The New Science of Consciousness || Anil Seth

Today we welcome Dr. Anil Seth. He is the Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he is also Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. His research has been supported by the European Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. Dr. Seth’s 2017 main-stage TED talk is one of the most popular science TED talks, with more than 13 million views. His latest book, which has received numerous accolades, is called Being You: A New Science of Consciousness.

In this episode, I talk to Dr. Anil Seth about the new science of consciousness. Although we don’t exactly know how or why consciousness exists, Dr. Seth thinks this shouldn’t stop us from exploring its properties. One of the things he explores in his research is the conditions for consciousness. Everyone has their own way of perceiving the world. Perceptual diversity exists and we would be misguided to try and standardize consciousness on a single dimension. We also touch on the topics of intelligence, panpsychism, free will, AI technology, and the after life.

Twitter: @anilkseth

Topics

02:08 The hard problem of consciousness

07:02 The value of inner experiences

12:22 Experiencing is consciousness

15:51 Panpsychism

19:01 The condition for consciousness

21:38 Neuroscience of consciousness

27:32 Perceptual diversity

37:09 Perception Census

43:00 Can we measure consciousness?

49:13 Individual differences in experiencing

56:40 Experience of free will is not an illusion

1:09:24 Cybernetic free will

1:12:55 Can artificial intelligence produce consciousness?

1:24:24 The desire to persist


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[Michael-cpmo]

Scott's hair is absolutely fabulous today :)

[SylviaOgola]

I'm reading his book right now on consciousness and it's really good. He has a way of explaining concepts in such a seemless way.

[christophertongue]

I'm about 48 minutes in and I'm fascinated by the idea of individual differences, nonpathological neurodiversity, and consciousness, A metaphor comes to mind of a large container and several small containers which contain different processes, amount of tissue, types of cells and/ or types of processing which when poured into the larger container rise to a volume which then has certain emergent properties but varies in how much each element contributes to the entire "volume" so to speak of conscious experience. Needless to say these smaller portions may also have different weights etc. It gets complicated quickly of course and one cannot simply imagine the container as isolated from its surroundings. As a practitioner of clinical neuropsychology this is yet another reminder that epistemic humility is required although my referring colleagues would like certainty if possible every time. Also yet another reminder of the limits of psychometrics. Great discussion folks. Have enjoyed reading both of you. CT

[christophertongue]

Got to the end of the talk and just wanted to throw you a famous quote. " we have two lives and the second one begins when we realize we only have one - Confucius. Thanks again for a fun discussion.

[venkataponnaganti]

It is a great and challenging conversation.

[aminam]

1:13:00 general anesthesia has similar affects of psychedelic and meditation but it disconnects consciousness type one completely.

[michellep]

Just finished listening to this podcast and found the subject quite fascinating. As a lay person though I struggled to understand some of the subject matter. Could anyone recommend anything to watch/read/listen to that would help my understanding? Maybe something basic to help build my knowledge? Many thanks

[aminam]

46:00 the ape here talks about consciousness type one which triggered by action (more details were written), the ape can’t differentiate between consciousness type one and type two (there was more details about this too)

[aminam]

46:30 here the apes probably work on polluted version of human thoughts (consciousness type one and type two)

[aminam]

1:32:00 the irrational apes uses thievery as patching techniques.

[aminam]

1:22:00 irrational apes want to think!

[aminam]

1:03:00 this an irrational ape, can irrational apes with defective logic and destructive irrational meanness of the apes defy human intelligence?!

[aminam]

52:00 human already wrote about that (the most important), it’s so dangerous to steal and pollute that too (the constructive human intelligence and logic and the destructive irrational meanness and logic of the irrational apes are completely different):
forget about what I have written about how self concept generates both consciousness type one and personal identity (and that story of that dialogue in the apes’ minds).
the real split of personality is between self concept and it’s simulation (personal identity).
that’s where the irrational apes lost all human characteristics such as morals, values, principles and mind to maintain them, there where the destructive irrational meanness played the main role! environment, societies, traditions, …etc (in essence all the irrational apes are the same).
all the irrational apes on the planet of the apes share the same core (built-in morals and values) but because the irrational apes are unaware of anything they ruined everything!
this existence is very sophisticated, only rational intelligent entities can survive.
Human thoughts are so valuable, what is mentioned above could take thousands of years of human life to figure that out (actually they have no chance to recognise that).
Human thoughts must reach future generations clean (intact) that is essential for them to survive (they are your descendants).
there are more details.

[dogmablues]

It seems to me, oblivion requires awareness, so there can only be infinite consciousness. Perhaps if we accept the inevitability of life, we would not cling so tightly to material existence, and evolve our quality of consciousness (less of a transcendence - more of a return). In regard to AI and consciousness - they're two black boxes in a black room.

[aminam]

45:40 this irrational ape is a real dilemma! there’s no difference in how self concept generates consciousness type one and personal identity.
consciousness type one is just a tool to recognise the inner and outer world, it’s the most important scientific secret, to decipher consciousness type one it could take up to thousands of years (continuous scientific hard work by real scientists).

[bb-he]

Super discussion guys. Loved it. But I think you both misunderstand Sam Harris and his view on free will. As humans we are a function of our genes, our environment, and the interactions between them. We don’t have the slightest role in choosing our parents or where we were raised. Free will is not illusion, it’s an illusion of an illusion. This is Sam’s point.

[aminam]

1:26:00 read carefully O irrationals: the irrational apes here are talking about consciousness type one and consciousness type one is just a process! How to deal with the apes!

[aminam]

The irrational apes speak a different language (irrationality itself) that what attracts them to each other!

[WakeUpEternals]

Incorrect gentlemen. About everything.
We are consciousness.

[aminam]

1:12:00 turn anything that their little minds can’t comprehend into illusion ! Easy peasy!