Nicolas Humphrey - Is Consciousness an Illusion?

Is consciousness something special in the universe, its own category, irreducible to physical laws, a carrier of meaning and purpose? Or is consciousness a mere artifact of the brain, a by-product of evolution, a superstition exaggerated by human misperception? If you think or hope consciousness is special, then you should surely be a skeptic.



Nicholas Humphrey is an English psychologist, based in Cambridge, who is known for his work on the evolution of human intelligence and consciousness.


Closer to Truth presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.

[jamesfyffe]

You have to have a consciousness to have an illusion.

[rsr]

When scientists, such as Nicolas Humphrey, preface their sentences with “I believe…” and “I hope…”, they are articulating beliefs, not proven facts. However, it is refreshing to hear a scientist acknowledge that, like most religions, materialism as a philosophy is just a belief and is not grounded in certainty! Therefore, we must surely be as skeptical of this belief as we are of any other belief.

[suncat]

Experiencing an illusion requires consciousness. Consciousness is only an "illusion" to a materialist, which is further evidence that materialism is a bankrupt paradigm.

[djgenetic]

He knows the answer, but he denies it, because it does not fit his beliefs.

[chris.rousseau]

I have a different interpretation than many of the commenters here of Humphrey's statement that consciousness is an illusion. I think he means the brain tricks us into feeling that consciousness is separate from a physical process. He does not mean that consciousness is illusory and does not exist. He starts out by putting himself into the context of a materialist, meaning that everything that happens is rooted in physicality. If everything has a physical basis, consciousness also has a physical basis. Since we feel that consciousness is disconnected from physical activity, *that* is the illusion.

[l.ronhubbard]

I've said it before and I'll say it again; how could consciousness possibly be an illusion when consciousness is the mechanism through which we perceive illusion?

[davidchamberlain]

This world is all a fleeting show! For man's illusion is limited by time!.but not in eternity.!...

[uapuat]

Materialism is as much an article of faith as anything else.

[rotorblade]

“Am I thinking of I’m just thinking that I’m thinking?” 😂
Bill Nye
What do you mean by “an illusion”?

[ssudhak]

The more I see scientist trying to explain conciousness the more I start to believe in spirituality. Its like science cant explain it so it must be illusion.

[bachdeanOnline]

This scientist needs to take philosophy class. He doesn't realize that the moment he stated that "consciousness is an illusion" all his statements after that can be thrown out of the window since everything that emerge from illusion has Zero truth value, including his thought.

[hershchat]

So long as NO ONE knows, or can prove what is consciousness, you’d think we’d at least be clear as to what it is not. Our consciousness is not our body. It is not our senses. The eye doesn’t receive the vision that we do from its means. Consciousness is not irreducibly our intelligence. Where intelligence is the problem solving faculty, it is not essentially the seat of awareness. Computers, without being aware, can yet beat us in specific intelligence. It is also not an identifiable mechanism in the mind. We are unable to point to any specific neuronal activity and identify the production of cognition, of consciousness. Also, we have NO model of what an “awareness engine” would be like. Charles Babbage has a model of and theory for what a computer will do to convert data inputs to computed outputs. There is no underpinning theory as to what inputs will generate consciousness, and how and, and this is critical, FOR WHOM.

If now we step into defining consciousness. We all experience it, but what we experience is the sense “am”. That is the closest we get to consciousness. Not “I am”, where the “I” identification often involves our body, thoughts, and/ or emotions. Just “am”. Where I am is the most common attribution of awareness, the “I” sometimes disappears— in dreamless sleep, or when rapt in an experience, for example— but the “am” still abides.

This is an essentially and unchangeably a subjective state. The sense “Am” is what is called consciousness.

There is no test for “Am”. While we know what it is to be aware, we have no way of confirming if the claimed awareness of another is real. I am not saying we doubt, but that we believe by analogy to our own subjective awareness.

None can, nor need to tell me what it is to be aware. Yet, no one can exactly define, detect, or produce it.

That’s what we know about consciousness.

I happen to hold that consciousness is a non-material, inevitable, and fundamental reality of the universe.

These are some of the things

[SPX]

He's deeply confused as his beliefs are ridden with paradoxes. He needs a much more comprehensive approach to the subject at hand which is not trivial at all.

[videosbymathew]

No, of course not. This a wrong way to phrase the question. This way implies consciousness doesn't exist or is somehow outside the mind, which of course isn't the case. We know we're conscious, so by defacto standard it cannot be an illusion. "Is Consciousness What We Think It is?" That's a better and more accurate way to phrase the question.

[Wykesidefruitmachine]

This is only true to him because it's his own perception of the sensation of consciousness?

[yytiak]

Define yourself (for example "I'm materialist") means limit yourself. Then you can even say "No" to what reason and experience is telling you just to keep your self-defined "me". So sad.

[eternalsoul]

Materialism is an illusion like a dream but an evident dream. 😊

[maskedmarauder]

Illusions only happen during consciousness.

[achyuthcn]

If Consciousness is illusion, which real Consciousness is experiencing the illusory Consciousness.???

[jamesnordblom]

If consciousness is an illusion, and as Einstein said, "time is an illusion", then doesn't that mean that all is illusion and therefore nothing is real?