469: A Mystery That Matters | Anil Seth

10% Happier with Dan Harris

10% Media, LLC

Dan Harris, Health & Fitness, Mindfulness, Dharma, Mental Health, Meditation

4.6 • 12.2K Ratings

🗓️ 4 July 2022

⏱️ 80 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How, on this planet, did we go from molten lava and shifting tectonic plates to sentient beings? How are you awake and aware right now? Who and where and what exactly is the “you” that is experiencing everything?

Guest Anil Seth says that exploring these questions can lead to real and radical changes in your life, including reducing your emotional reactivity.

Seth is a Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science and Editor-in-Chief of Neuroscience of Consciousness. His TED Talk on consciousness has been viewed over 13 million times. Most recently, he is the author of Being You: A New Science of Consciousness.

In this episode we talk about:

How brains give rise to consciousness
The bundle theory of self
The comfort in thinking of the self as impermanent
A new way to think about emotional states
How Seth’s personal experience with long COVID has changed his own sense of self
The question of whether we have free will
Whether machines can be conscious – and whether we should be afraid of artificial intelligence

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the 10% happier podcast.
0:06.0	I'm Dan Harris.
0:08.1	Hey gang, we're all familiar with the great mysteries of the universe.
0:15.4	Why are we here?
0:16.4	Is there a god who let the dogs out?
0:18.8	Today, we're talking about a huge unanswered question that doesn't always get that much
0:22.7	air time, but that is, per my guess today, a mystery that matters.
0:28.5	Those are his words, and here's the mystery.
0:31.1	How on this planet did we go from molten lava and shifting tectonic plates to sentient
0:36.8	beings to the universe knowing itself?
0:40.8	This has been called the hard problem of consciousness.
0:43.9	How are you awake and aware right now?
0:46.2	Who and where and what exactly is the you that is experiencing everything?
0:52.9	This is not purely academic.
0:54.6	Everything in this question can lead to real and radical changes in your life, including
0:59.6	not taking everything that comes up in your mind, so personally and thereby reducing your
1:03.9	emotional reactivity.
1:05.1	In fact, that is exactly what my guest says has happened for him.
1:10.4	A Neil Seth is a professor of cognitive and computational neuroscience at the University
1:16.3	of Sussex, co-director of the Sackler Center for Consciousness Science, and editor-in-chief
1:21.8	of neuroscience of consciousness.
1:24.7	His TED talk on consciousness has been viewed over 13 million times, and most recently,
	...

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