What Is Consciousness For? Sixteen Theories Take a Crack at the Question

Albert Newen, anole lizards, Antonella Tramacere, Antonio Damasio, Axel Cleeremans, biology, Carlos Montemayor, Catherine Tallon-Baudry, cognition, cognitive science, consciousness, Dogs, Eva Jablonka, Experience, Gianmarco Maldarelli, horses, Jacques Singer, Jonathan Birch, Jonathon D. Crystal, Julio Hechavarria, Kristin Andrews, Krzysztof Dołęga, Lars Chittka, Léa Moncoucy, Lucia Melloni, Maxime Janbon, memory, neuroscience, Neuroscience & Mind, Nicholas Humphrey, Noam Miller, Olga Dyakova, Onur Güntürkün, philosophy, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Royal Society, Sarah Skeels, self-awareness, Simon Alexander Burns Brown, Simona Ginsburg, T.S. Eliot, Yuranny Cabral-Calderin, zoology
It sounds like we do not really know what we are looking for, which will doubtless complicate efforts to find it. Source
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Hello, Materialists, Let’s Weigh and Measure the Mind

Alain Aspect, Albert Einstein, American Heritage Dictionary, Anton Zeilinger, Charles Murray, Discovery Institute, Hanna Webster, Herbert Benson, human mind, International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, John F. Clauser, Margaret Harris, materialism, Medicine, Michael Egnor, Neuroscience & Mind, New England Skeptical Society, placebo effect, Popular Mechanics, quantum Zeno effect, Steven Novella, sugar pill, terminal lucidity, The Immortal Mind, The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, Vaccines
A recent review of our book provides a chances to reflect on mind verus matter — and materialism. Source
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Do Brain-Jolts Really Explain Near-Death Experiences?

Alex Hughes, Anna Stone, Anomalistic Psychology, BBC, BBC Science Focus, Chris French, consciousness theories, enhanced experience, fulfilment, Goldsmiths University, happiness, human consciousness, materialism, medical science, Medicine, Michael Egnor, Money, morality, near-death experiences, Neuroscience & Mind, paranormal, religion, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, sensory stimuli, The Immortal Mind
One change I have noticed recently is that science writers seem a bit more careful with the topic than they used to be. Source
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Terminal Lucidity Points to Indestructible Personhood

abstract thought, brain, brain function, communication, consciousness, death, Denyse O'Leary, emotions, free will, Human Identity, ID The Future, materialism, medical literature, Medicine, memories, memory, Michael Egnor, mind, movements, near-death experiences, neuroscience, Neuroscience & Mind, physicalism, reason, seizures, sensations, terminal lucidity, The Immortal Mind, Threshold
Why would the human mind sometimes appear strongest when the brain is weakest? We begin a two-part conversation discussing the phenomenon of terminal lucidity. Source
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Free Will vs. the Totalitarian Temptation

Alain Aspect, Anton Zeilinger, atheists, Benjamin Libet, Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will, ethics, free will, J.D. Vance, John F. Clauser, logic, meat puppets, Michael Egnor, Minority Report, neuroscience, Neuroscience & Mind, neuroscientists, physics, readiness potential, Robert Sapolsky, Sam Harris, Soviet Union, Stanford University, The Immortal Mind, totalitarianism, United States, Wilder Penfield, Yuval Noah Harari
If our thoughts and choices really are wholly determined, well then what follows? Source
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No. 7 Story for 2025: World’s “Best-Known Journalist” Meets Michael Egnor

4th of July, americans, atheists, blueberries, Christof Koch, CNN, Denyse O'Leary, Discovery Institute, Faith & Science, faith and science, fireworks, Gaza, Independence Day, Israel, journalists, July 4, Medicine, Michael Egnor, Michael Shermer, near-death experiences, Neuroscience & Mind, neuroscientists, neurosurgeons, Piers Morgan, Piers Morgan Uncensored, Roman Catholics, scripture, Seattle, Skeptics, Sunday Times, The Immortal Mind, YouTube videos
Piers Morgan, who is Catholic, says he already believed in life after death from faith and Scripture. What he wanted, he said, was scientific evidence for it. Source
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According to New Physics Model, Consciousness Underlies the Universe

Carl Sagan, consciousness, Daily Mail, David Klinghoffer, life after death, Maria Strømme, metaphysics, near-death experiences, Neuroscience & Mind, panpsychism, physicists, physics, Plato, Plato's Revenge, quantum mechanics, Richard Sternberg, Stephen Hawking, telepathy, terminal lucidity, Thomas Henry Huxley, universal field, universe, Uppsala University, William Hunter, __featured2
We live in a universe closer to the vision of Plato (c. 427 – 348 BC) than of Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895). Source
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Does Quantum Mechanics Help Make Sense of the Soul?

Bayesian reasoning, Carl Sagan, Christopher Hitchens, consciousness, COSM 2025, Faith & Science, George Gilder, immaterial reality, information, Jay W. Richards, life after death, Measurement Problem, Michael Egnor, Michael Shermer, Neuroscience & Mind, neurosurgeons, physics, quantum mechanics, Roger Penrose, Technology, The Human Advantage
Quantum mechanics seems to be the game-changer that Albert Einstein (1879–1955) feared it would be. It is certain to liven up discussions about the soul. Source
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Skeptic Michael Shermer’s Non-Vision of the Soul

Bayesian reasoning, body, brain, COSM 2025, David Deutsch, Faith & Science, Francis Crick, materialist paradigm, Michael Egnor, Michael Shermer, mind, near-death experiences, neuroscience, Neuroscience & Mind, neurosurgeons, Skeptics Society, soul, The Astonishing Hypothesis, The Beginning of Infinity
Responding to Michael Egnor at COSM 2025, he said that the soul is an explanation but not a good explanation for our relationship to our bodies. Source
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