable nature of our perception and that our experience of reality is a construct in our minds.

Also, my dog has consciousness and emotions and he dreams. Thanks for having Anil Seth on. Interesting guy.

[tonnywildweasel]

If my life is someone's idea of a game, i'm gonna have a good talk with this fella.

[lexreason]

Everyone should read his book on consciousness, it will blow your mind!

[albertlevins]

This guy sounds kinda like John Vervaeke. I also speculate that experience occurs from the inside out.
Very cool. I am really enjoying this episode.

[dedf]

there's just so much to learn and analyze and go back over in this interview; it's incredibly deep material!

but here, i've always understood that our perception is not THE reality, as if it was creating the reality that is there, but rather that we perceive and interpret the actual reality that we experience.

for instance, at 25:40, professor talks about color not really existing, but the truth is, color is a function of light absorption and reflection as it passes through another medium; it is a real property of physical objects, not simply an abstract thought our brains produce for the fun of it. i'm not sure if i misunderstand him, or if my level of education isn't sufficient in this case?

[superdeluxesmell]

The trouble with experts in this area is that they tend to just redescribe the traditional problems of philosophy of mind in scientific jargon, add a lot of descriptive detail of the nature of the problem and then pretend that they’ve solved them, when in fact they’re just conducting an elaborate bait and switch.

[albertlevins]

I always liked psychedelics because of 2 specific things.
1) Your perception of reality is very noticeably different.
2) The sense of connection. Less selfishness, but more feeling like we are all connected.

That second thing was always of interest to me.
It implies something unifies us all.
And that unity feels good.
It is a strange thing. Is it the Earth's way of letting us know we are loved?
Is it God?

I don't know for sure, but I know I experience that sensation and it is as real to me as pain.

That was always a mystery to me.