Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind

by Annaka Harris

This is the gist of a thought experiment referred to as the “philosophical zombie,” which was made popular by David Chalmers. Chalmers asks us to imagine that any person could, in effect, be a zombie—someone who looks and acts exactly like everyone else on the outside without experiencing anything at all on the inside.

Anhedonia This is what depression is for me.

Qualia are vexing to philosophers and scientists alike because even though they are palpably real and seem to lie at the very core of mental experience, physical and computational theories about brain function are utterly silent on the question of how they might arise or why they might exist.

The Fall - Neal Stephenson

at some level maybe even individual cells that have an autonomous existence.

Abortion rights hot button

Imagine being a brain without any sense organs connected, floating in empty space or in a vast body of water. Then imagine your senses being connected, one at a time.

Booting up Dodge's brain