This is Going to Hurt. Everything You Know is False. | Annaka Harris on Impact Theory
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Published 2020-02-11
What if everything you think you know about yourself is wrong? Most people have the intuition that they have a self separate from their body and brain, and that they can control their experience with conscious will. But what if that isn’t true? Best-selling author Annaka Harris is devoted to challenging our deepest intuitions about the nature of consciousness and the self. On this episode of Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu, she discusses experiments on the cutting edge of physics and neuroscience, and explains why those experiments matter. The result is a fascinating conversation that will leave you questioning some of your most cherished, comforting intuitions.
SHOW NOTES:
Consciousness is exactly as mysterious as it seems to be [2:29]
Annaka defines what consciousness is [4:54]
Tom and Annaka discuss the story of Phineas Gage [6:31]
Annaka talks about the difference between consciousness and high level thought [9:14]
There is a basic level of consciousness that doesn’t involve awareness of consciousness [11:35]
Challenging intuitions is a basic element of the scientific method [14:58]
Is there outer evidence of conscious experience? Is consciousness doing anything? [18:46]
Upending comfortable intuitions is eventually a freeing experience [20:57]
Annaka explains how the brain binds disparate signals to make them seem congruent [22:23]
Annaka and Tom discuss how much unconscious brain functioning we take for granted [27:09]
Annaka describes the false sense of self and conscious will [29:53]
We make decisions before we are aware of them [33:41]
Annaka discusses the question of whether or to what extent plants are conscious [35:30]
Trees take care of their own kin, and defend their kin [40:48]
What if consciousness is a field like gravity? [43:39]
Annaka describes the double slit light experiment [46:13]
• The Double-Slit Experiment
• Double Slit Experiment explained! by ...
drive.google.com/open?id=11YDGl3xTv1_yHcaFRf68M6zh…
Measuring an event can change the past [51:41]
Annaka discusses problems with the views that consciousness emerges from life [54:25]
Annaka shares the impact she wants to have on the world [1:03:06]
QUOTES:
“There’s something jarring about learning that the things that feel most true to you about reality are possibly not structured that way.” [21:29]
“We feel that consciousness is behind our willed actions, when in fact, there is a lot of neuroscience to suggest that it’s actually the reverse. It’s at the end. That all this processing happens, a decision gets made, and we’re kind of the last to know.” [31:54]
“We have no evidence that consciousness is due to complexity.” [1:00:24]
FOLLOW:
WEBSITE: annakaharris.com/
INSTAGRAM: bit.ly/392CIl1
FACEBOOK: bit.ly/2GTsk36
TWITTER: bit.ly/2RUoY63
BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
“Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind”, amzn.to/2u7OR9H [2:19]
IMPACT THEORY MERCHANDISE: Check out Impact Theory's Merch Shop: bit.ly/ImpactTheoryShop
All Comments (21)
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I am not the voice in my head. I am the stillness that defines the voice.
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I’m 43. I remember in 7th grade, a friend’s science project revolved around talking positively to one set of plants, talking negatively to another and having a third set of plants she considered her control group. The control group grew at one rate. The group that received positive feedback grew distinctly taller and faster in comparison to the control while the group that was spoken to negatively did not grow nearly as quickly or as well as even the control group. There’s either a consciousness or “intelligence” to plants. Whatever word you want to associate is fine, but it’s definitely an experience nevertheless.
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Love reading the comments. Surely looks like a large segment of humanity is interested in exploring consciousness itself. I am one of these types and glad to know I am in good company.
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As soon as you try to pinpoint truth it's already gone, it's ever changing... One cannot catch it or hold it, one can only be in a state of presence to experience it here and now. Any thoughts or words about it are making truth disappear. One cannot show others truth, one can assist them to find it for themselves... 💜
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The ego knows how to hide, while fooling you into thinking it's not there anymore.
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The fact that i can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, Share abit of knowledge and it becomes another's, Smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises.
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I'm 62 yo. "What is consciousness?" Has been my biggest interest as long as I can remember. Feels so good to listen to others talk about it. I'm learning now that I am not alone in this. Thank you for this wonderful conversation! 🙏
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It absolutely amazes me how science is now acknowledging what the ancients knew thousands of years ago…and that her unanswered questions have answers,but diving that deep…I don’t think she’s ready to even accept because it means acknowledging and accepting that there’s only one true creative source for all of creation
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“We behave based on what we believe. So we might be behaving our lives away based on false or inaccurate or disempowering beliefs.” - John Assaraf on another great episode of Impact Theory
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Whoever is reading this, one day you will be living your dreams! Congratulations to you 🙏💫🌟
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Questioning the foundations of reality can be frightening unless you have the optimistic belief that the outcome will be positive.
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I remember being called crazy when I was around 13 years old for expressing the idea that consciousness might be fundamental to the universe. Now it's almost a trendy idea, but it's nice to see someone like Annaka who is actively trying to approach the idea scientifically. Science and faith don't have to contradict. Faith just picks up where the science is lagging and later when it catches up we can get a more concrete picture.
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When my son was a young teenager. he was riding his bicycle and was struck unconscious by a car. He later told me he saw himself standing by the side of the road looking at himself under the bicycle and the car. He said to me, `I thought I was dead`. This only proves to me that the soul or spirit is the conscious part of us.
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I've seen through observations that people think they are using the reasoning for their activities when it's mostly subconcious reactions and then they rationalize it afterward. We lie and delude ourselves continually to feel good about ourselves.
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I have had 2 near death experiences, a motorbike crash and a stroke. Both times I was floating and flying but I couldn't move. And when I started breathing again it was very painful and my body felt like a Ricketty Old Steam Engine Pumping Blood and coming back to life !!!! And I didn't black out at all and was aware of what was going on around me !!!! The strange thing was it was a very pleasant experience both times !!!!
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The illusion of free will is so powerful that I do not believe it is possible to truly accept that it is an illusion. We cannot perceive our behavior in a way that is not based on the belief that we are choosing how we behave.
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Can i just say Sam Harris is so lucky to have found a wife who's into this stuff? I wanna chat for hours and hours about consciousness with people too but I just don't know anyone who wants to even spend more than 10 minutes on the topic LOLOOL.
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“When the people fear their government there is tyranny, when the government fears the people there is liberty” - Thomas Jefferson
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In a book called SuperNature by Lyall Watson he speaks of a study done using oysters which are taken inland from the ocean, put in a tidal simulating tank, and kept in a lab with no windows. Those oysters adjusted the time they opened according to the new position of the moon as it was in the new location, without ever being able to see it. Consciousness. ❤
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I used to believe what these people believe. Now I know there is far more to our existence and our consciousness than neurons and chemicals.
