Stanislas Dehaene: Consciousness and the Brain: Deciphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts (2014); $27.95 hardcover, $20.93 at Amazon. Publisher’s ad-copy: A breathtaking look at the new science that can track consciousness deep in the brain How does our brain generate a conscious thought? And why does so much of our knowledge remain unconscious? Thanks … Read more
This is a 10-part series from The Open University, featuring Professor Russell Stannard exploring the BIG questions – What is consciousness? What is free will? What caused the Big Bang? What is time? Each “episode” is relatively short, between 7 and 14 minutes, so these are bite size examinations of the big questions. The Boundaries … Read more
From Scientific American, this is a short but cool discussion between Joseph LeDoux and Michael Gazzaniga on the topic of free will – Gazzaniga wrote an excellent book on the topic, Who’s in Charge?: Free Will and the Science of the Brain (2011). Free Will: Is Your Brain the Boss of You? [Video] By Mark … Read more
What does it mean to be you? How is it that the physical matter making up the many neurons in your brain somehow produce your subjective, conscious experience? Are your neurons themselves conscious? While we’re at it, what exactly is consciousness? Where does your sense of self come from? Do you actually have a self? … Read more