This is The Guardian.

Take a minute to think about your brain.

It's running a stunning array of systems that are ticking along every second,

checking your organs, monitoring your

environment, and regulating your breathing.

Of course, most of the time, you're totally oblivious to them all.

But when it comes to our experiences, our memories and perceptions, it's a different story.

Why are we aware of some mental operations while others go on in the dark?

And why does certain processes feel a certain way?

Philosophers call it the hard problem of consciousness, and it's a question author and journalist

Michael Pollan sets out to explore in his new book, A World Appears, A Journey Into Consciousness.

When I met him at the Guardian offices, I wanted to focus on two of the areas he explores,

thought and feeling, on what they can teach us about the nature of this elusive phenomenon.

So today, Michael Pollan on how it feels to be conscious

and what sets human consciousness apart in the age of AI.

From The Guardian, I'm Ian Sampal, and this is Science Weekly.

Michael Pollan, welcome to Science Weekly.

Good to be here, Ian.

One of the difficulties I imagine of writing a book about consciousness is that that word means so many different things to so many people.

And I wonder if you could just give me a sense of the sort of array of experiences that really build up our conscious

experience. Yeah. So, you know, the simplest definition of consciousness is subjective experience.

You use the word experience. Experience implies there's someone to have the experience, and it is

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