To the extent that consciousness is useful, it is useful in small quantities, and for very particular kinds of tasks. It's easy to understand why you would not want to be consciously aware of the intricacies of your muscle movement, but this can be less intuitive when applied to your perceptions, thoughts, and beliefs, which are also final products of the activity of billions of nerve cells.
Really good companies are the ones that are constantly reinventing themselves.
I spoke with Charles Duhigg about habit, unconscious processing and the workspace at the 2016 New Work Summit. Watch the full interview: http://trib.al/1nwghb1
From the Blog
-
Silicon Immortality: Downloading Consciousness into Computers
Well before we understand how brains work, we may find ourselves able to digitally copy the brain's structure and able to download the conscious mind into a computer. What are the possibilities and challenges?
-
Philip Pullman
I've had the good fortune to collaborate on stage a couple of times with author Philip Pullman.
-
Remembering a trail blazer - Francis Crick
Francis Crick, one of the premier biologists of the 20th century, passed away July 28, 2004, in San Diego. On his 88th birthday, I brought him chocolates and spent the day with him in his home in La Jolla.
-
Scanning a 3,000 year old mummy
I performed a CT scan on an Egyptian mummy, and found beautiful objects inside.
In other news...
New Scientist time story
New Scientist magazine features David Eagleman's time perception research as their cover story.
SUM at the Royal Opera House
SUM has been turned into an opera at the Royal Opera House in London (Composer: Max Richter, Director: Wayne McGregor). The London Evening Standard hails the opera as "immersive, meditative and sweetly fascinating". Read about the background of the collaboration in Wired.
Why Brain Science Matters
Why should the US invest in brain science? See David's opinion in the New York Times.
