The Hard Problem of Consciousness with David Chalmers

About This Episode

What exactly is consciousness, and why is it such a hard problem to solve? Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly take you deep into the mysteries of consciousness and objective reality, David Chalmers, a philosopher and cognitive scientist. 

How do we understand the core of subjective experience? We explore the philosophical and neuroscientific angles of consciousness. Why do some experts believe consciousness arises from the sensory cortex, while others point to the prefrontal cortex? And what does this mean for how we understand animals, AI, or even the very nature of our own minds? We question how consciousness evolved to discussions about the levels of consciousness in animals, babies, and humans under anesthesia.

As the conversation turns to AI, the group contemplates the future of artificial consciousness. Could large language models, like today’s AI, eventually develop consciousness? If not now, will they in the near future? And if we can simulate human consciousness in machines, are we creating philosophical zombies—entities that behave like us but lack awareness? These questions spiral into debates about reality, VR, and whether we’re already living in a simulation.

Could there be laws of consciousness waiting to be discovered, like the laws of physics? Or is consciousness simply an illusion, as some scientists propose? What are the core features of consciousness that scientists agree on? Buckle up for a fascinating journey that will leave you questioning not just what consciousness is, but whether any of this is even real.

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