Thomas Metzinger Explores Consciousness (BSP 67)

The free podcast version of Brain Science Podcast 67 is now available.  It is an interview with German philosopher Thomas Metzinger, author of The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self , and Being No One.   Dr. Metzinger argues that any credible model for how the brain generates the mind must incorporate unusual human experiences, such as so-called out of body experiences (OBE), and psychiatric conditions.  In this interview we explore how OBE and virtual reality experiments shed light on how the brain generates the sense of self that characterizes normal human experience.

How to get this episode:

• Premium Subscribers now have unlimited access to all old episodes and transcripts.

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• New episodes of the Brain Science Podcast are always FREE.  All episodes posted after January 1, 2013, are free.  See the individual show notes for links the audio files.

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Links:

• Thomas Metzinger: University of Mainz, Wikipedia entry.

• Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (ASSC).

• Olaf Blanke: Swiss scientist and physician who has demonstrated that out of body experiences (OBE) can be generated by electrical stimulation of the brain.

• YouTube video of Thomas Metzinger's Being No One lecture.

• For more links download the free transcript of BSP 67.

Related Episodes of the Brain Science Podcast:

• BSP 21: A look at how our brain create body maps that may incorporate tools.

• BSP 22: Interview with Christof Koch, author of The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach.

• BSP 35: An introduction to Mirror Neurons.

• BSP 55: Interview with philosopher Patricia Churchland.

• BSP 57: (mention in the podcast)Interview with neuropsycologist Chris Frith, author of Making up the Mind: How the Brain Creates Our Mental World.

References:

• The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self, by Thomas Metzinger.

• Being No One: The Self-Model Theory of Subjectivity, by Thomas Metzinger.

• How the Body Shapes the Mind, by Shaun Gallagher.

• Blanke, et al., "Stimulating Illusory Own-Body Perceptions," Nature, 419:269-270 (2002)  Click here for more papers by Olaf Blanke.

• Beyond the Body: An Investigation of Out of Body Experiences by Susan Blackmore (click here for more publications from Susan Blackmore).

• O. Blanke & T. Metzinger,"Full-Body Illusion and Minimal Phenomenal Selfhood," Trends in Cognitive Neuroscience 13(1):7-13 (2009).

• T. Metzinger, "Out of Body Experiences as the Origin of the Concept of a 'Soul,'"  Mind and Matter 3(1):57-84 (2005) Click for more papers by Thomas Metzinger..

Announcements:

• BSP 68 will be an interview with geriatric neurologist, Peter Whitehouse, author of The Myth of Alzheimer's: What You Aren't Being Told About Today's Most Dreaded Diagnosis.  The premium version will be available on April 1 and will include an additional interview with his co-author Daniel George.  The free podcast will come out the second week of April.  

• The latest episode of my Books and Ideas podcast is an interview with best-selling horror writer Scott Sigler.  We discuss the challenges of incorporating accurate science into fiction writing. (Listen to the end to get a coupon code for his book The Rookie.) 

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