What is consciousness?

From A Question of Science by The Francis Crick Institute

November 26, 2025 · 54 min · Season 1 · Episode 11

About this episode

Professor Brian Cox and an expert panel explore the elusive science of consciousness and its implications.

Professor Brian Cox and an expert panel explore the elusive science of consciousness – what it is, how it arises, whether it can be observed in the brain, and the most compelling theories explaining it.  In a deep, often mind-bending discussion, the panel tackles the many ways of interpreting consciousness itself, and how fields like psychophysics can be used to quantify imagination and perception.     With questions from the audience, the conversation delves into hallucinations and reality, how memory helps to build identity, and whether AI could ever be conscious too.  Panellists   Anil Seth – Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience, University of Sussex Katharina Schmack – Consultant Psychiatrist and Group Leader, Neural Circuits and Immunity in Psychosis Laboratory, Francis Crick Institute Steve Fleming – Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL Alex O’Connor – Host of ‘ Within Reason ’ podcast  Watch the video version of this episode and read a transcript on our website: www.crick.ac.uk/podcast/consciousness   A BBC Studios Production for the Francis Crick…

People in this episode

Host: Brian Cox

Guests: Anil Seth, Katharina Schmack, Steve Fleming, Alex O’Connor

Topics covered

consciousness
psychophysics
AI
identity
hallucinations
perception

Keywords

consciousness
psychophysics
AI
identity
hallucinations
perception
memory
neuroscience

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Sussex, Francis Crick Institute, UCL, BBC Studios