Episode #179 - Why is consciousness something worth talking about?
Why is consciousness something worth talking about?
This episode marks a shift from exploring the history of philosophy to applying those ideas to real-world issues, focusing on the urgent and complex topic of consciousness. The discussion introduces the “hard problem” of consciousness—the mystery of how subjective experience arises from physical brain processes—and explores why this question, though theoretical, has massive implications for ethics, politics, science, and society. Drawing from thought experiments like philosophical zombies, animal minds, and artificial intelligence, the episode investigates how assumptions about consciousness shape everything from moral responsibility to public policy. It emphasizes that even if consciousness can’t be fully explained, we still make daily choices based on our beliefs about it—choices that affect how we treat animals, machines, the elderly, and even each other. By unpacking current debates in neuroscience and philosophy, the episode invites listeners to think critically about how we define consciousness and how those definitions quietly structure our world.
Further Reading:
Galileo's Error: Foundations for a New Science of Consciousness by Philip Goff (2019)
Consciousness: Creeping Up on the Hard Problem by Jeffrey Gray (2007)
Philosophers on Consciousness: Talking about the Mind edited by Jack Symes (2022)
See the full transcript here.
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