Ask Nicholas Humphrey about Consciousness

Can science ever really understand consciousness? Is it just an illusion? Ask theoretical psychologist Professor Nicholas Humphrey your questions, and he’ll answer the best in a video we’ll release in a few months’ time.

[TheRoyalInstitution]

Some amazing questions submitted - keep them coming! At the end of the month we'll compile them and then create a shortlist for Nicholas to answer.

[davidmcsween]

Could you experience a diffuse consciousness, that is can 'you' exist outside of the brain/body simultaneously? 

[MichaelWilliamsAweso]

In the beginning of the universe there was only quantum mechanics. And quantum mechanics gave rise to chemistry. And chemistry gave rise to biology. And biology gave rise to consciousness. What may consciousness give rise to?

[lindsayc]

I have a hard time comprehending the illusion idea. As I understand,   "illusion" requires an observer. Someone must be experiencing the illusion for it to be an illusion. If we describe consciousness as an illusion, does it not require another level of "conscious" observer? And who/what is it, exactly, that is being "tricked" by what we call consciousness? To sense/experience/feel/think/perceive, even an illusion, there is still a conscious entity required, no? Man, I have a hard time phrasing the concept that I want to!

[SetzerBrain]

For what I gathered, consciousness is an awareness of states. Ranging in a very colorful spectrum from simple to complex, from simple being to complicated beings such as us human or great apes or cetacean etc. And it is something that is limited only by the complexity or the prowess of the brain and the input it takes in and time. My question is: How much more conscious can one or something be? Is there different kinds of consciousness (not deceived or altered, also not the kinds that evolved when a person grow or in lesser animals) or is it universal? if yes/no why?  

Brian, Indonesia.

[vulcanus]

In idealism there is no "hard problem of consciousness" or just make it fundamental and again there is no "hard problem of consciousness".

[_JustSomeGuy_]

With respect to the body and its composition, at what level of complexity does consciousness, or even thought itself, occur? Are individual brain cells self-aware and consciousness or does it require a network of neurons for consciousness to emerge?

[interneda]

Why do you think only humams have consciousness, and if so why did only we evolve to have it?

[jimtuv]

How early in development does consciousness arise?  Are babies fully conscious or is it a gradual process of awakening to consciousness? 

[thebatman]

What happens to consciousness when you sleep, go into a coma, get knocked out, and die?

[MeTaLoRgY]

If pain, happiness, sadness, all our qualias, our memories and our consciousness are ultimately an illusion; is there such thing as 'real' pain, happiness, et al.? Additionally, is there a possibility under this paradigm for some kind of collective consciousness or is consciousness strictly subjective? I get the feeling that saying "consciousness is an illusion" implies that it is an illusion to and from itself, hence exclusively subjective.

[DavidColemanFilms]

Is it not the case that when a physical system becomes sufficiently complex it automatically becomes what we complex physical systems call conscious?

[PissedOffGhost]

How about the most basic question; what is consciousness? 

[CDeruiter]

Is an entity considered conscious even if it is devoid of all sensory input? (i.e sight, smell, touch, etc.)

[janalexanderzak]

how can consciousness arise evolutionarily?

[alzombie]

Consciousness is everything, life arises from consciousness and consciousness connects all things at all times. Whether it is the plank scale/quantum foam, god or the Universal Field. it is the information in the energy in space that exists between us all and in all things. In every part of space, there is all the information needed to make a new universe and everything in it.

[kilovolt]

I believe that a soul does not exist. It is consciousness that a man gives his own personality.  It is like the B.I.O.S. software you developed for your self with the education and upbringing from other people and events and also in later life remains developing and updating.

[ArronCharman]

What do night terrors and sleep walking tell us about consciousness?

[CraigCline]

The universe may be sterile if not for intelligent creatures to try and understand it in depth. As many systems are reversible (symmetry) then might the universe be aware of our presence? Secondly are we essentially experiencing life as a self aware computer in a virtual landscape?

[jasbat]

Good afternoon Professor Humphrey. I've always been fascinated by the phenomenon of deja vu. Why is it, in your opinion, that we only experience déjà vu as isolated and usually infrequent episodes rather than continuously, what evolutionary "glitch" may have caused the phenomenon and does it offer any evolutionary benefits? Thanks.