Consciousness: Getting to grips with the world's deepest mystery

£249.00

Mind 10-15 learning hours

Examine one of the greatest philosophical and scientific mysteries of all time: consciousness. Explore the history and philosophy of the idea, and the reasons that many have considered consciousness to be beyond human understanding.

or

Offer ends in...

  • 00 Days
  • 00 Hours
  • 00 Minutes
  • 00 Seconds

What will you learn?

  • Leading theories of consciousness
  • Evidence for consciousness in non-human animals
  • The question of whether machines will ever become conscious
  • The history and philosophy of consciousness
  • What disorders of consciousness can teach us about our conscious experiences
  • Why sleep and dreaming can inform consciousness research
  • How brain imaging tools are pinning down the brain regions involved in consciousness
  • The evolution of consciousness
  • The question of whether it's possible to build conscious machines
  • The controversial idea that consciousness creates reality

Who is this course suitable for?

This course is for anyone who has ever wondered why and how we are conscious, and who is eager to know about the ingenious experiments that are bringing scientists closer than ever to answering the mystery.

You may be curious to understand how modern empirical science can study a phenomenon that is so central to our lives but still seems strangely detached from our physical bodies.

Alternatively, you might approach the course from the world of science fiction, with an active interest in whether efforts to understand consciousness will ever result in conscious machines.

Some course participants might also be considering taking a university degree course in neuroscience, philosophy or physics, and want a flavour of how a profound subject like consciousness is relevant to all three academic disciplines.

Anil Seth

Anil Seth

Professor of cognitive and computational neuroscience, University of Sussex

Anil Seth is a professor of cognitive and computational neuroscience at the University of Sussex. Anil's research seeks to understand the biological basis of consciousness by bringing together research across neuroscience, mathematics, computer science, psychology, philosophy and psychiatry.

As a co-director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, his work contributes to the centre's aim of translating an enhanced understanding of the complex brain networks underpinning consciousness into new clinical approaches to psychiatric disorders, and to drive new developments in artificial intelligence and virtual reality.

Anil contributes to a variety of media including New Scientist, The Guardian and the BBC . He was a consultant for Eye Benders, winner of the Royal Society Young People's Book Prize in 2014 and he writes the blog NeuroBanter. His latest book, Being You: The Inside Story of Your Inner Universe, was published in 2021.

Nicola Clayton

Nicola Clayton

Professor of Comparative Cognition, University of Cambridge

Nicola Clayton is a psychologist and professor of comparative cognition at the University of Cambridge. She is also science in residence at British dance company Rambert, and collaborates with Clive Wilkins, who is Artist in Residence in the Psychology Department at the University of Cambridge.

Nicola studies the development and evolution of cognition in members of the crow family and humans. She contributes to media including New Scientist, and her work has been showcased in several television documentaries.

In 2010 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society

Christof Koch

Christof Koch

Chief scientist and President of the Allen Institute for Brain Science, Seattle, Washington

Christof Koch is the Chief Scientist and president of the Allen Institute for Brain Science, where he is particularly interested in the study or neurons.

Earlier in his career, working in collaboration with Nobel laureate Francis Crick – a co-discoverer of the helical structure of DNA – Christof initiated the modern search for the neuronal correlates of consciousness. More recently, in collaboration with Giulio Tononi, he co-developed the Integrated Information Theory of consciousness.

Christof has written many peer-reviewed research papers; his writing has also appeared in publications including Scientific American and New Scientist. He is the author of Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist published in 2012, and The Feeling of Life Itself: Why Consciousness Is Widespread but Can't Be Computed published in 2019.

David Robson

David Robson

Science writer and course host

David Robson is a science writer and author specialising in neuroscience and psychology. A graduate of Cambridge University, he has worked as an editor at New Scientist and a senior journalist at the BBC. His writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Atlantic, The Psychologist, and many other publications.

His first book, The Intelligence Trap: Revolutionise Your Thinking and Make Wiser Decisions was published in 2019. His second book, The Expectation Effect: How Your Mindset Can Transform Your Life, will be published in Jan 2022.

I really liked the mix of videos, media, community questions, quiz and further resource points. It was engaging to have different types of media to interact with. It was a good introduction to a subject matter that I don't know that much about. I'd now be keen to read around the topic.
This fun and accessible course gave me a good base and in certain areas developed knowledge of the brain. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the brain or psychology.
Brilliant: Thoroughly recommend this course.

Free Preview

Introduction

Conscious of its importance

Course objectives

How to view this course

What is consciousness?

What is consciousness?

Objectives and agenda

I think, therefore I am ?

Getting to grips with consciousness

How has consciousness been defined?

So, what is it?

History and philosophy

History and philosophy

Objectives and agenda

A timeline of consciousness

Mental processes and conscious thought

The Hard Problem of Consciousness

The footprints of consciousness

Test your understanding

More to explore

Disorders of consciousness

Disorders of consciousness

Objectives and agenda

Islands of consciousness

The mystery of blindsight

The construction of an experience

The brain on consciousness

Test your understanding

Into the twilight zones

Into the twilight zones

Objectives and agenda

The stages of sleep and dreaming

The neural regions of sleep, dreaming and psychedelics

I dream I'm awake

Test your understanding

More to explore

The evolution of consciousness and the emergence of the mind

The evolution of consciousness and the emergence of the mind

Objectives and agenda

The 'mirror test'

Are animals conscious?

Five dimensions of animal consciousness

The evolutionary "big bang"

The neural architecture

Do sheep dream of electric androids?

Test your understanding

More to explore

Theories of consciousness

Theories of consciousness

Objectives and agenda

A brief look at the main theories

So what is the most promising theory?

Test your understanding

More to explore

Will we ever have conscious machines?

Will we ever have conscious machines?

Objectives and agenda

Paranoid android

Man, or machine

Ethical dilemmas of AI

Programming consciousness

Do androids dream of electric sheep?

Test your understanding

More to explore

Does the study of consciousness require new physics?

Does the study of consciousness require new physics?

Objectives and agenda

Does consciousness require a radical explanation?

Does consciousness make reality?

Why consciousness might create reality

Conclusion

Conclusion

The big consciousness quiz

Next steps

Speaker profiles

Course glossary

Course feedback