A Mystery That Matters | Anil Seth

About this episode

<p><em>New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.</em></p> <p><em>---</em></p> <p><br /></p> <p>How, on this planet, did we go from molten lava and shifting tectonic plates to sentient beings? How are you awake and aware right now? Who and where and what exactly is the "you" that is experiencing everything?</p> <p><br /></p> <p>Guest Anil Seth says that exploring these questions can lead to real and radical changes in your life, including reducing your emotional reactivity.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>Seth is a <a href= "https://profiles.sussex.ac.uk/p22981-anil-seth" rel= "noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex</a>, Co-Director of the <a href="http://www.sussex.ac.uk/sackler/" rel= "noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science</a> and Editor-in-Chief of <a href= "https://academic.oup.com/nc" rel="noopener noreferrer" target= "_blank">Neuroscience of Consciousness</a>. His <a href= "https://www.ted.com/talks/anil_seth_your_brain_hallucinates_your_conscious_reality" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">TED Talk</a> on consciousness has been viewed over 13 million times. Most recently, he is the author of <a href= "https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53036979-being-you" rel= "noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Being You: A New Science of Consciousness</em></a><em>.</em></p> <p><br /></p> <p>In this episode we talk about: </p> <p><br /></p> <ul> <li>How brains give rise to consciousness </li> <li>The bundle theory of self</li> <li>The comfort in thinking of the self as impermanent</li> <li>A new way to think about emotional states</li> <li>How Seth's personal experience with long COVID has changed his own sense of self</li> <li>The question of whether we have free will</li> <li>Whether machines can be conscious – and whether we should be afraid of artificial intelligence</li> </ul> <p><br /></p> <p><br /></p> <p><br /></p> <p><strong>Full Shownotes:</strong> <a href= "https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/anil-seth-469" rel= "noopener noreferrer" target= "_blank">https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/anil-seth-469</a></p>