The inner zombie
Extracts from Chapter 13: The Consciousness Element I’m driving along New Hampshire’s long, winding, and rather monotonous Route 4, on my way to teach a class at the men’s prison in Concord. It’s easy...
View ArticleOur malleable memories
Ask people what might constitute the basis of a permanent self, and often they’ll point to their memories. We tend to assume that a memory is like a DVD recording — stable, permanent, and unchanging....
View ArticleWhat is consciousness?
There’s an interesting post at Big Think about consciousness: What does it mean to be conscious? It’s a question that philosophers and scientists have puzzled over perhaps since there have been...
View ArticleOur iPhones, Our Selves
There’s an interesting post in the NYT today, arguing that we could think of our electronic devices as extensions of our minds. Brains play a major role, of course. They are the locus of great...
View ArticleSplit brain with one half atheist and one half theist
Here’s a fascinating snippet from neurologist VS Ramachandran, talking about a split-brain patient. The patient’s right brain believed in God, but the more rational left brain was atheist. Ramachandran...
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Who enjoys music?
One of the most interesting things that happens in my meditation practice is when I observe experiences arising and realize that I’m not making them happen. I come to the realization that I do not...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Process-Oriented Externalist Solution to the Hard Problem
Riccardo Manzotti of the University of Milan has an interesting comic(!) purporting to explain the “hard problem” of philosophy, which is how experience can arise from matter. It’s very much along the...
View ArticleYour mind is not your own
Smithsonian.com has an article called “The Ten Most Disturbing Scientific Discoveries,” the sixth of which is very pertinent to the exploration of consciousness that you’ll find in Living as a River....
View Article“Your plastic self”
There’s a nice article by Mo Costandi on the plasticity of the sense we have of being embodied selves. The article covers some of the same research that I discuss in Living as a River: Who – or what –...
View ArticleThe inner zombie
Extracts from Chapter 13: The Consciousness ElementI’m driving along New Hampshire’s long, winding, and rather monotonous Route 4, on my way to teach a class at the men’s prison in Concord. It’s easy...
View ArticleOur malleable memories
Ask people what might constitute the basis of a permanent self, and often they’ll point to their memories. We tend to assume that a memory is like a DVD recording — stable, permanent, and unchanging....
View ArticleWhat is consciousness?
There’s an interesting post at Big Think about consciousness:What does it mean to be conscious? It’s a question that philosophers and scientists have puzzled over perhaps since there have been...
View ArticleOur iPhones, Our Selves
There’s an interesting post in the NYT today, arguing that we could think of our electronic devices as extensions of our minds.Brains play a major role, of course. They are the locus of great...
View ArticleSplit brain with one half atheist and one half theist
Here’s a fascinating snippet from neurologist VS Ramachandran, talking about a split-brain patient. The patient’s right brain believed in God, but the more rational left brain was atheist.Ramachandran...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Who enjoys music?
One of the most interesting things that happens in my meditation practice is when I observe experiences arising and realize that I’m not making them happen. I come to the realization that I do not...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Process-Oriented Externalist Solution to the Hard Problem
Riccardo Manzotti of the University of Milan has an interesting comic(!) purporting to explain the “hard problem” of philosophy, which is how experience can arise from matter.It’s very much along the...
View ArticleYour mind is not your own
Smithsonian.com has an article called “The Ten Most Disturbing Scientific Discoveries,” the sixth of which is very pertinent to the exploration of consciousness that you’ll find in Living as a River.6....
View Article“Your plastic self”
There’s a nice article by Mo Costandi on the plasticity of the sense we have of being embodied selves. The article covers some of the same research that I discuss in Living as a River:Who – or what –...
View Article
