Joscha Bach: The Self Is a Story Your Brain Tells Itself

Joscha Bach: The Self Is a Story Your Brain Tells Itself

From Into the Impossible With Brian Keating by Big Bang Productions Inc.

May 15, 2026 · 1h 31m

About this episode

Joscha Bach discusses the nature of consciousness and the self as a narrative constructed by the brain.

The AI theorist who thinks consciousness is a software agent — and that God, AGI, and the apocalypse are all pointing at the same thing. What you think is "the world" isn't outside you. It's a simulation your brain produces, and the self that experiences it may not exist in the way you think it does.J oscha Bach is an AI researcher and cognitive scientist whose work sits at the intersection of computation, consciousness, and the architecture of the mind. He's one of the few thinkers willing to explain what experience actually is in mechanistic terms — without retreating to mysticism or handwaving. We cover: -why the world you perceive is a model your brain generates — not the physical world itself -what's actually wrong with Roger Penrose's quantum consciousness theory -why simulating a connectome won't produce behavior -what neuroscience is still missing; whether AGI is possible on current hardware -how religion functions as an operating system for civilizations -why atheists like Sam Harris may be more Protestant than they realize The self is not the substrate. You are not your neurons — you're the pattern running on them. KEY TAKEAWAYS 00:00 You Don't Live in the World — It…

People in this episode

Host: Brian Keating

Guest: Joscha Bach

Topics covered

  • consciousness
  • AI theory
  • simulation
  • neuroscience
  • self
  • religion
  • AGI

Keywords

  • consciousness
  • simulation
  • AGI
  • neuroscience
  • self
  • Roger Penrose
  • religion
  • AI

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Big Bang Productions Inc., AGI, neuroscience, Einstein

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