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What is Consciousness? Is it unique to human cognition or is it universal and permeating all things? Is it an epiphenomenon of brain activity or a universal constant? Do all things ‘have’ consciousness or are they ‘of’, ‘in’, or ‘by’ consciousness? Who and what are we, humankind, in the grander process of Consciousness itself? What is the nature of this whole “Reality” game?

For the 50th episode of Adventures Through The Mind podcast, we welcome philosopher Bernardo Kastrup onto the show to address these questions and more.

Bernardo Kastrup has a Ph.D. in computer engineering with specializations in artificial intelligence and reconfigurable computing. He has worked as a scientist in some of the world’s foremost research laboratories, including the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and the Philips Research Laboratories (where the “Casimir Effect” of Quantum Field Theory was discovered). He has authored many academic papers and books on philosophy and science. Bernardo’s three most recent books are More Than Allegory, Brief Peeks Beyond and Why Materialism Is Baloney. (see below for links to his books)

Episode Breakdown

Building conscious machines.
What is consciousness?
The hard problem of Consciousness.
It’s not Panpsychism.
Do rocks and trees have consciousness? How about weather patterns and neurons?
Differentiating ‘conscious experience’ from ‘consciousness’.
The subjectivity of objective reality.
God suffers from dissociated identity disorder.
Autonomous human awareness, nestled in consciousness.
Filtering the mind at large.
The relationship between brain activity and subjective inner life.
What psychedelics show us about the nature of conscious awareness and brain activity.
Metacognition and the default mode network.
Physicalism as a neurotic defense mechanism.