The Mystery of Consciousness with Annaka Harris | Lights On

Commune with Jeff Krasno

Commune Media

Health & Fitness, Society & Culture

4.6 • 654 Ratings

🗓️ 1 May 2025

⏱️ 91 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of the Commune Podcast, Jeff Krasno sits down with New York Times bestselling author Annaka Harris to explore one of the most profound and enduring questions in science and philosophy: What is consciousness?

Annaka is the author of Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind and the writer and producer of Lights On, a new audio documentary series that investigates the deepest mysteries of mind, matter, and awareness. Together, Jeff and Annaka examine the "hard problem" of consciousness—asking whether it’s simply a byproduct of brain activity or a fundamental aspect of reality itself.

This conversation is a mind-bending journey to the frontiers of neuroscience, philosophy, and the very nature of being human.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Commune podcast. My name is Jeff Krasno. Today on the show, I tackle the hard problem of consciousness with Onika Harris.
0:18.7	Anika is the New York Times best-selling author of Conscious,
0:21.6	a brief guide to the fundamental mystery of the mind,
0:25.6	and writer and producer of the new audio documentary series Lights On.
0:30.6	This new project Lights On is a fascinating journey
0:34.6	through the deepest mysteries of the mind and of matter.
0:39.8	With help from some of today's most brilliant scientists and philosophers, Anika,
0:44.9	asks the questions that have long alluded simple answers, questions that we explore today
0:50.3	together on the show, like what is consciousness?
0:56.3	Is it the product of complex processes in the brain, or is it a fundamental aspect to the universe? Does consciousness exist across the
1:02.7	spectrum? Can trees and plants be conscious? And will science ever really explain why there is something that it's like to be you?
1:14.7	We discuss the illusion of self, the relationship between consciousness and mortality awareness,
1:20.6	and of course we poke at AI, and whether or not artificial intelligence has the potential to be conscious.
1:29.8	This was a fascinating conversation that will be mind-bending at times, be warned.
1:35.3	So without further delay, I present to you, Onika Harris. Monica, welcome.
1:53.6	Thank you.
1:54.9	Thank you.
1:55.8	It's so great to meet you.
1:56.1	Yeah.
1:56.5	I've been looking forward to this conversation, but with actually a slight degree of
2:03.3	apprehension to be honest with you. Yes. Largely because conversations about consciousness
2:12.8	can be really tricky to have. Yeah.
	...

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