CONVERSATIONS ON CONSCIOUSNESS BY SUSAN BLACKMORE

Key Points:

• The "Hard Problem": A recurring theme is the challenge of explaining how physical processes in the brain give rise to subjective first-person experiences (qualia).
• Diverse Worldviews: The book showcases a "map" of competing theories—from "robo-geeks" who believe consciousness is a mechanical byproduct to those who think it might be a fundamental property of the universe.
• The Illusion of Self: Many interviewees argue that our sense of a unified, permanent "I" is a sophisticated mental construct or even a "benign illusion" rather than a physical reality.
• The Free Will Debate: Experts offer conflicting views on whether we truly control our actions or if "free will" is simply a narrative our brains create after the fact.
• The "Philosophical Zombie": Blackmore asks each thinker if it's possible to have a creature that behaves exactly like a human but has no inner experience—a thought experiment used to test the limits of physicalism.
• Impact on Life: Beyond theory, the book explores how studying consciousness has fundamentally changed the interviewees' own lives, affecting their views on death, meditation, and daily choices.