Podcast Notes Key Takeaways

• The hard problem of consciousness:
  • Why is it that a configuration of non-conscious material gets configured in such a way that the matter itself entails an experience of being that matter?
• To gauge consciousness, ask:
  • “Is there something that it’s like to be X right now? Is X having an experience?”
• It’s not conclusive that consciousness actually serves a purpose
• Panpsychism is the idea that consciousness is a fundamental feature of ALL matter 
  • As an example – there’s some level of experience/there is something that it is like to be a thermostat (no matter how minimal and completely unlike a human’s idea of consciousness)
• The ideas of free will and the self are both illusions
• We should be teaching children at a much earlier age how to self-regulate emotions by becoming aware of them

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In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with his wife, Annaka Harris, about her new book, "Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind."

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