Most of us have experienced moments of exquisite pleasure when fitting that last piece into a jigsaw puzzle, or writing that last number in a Sudoku grid. From a biological point of view, what brings us pleasure is usually related to what keeps us alive and enables us to reproduce. But the enjoyment received via …
Category: consciousness
Aug 30 2016
Dreams and the Outside World
When I was 13, I once dreamt that a beautiful woman was sensuously stroking the palm of my hand, as a family of fridges hummed in the background. In reality, a huge, buzzing wasp had landed on my right hand. It idly walked around for a bit, and then stung me. After the shock had …
Apr 14 2016
The Dream of a Silicon Mind
Computer Consciousness? Last month I gave a public talk at the Salon Club in London about computer consciousness, as part of a lively evening of talks exploring on the ways that artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly encroaching on our lives. One key question that served as a foundation for the evening’s discussion was the main …
Sep 04 2012
Official book launch today
My book, THE RAVENOUS BRAIN, officially comes out today (in the US at least – 13th Sep in the UK/Europe in hardback, but the Kindle edition is available everywhere now, I think). While I’m writing, I thought I’d take the opportunity to update you on some of the events surrounding the launch. The book has …
Jul 20 2012
The borders surrounding our conscious world (Notes from a Consciousness Conference Pt 3)
Go to the nearest window and stare for a moment at an object outside – maybe a car if one is nearby. Now that you’re back, it’s an easy task to recall the color of the car, isn’t it? But how much of the surrounding objects were you aware of? We all feel that …
Jul 17 2012
Notes from a consciousness conference – Part 2: The neural symphony of consciousness fading
This is the second part of my report on the recent consciousness science conference (ASSC) in Brighton, UK. After the first day, where I attended workshops on the science of hypnosis and magic, the four day conference began in earnest. Fascinating piecemeal new details about consciousness were revealed at regular intervals throughout the conference. For …
Jul 12 2012
Notes from a consciousness conference – Part 1: Hypnosis & Magic
Over the previous week I attended the annual conference for the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (ASSC), which last year was based at the exotic location of Kyoto in Japan, but this time was hosted by my own department in Brighton, in the UK. Academic conferences are an intense week that I always …
Apr 27 2012
Introduction to Consciousness
Consciousness is not magic! This is my first blog on the study of consciousness, as part of a series of posts planned. I feel very lucky, both to work as a research scientist at the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, and to have been given the chance to publish a book on consciousness for a …
Mar 02 2012
Introduction to the site and blog
After a busy time of late with a baby daughter to help look after, some demanding academic tasks, and the final revisions of my first book to hand in, I now have a bit of spare time to start the kind of website I’ve been meaning to write for years. You’ll already be able to …