But ultimately, of course, as scientists, we want to understand,

well, what is it about a piece of matter like the brain that in principle has to obey

the same loss of physics as any other piece of matter? It's a piece of furniture of the universe if you want.

What is it about this piece of matter that gives rise to this experience?

Because experience seems to defy the conventional, it's a huge challenge to science because if you look at the

foundational equation of physics, quantum mechanics and general relativity, you look at the

periodic table of chemistry, you look at the endless

ATGC chatter of the nucleotides in our genes, well nowhere there is

consciousness. But here I am, wake up every morning not there and

suddenly I'm there. I have memories I know what I have to do I may have some

feelings in my body because I didn't sleep enough or whatever but I have experiences and that's the

question how do those experiences get into the world

welcome to brain science the podcast that explores how recent discoveries in

neuroscience are unraveling the mystery of how our brain makes us human. I'm your

host Dr. Ginger Campbell and this is episode 163. My guest today is Dr.

Christoph Kolk who is currently the chief scientist and president of the

Allen Institute for Brain Science.

We'll be talking about his newest book, The Feeling of Life itself,

Why Consciousness is Widespread, but can't be computed.

Before we jump into the interview,

I want to remind you that you can get complete show notes

and episode transcripts at my website at brain science

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