When Life Gives You a Brain

Pain is a strange sensation unlike any other we experience. While most of our senses have a clear, specific stimulus they’re responding to, pain doesn’t play by those rules. Vision is all about light, picking up on a certain part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Hearing is all about sound waves. But pain? Pain doesn’t have a single special stimulus. It’s often a response to tissue damage or the th...

Go on… pinch yourself. Not too hard, but hard enough to make it hurt — a little. Philosopher Brie Gertler proposed a new thought experiment that asks us to do just that. And then ask — Could that pain you feel exist without your body? I suspect you may have a strong intuition as to whether such a scenario is possible or not. This article is part 3 of our series on the thought experiments in the ph...

Remember the movie Her ? The film follows Theodore, a regular guy, as he falls for Samantha, an incredibly human-like (or super human-like) AI who exists only as a voice in Theodore’s ear. The movie cleverly blends futuristic tech with philosophical questions about the nature of mind and consciousness. But more than that, it raises questions about what it means to have a genuine connection. This a...

Last week, we had some fun with philosophical zombies—hypothetical creatures that are physically identical to you but lack conscious experience. Essentially, p-zombies are a body without conscious experiences . And we asked whether such a thing might be possible. This week, we're going to (kind of) flip the question and ask: is it possible to have a mind without a body? The concept of a mind exist...

Imagine a zombie. Not a flesh-eating monster that you might find in a Hollywood blockbuster (or the feature image of this article), but a philosophical zombie. A being just like you but with no conscious experience. These hypothetical entities are the subject of one of philosophy's most talked about thought experiments. The philosophical zombie argument is designed to challenge physicalism — the i...

Crows are surprisingly brainy birds. This week, I got curious about the fascinating world of crow intelligence. I wanted to explore just how smart these black-feathered birds really are and whether we can detect consciousness in crows. Are crows more than just clever mimics? Let's find out! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus ep...

Thought Experiments [Part 1] We humans love thinking about what is possible. We wonder about all sorts of things — is it possible to travel at the speed of light? Is it possible to create artificial intelligence that understands human emotions? What would the world look like if Hitler wasn't born or if the dinosaurs had never gone extinct? Is it possible for humans to live forever or to colonise o...

Ex Machina raises fascinating philosophical questions about consciousness, humanity, and the ethics of artificial intelligence. At its core, the film is a modern take on the Turing test. But Ex Machina also raises questions about what it means to be human. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit suzitravis.substack.c...

Normally, we don't question whether our body belongs to us. Normally, we see ourselves as unified with our body, occupying the same space. But our sense of body isn't as fixed as we might think. People can experience out-of-body experiences , where their sense of self becomes detached from their sense of body. These experiences are often vivid and life-changing. And for many, the experience is evi...

Physicalism [Part 7]. As a theory of consciousness, non-reductive materialism tries to give us everything -- our intuitive ideas about consciousness and a scientific explanation. But does it succeed? Can we have it all? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit suzitravis.substack.com

Defining consciousness can be challenging. Attempts to pin it down often ignite heated debates that frequently end in stalemates. This week, I explore how science thinks about consciousness This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit suzitravis.substack.com

Physicalism [Part 6]. What if everything you think you know about your own mind is an illusion? Eliminative materialism makes this radical claim. They claim that all your beliefs, desires, thoughts, fears, sensations, and pains — don’t actually exist. A radical claim is putting it mildly. It seems absolutely absurd! But despite apparent absurdity, eliminative materialism remains a significant theo...

We perceive the world as a seemingly coherent unified stream of awareness. This apparent unity is so fundamental to our experience that we rarely question it. But there is a problem with this intuitive view. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit suzitravis.substack.com

The brain is a computer… or so they say. During my undergraduate studies, I often heard the mind explained as the “ software ” that runs on the “ hardware ” of the brain. But is this true? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit suzitravis.substack.com

Physicalism [Part 5]. Functionalism is currently the most popular theory of consciousness. It's the idea that consciousness — all our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs are not defined by what they are made of but by what they do. This theory is also behind the idea that AI might be conscious (now or sometime in the future) because, given the right type of machine, it could replicate the functional s...

Physicalism [Part 4]. This week, we’re exploring functionalism — currently the most popular theory in the philosophy of mind and in scientific fields that study consciousness — like cognitive neuroscience . But just because a theory is popular doesn’t make it true. So, let’s explore the merits of the functionalist’s claims. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other sub...

How intelligent are octopuses? And how many brains do they actually have? This week we are exploring the wonderful mind of the octopus. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit suzitravis.substack.com

Physicalism [Part 3]. This week, let’s examine reductive materialism (often called the identity theory ). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit suzitravis.substack.com

On a cold winter morning, the bustling courtyard in Oxford filled with townspeople. They had come for one reason — to watch a young woman be hanged for murdering her newborn child. The problem was she was led to the gallows for a crime she did not commit. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit suzitravis.substack.co...

This week we explore how scientists are using computer code and optogenetics to restore sight to the blind and improve computer vision. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit suzitravis.substack.com

Physicalism [Part 2]. Ready for a mind-bending trip into the levels of reality? Where does reality begin and end? ‘…would understanding all the atoms and their relative positions explain how we remember our first kiss or how the ocean smells after a storm? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit suzitravis.substack.c...

Merging brains with machines! Will the 2020s see a boom in developing and using neurotechnologies like BCIs? New technologies, materials, computational power, and algorithms are making once-impossible things now possible. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit suzitravis.substack.com

Physicalism [Part 1]. Regular newsletter readers will be aware of my series on The Five Most Controversial Ideas in the Study of Consciousness . This article can be thought of as an extension of that series and the introduction to a new series on physicalism — the theory of consciousness accepted by almost all neuroscientists and most philosophers. This is a public episode. If you would like to di...

Do all animals dream? Why do we dream? What would it mean if files could dream? This week, we tackle some of the big questions about sleep and dreaming. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit suzitravis.substack.com

In this article, we will explore information according to Giulio Tononi’s Integrated Information Theory (IIT) — a popular yet controversial theory of consciousness. You will notice both Information Theory and IIT use similar words when describing what they mean by information, but you will very quickly notice their conceptions of information are radically different. This is a public episode. If yo...