The Challenge of Consciousness
I always point to David Chalmers when someone wants to understand the problem of consciousness. I like how casual he is about possible solutions and gives credibility to all the options (unlike eg. Daniel Dennett, who seems almost religious about how revolutionary his &quot;there&#x27;s no problem at all&quot; approach is).<p>I really recommend this podcast in which Sam Harris talks with Chalmers about all the options currently in the game: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.samharris.org&#x2F;podcast&#x2F;item&#x2F;the-light-of-the-mind" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.samharris.org&#x2F;podcast&#x2F;item&#x2F;the-light-of-the-mind</a><p>One of the most promising theories (discussed in the podcast) assumes that consciousness is a fundamental attribute of reality, the other side of the coin (matter being the first one). Which leads to the conclusions, that consciousness is everywhere, but not as &#x27;condensed&#x27; as in the brain. Seems crazy at first, but the more you think about it the more plausible it seems.<p>Here&#x27;s a nice paper about it: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org&#x2F;content&#x2F;370&#x2F;1668&#x2F;20140167" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org&#x2F;content&#x2F;370&#x2F;1668&#x2F;2014...</a><p>Within this paradigm it starts to make sense to call the reality &quot;The Mind&quot;, as some Buddhist schools do. There&#x27;s also the crazy part, about how under some conditions it could potentially lead to experiencing other peoples&#x27; minds.<p>For the more adventurous, here&#x27;s a talk by Culadasa, very experienced meditator and a neuroscience professor, in which he shares some thoughts about the problem and also some of these crazy experiences he had: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;s3.amazonaws.com&#x2F;dharmatreasure&#x2F;150430-tcmc--culadasa--dharma-talk.mp3" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;s3.amazonaws.com&#x2F;dharmatreasure&#x2F;150430-tcmc--culadasa...</a>