Consciousness
What is consciousness? After centuries of philosophy and decades of neuroscience, the question remains stubbornly open. We can describe its neural correlates with growing precision; we still cannot say why there is anything it is like to be a conscious creature at all.
This page collects what I find most worth thinking about: the philosophical formulation of the puzzle, the empirical study of what happens to consciousness in altered states, and the controversial but persistent body of evidence suggesting that consciousness may not be exhausted by the brain’s activity.
My approach
I’m not committed to materialism, idealism, or any other -ism. I find the materialist consensus strong on what it explains, conspicuously silent on what it doesn’t, and I try to read across traditions — analytic philosophy, contemplative writing, parapsychology, near-death studies — without pre-judging which corner the answers will come from.
Recommended starting points
If you’re new to the question, three books that frame it well from very different angles:
- David Chalmers, The Conscious Mind (1996) — the canonical statement of the “hard problem.” Dense but rewarding.
- Christof Koch, The Feeling of Life Itself (2019) — a working neuroscientist’s defense of Integrated Information Theory.
- Pim van Lommel, Consciousness Beyond Life (2010) — a cardiologist’s study of near-death experiences and what they imply.
Branches
There are three subtopics where I gather more specific notes:
The hard problem
Why is there subjective experience at all? Chalmers' formulation, the explanatory gap, and the responses from physicalism and beyond.
States of consciousness
What changes when consciousness is altered — through meditation, psychedelics, dreams, or pathology — and what those changes tell us.
Survival research
The empirical investigation of evidence suggesting that consciousness may persist beyond physical death — NDEs, mediumship, and reincarnation studies.
Working list of references
This section will grow into something more structured. For now, a few articles and talks worth bookmarking:
- (placeholder for an annotated list — books, papers, lectures, podcasts)
Last updated: May 2026.