What is consciousness? How does it arise? And why does it exist? People take their experience of being in the world for granted. But the very existence of consciousness raises profound questions: Why would any collection of matter in the universe be conscious? How are people able to think about this? And why should they? In this wonderfully accessible book, Annaka Harris guides listeners through the evolving definitions, philosophies, and scientific findings that probe the limited understanding of consciousness. Where does it reside, and what gives rise to it? Could it be an illusion or a universal property of all matter? As listeners try to understand consciousness, they must grapple with how to define it and, in the age of artificial intelligence, who or what might possess it.
|