Patrick House is a neuroscientist and writer whose research focuses on free will and how mind-control parasites alter their host's behaviour. If it wasn't for us experiencing it, the universe would give us no indication that consciousness even exists. The most fundamental part of human experience has many proposed explanations, but just how well-grounded are these, and what are we missing? Expect to learn why removing parts of the brain change some aspects of the self but not all of them, what it's like for animals who can put half of their brain to sleep at once, how the brain is intimately linked with timekeeping, why almost all explanations of consciousness are unsatisfactory, what the future of brain-research looks like and much more... Sponsors: Get 10% discount & free shipping on the best Ketone Drink at https://ketone-iq.com/ (use code MW10) Get 83% discount & 3 months free from Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/MODERNWISDOM (use code MODERNWISDOM) Get 15% discount on the amazing 6 Minute Diary at https://bit.ly/diarywisdom (use code MW15) (USA - https://amzn.to/3b2fQbR and use 15MINUTES) Extra Stuff: Follow Patrick on Twitter - https://mobile.twitter.com/patrick__house Buy Patrick's Book - https://amzn.to/3zyGYbF Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom - Get in touch. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/modernwisdompodcast Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact/
Diving into the complex workings of the brain, the article discusses the evolution of the human brain, the impact of brain research on future technologies, and the possibility of experiencing multiple streams of consciousness through split-brain research.
The brain is constantly simulating and rehearsing past and future experiences. This fundamental characteristic of the brain is explored in this podcast episode, where different models and theories of consciousness are discussed.
The ultimate theory of consciousness needs to be able to encapsulate every conscious experience, from seizures to lucid dreaming, and the amount of data that needs to be explained is growing exponentially with every passing second.
The split brain theory is experimented on people who have undergone the complete division of the two brain hemispheres, and it was found that the phenomenon of phenomenal experience is happening even when the earth was cut down in half.
The brain may have a more decentralized and compensatory nature of consciousness than previously believed, in which consciousness is distributed throughout the brain and not confined to a specific region. This challenges the traditional understanding of functional specialization in the brain.
The speaker explains how the human brain desires certain things and shifts its perceptual apparatus to extract those things from the world. They also note how people are more interested in mushrooms because it's significantly more enjoyable than constantly feeling tired.
The speaker shares his insights on public speaking, emphasizing the importance of the physical components of our body in delivering a good speech, and suggests practicing to improve the rhythm and cadence of speaking.
The human brain has quirks that can be compared to a power station, where it sends one copy of its motor output to the muscles and another copy to the sensory parts of the brain. Neuroscientists also found that surprise endings in language and conversation are fascinating windows into how the brain works.
The history of pinball has interesting analogies to the evolution of bilateria and biological systems. Pinball started as something you could not control, but over time it became more controllable with the introduction of narratives around the game.
The discovery of electricity, steam, quantum stuff, and deep learning has always ended up being something that the brain is already doing. The brain computes the arc and the trajectory of a ball without us even realizing it.
The brain is constantly detecting new information and learning from it, as shown by its ability to detect surprising endings to sentences. Scientists are exploring how the brain may already be doing things we have yet to discover, such as the role of microtubules in individual cells.