The Neuroscience of Consciousness

Shout out to the guy falling asleep at 38:21

You'll never find "consciousness" in the brain , just as you won't find music in a radio. Consciousness is the listener, the one who hears the music , which is why its so difficult to explain. Its who you are , a conscious human being, 

Her introduction is quite long. I’m not complaining, I’m just impressed by how much she has done! Imagine having coffee with this woman! My god!

Surfaces well and wonderfully scratched by a brilliant scientist that leaves us more knowing that we do not know and understanding that we do not understand. The panel and the moderator were great as well. Thanks!

Well done, Barroness. I would enjoy hearing an updated lecture...to see what revelations and insights discovered in the interim decade.

51:27 - heading toward the semi-conscious state.

Superb symposium of knowledgable minds.

Fascinating Panel Discussion - excellent framing of the discussion of an intriguing framing of areas begging consideration in attempting to solve "the hard problem." Thank you.

What an absolutely brilliant presentation. Thanks so much for preparing it.

Great to see such an eloquent and articulate speaker make such a complex subject easier to understand . High energy and engaging throughout her presentation. May we continue to see more female professors in the currently male dominated world of academia. Well done Professor Greenfield.

Great speaker - I liked the attention to how we use the word and the distinctions made. It was refreshing to me to hear the subject discussed without reference to 20th century philosophy.

This video has been up over two years and I think it is brilliant; and is just as brilliant now in 2015 as it was in the fall of 2012.  I'm one of those folks who thinks of this problem from the computational / mathematical side of things.  I think of this in terms of models, so I thought that Professor Greenfield made a very good point about models.  If we could construct one that did a 'perfect' job of modeling consciousness then we would truly be 'done-and-done'.   My ideas about consciousness and models are more on the level of not how the mind works but instead what the mind does.  And when you leave off the how and concentrate on the what is is pretty easy to say that the mind is 'at-the-very-least' an engine that takes the sensory inputs of an organism and constructs a model that when run dictates the actions of the organism.   So in the case of motile organisms this, "model-making" is used to  predict what the next sensory inputs will be so that the organism can successfully negotiate its environment. I think that consciousness as an attribute that humans and other 'conscious'  organisms have will come to be seen as a completely emergent attribute of this 'model-making-mind' and the 'amount/level' of it will be tied to the 'size/complexity' of the brain itself.  Additionally I think that consciousness and intelligence can also be thought of as an emergent property of an organisms ability to communicate, or to be a 'social' organism. Also, when we fully account for the only tool we have to explore these ideas is our own minds then the importance of self and consciousness will not seem quite as important as we now take it to be.  This downgrading of importance will certainly be a byproduct of the advent of A.I. when and if we manage to create such a thing.

" I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going...There is no question about it. "

If the brain generates consciousness then how do people have experiences as if they’re out of the body? I’m asking because I’ve had at least one experience like that where I was able to see what literally happened 3000 miles away on the other side of the United States on a matter that I wasn’t even thinking about. Yet it was confirmed by a friend who rented an area in that building. My experience is not unique. I’ve known many who have had these kinds of experiences. But they don’t talk about it because they’re afraid of being stereotyped and marginalized.

I really like the editing and camera work with respect to the audience. A very interesting body language dialogue, ambiguous at best, is going on; as interesting as the lecturer's topic. Ms. Greenfield's only weakness is that she comes at her audience like a locomotive. But, obviously,her focus is on the material and not show business... and that is as it should be.

A great look into the hard problems of consciousness with special attention to the mid level area of neuronal assemblies, all described with a sense of humor. How rare and rewarding, indeed!

What a hypnotic speech, all put together with a lot of precision and tactics! It was hitting the exact cords with my brain. It's amazing.

Dr Jill Bolte Taylor, Neuroscientist, did a TEDTALK, March, 2012, explaining in detail what she experienced while having a stroke before and after she identified it as a stroke. Fascinating video. Try to watch it.

That was phenomenal.How well structured a presentation of such a complex issue.

Such interesting topic. I'd like to hear Baroness Susan Greenfield CBE talk with Dr. Jack Kruse.