THE QUEST FOR CONSCIOUSNESS - Christof Koch PhD #84

About this episode

In this episode, Freddy Drabble interviews Christof Koch about the nature of consciousness and various theories surrounding it.

What are the best competing theories of consciousness? Can we isolate where it arises and measure how complex it is? How do 5meo DMT mystical or non-separation experiences shift worldviews on consciousness? In this episode we have the very theme of the podcast’s title to delve into, the quest to understand the nature of consciousness. So we discuss mind and self, and what kind of substrate you need to allow for subjective experience; we look at the various philosophical positions on the nature of consciousness and ways to move beyond the unwinnable argument around the hard problem; we talk about extended cognition and cellular cognition; how integrated information theory attempts to quantify consciousness; the origin of meaning; psychedelics and the implications of mystical experiences of non-separation; whether AI will ever become conscious; and the implications of plant intelligence and memory. There’s only one person who can speak about such a wide range of topics this well, one of the most passionate consciousness researchers in the world for over 40 years, physicist and neuroscientist, Christof Koch. He’s Chief Scientist at the BlueDot Foundation, and has authored and…

People in this episode

Host: Freddy Drabble

Guest: Christof Koch

Topics covered

• theories of consciousness
• subjective experience
• philosophical positions
• integrated information theory
• psychedelics
• AI consciousness
• plant intelligence

Keywords

• consciousness
• 5meo DMT
• extended cognition
• cellular cognition
• mystical experiences
• AI
• plant intelligence

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: BlueDot Foundation

Books & works: The Quest for Consciousness, Confessions of a Romantic Reductionst, Then I am myself the World

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