Anil Seth: Why Consciousness Is a Controlled Hallucination

I personally subscribe to The Economist. TOE listeners get 35% off the annual subscription. No other podcast has this! https://economist.com/TOE Every episode days early, ad-free, plus my essays: https://curtjaimungal.substack.com/subscribe Anil Seth (University of Sussex) explains the Bayesian brain model and challenges Dennett's views on consciousness They explore perception, illusion, free will, and even the prospects of mind uploading, weaving together neuroscience, philosophy, and AI.

0:00 Introduction
1:08 What's alluring about "consciousness" research?
1:03 51 Defining "phenomenology"
2:05 56 What does it mean to "explain" consciousness?
3:14 52 Difference between illusion and hallucination
4:18 16 If perception is tuned for fitness, why care about objective reality?
5:24 44 Applying Donald Hoffman's ideas to Anil Seth's
6:33 39 Does time actually slow down, during high valence emotions
7:36 31 Details on the Bayesian model of consciousness
8:41 50 Can you be wrong about your own perceptions?
9:46 29 Myth of left brain vs. right brain
10:54 31 The role of the "ego" and the loss of it
11:56 45 Consciousness and quantum mechanics
13:00 37 Sapir Whorf hypothesis and Curt's polemics
14:10 24 Language and conscious experience
15:13 33 Can I "see" without noticing? What's the difference?
16:17 27 The Bayesian model of consciousness (and its limitations)
17:25 16 How does the Bayesian model deal with mental disorders
18:36 26 Gödel's incompleteness theorem's implications on the computational nature of the brain
19:42 23 Can we upload our minds? (a neuroscientific perspective)
20:45 48 Integrated Information Theory and measuring Phi
21:50 21 Peter Lush's recent paper and undermining the rubber hand illusion
22:55 09 Placebo effect and hypnosis
24:01 25 Experiments involving psychedelics (LSD and microdosing)
25:04 01 Anil's personal insights from psychedelics
26:06 18 Anil's views on Daniel Dennett's "Explaining Consciousness"
27:12 26 Compatibilism, free will, and Douglas Hofstadter
28:15 21 Global Workspace Theory
29:19 45 Anil Seth and Pragmatism
30:22 39 Curt's list of final questions, repudiated
31:23 35 How do the various AI architectures relate to the brain? (GAN / Convultional / etc.)
32:32 17 How does Anil stay so fit?
33:33 44 Comporting rationalism with irrational behaviors

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Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal features long-form, technically detailed interviews with leading researchers in physics, mathematics, consciousness, and philosophy, exploring topics at the level of active research. For academics, graduate students, and anyone seeking depth beyond popular science.

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