All posts tagged: Pollan

Michael Pollan on consciousness, psychedelics, and his new book A World Appears

Michael Pollan on consciousness, psychedelics, and his new book A World Appears

Published by Sam Flores

Why does this matter to Pollan so much? After all, if you ask the average Joe, Pollan is the American author, television presenter, film-maker and food activist who coined the time-old adage “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants”, and whose favourite thing to do is magic mushrooms. His fans include Jay Shetty, Tim Ferriss and Jamie Oliver. Odd, then, to hear him speak so passionately about an issue that seemingly has nothing to do with diet or psychedelics. Yet the link between the three topics is more obvious than first meets the eye. Any conversation on AI, culinary choices or psychoactive substances is, ultimately, a conversation about consciousness. Speaking on Brave New World, the Standard’s podcast about science and the future of humanity, this is what Pollan wants to talk about with me today. Source link

Michael Pollan: ‘Consciousness is really under siege’

Michael Pollan: ‘Consciousness is really under siege’

Published by skeptic

Michael Pollan: “Psychedelics have a way of smudging the windshield of experience” Cayce Clifford/Guardian/eyevine Author Michael Pollan has tackled plants, food and psychedelics in bestselling books including The Omnivore’s Dilemma and How to Change Your Mind. Now, he has taken on the thorny problem of consciousness. In his latest book A World Appears: A journey into consciousness, Pollan charts the work of scientists and philosophers, weaving in literary perspectives along the way. He spoke to New Scientist about the value of writing a book where you know less at the end than before you started.   Olivia Goldhill: Let’s start with a deceptively tricky question: how do you define consciousness? Michael Pollan: The simplest way is to define it as subjective experience. We have subjective experience; toasters do not. You could even take off the “subjective” because having experience implies being aware that you’re having experience. Another definition I like comes from philosopher Thomas Nagel, who wrote a famous 1974 essay, “What is it like to be a bat?”. Bats are very different than we …

A World Appears review: Can Michael Pollan crack the problem of consciousness in his new book?

A World Appears review: Can Michael Pollan crack the problem of consciousness in his new book?

Published by skeptic

Michael Pollan sets out to explore the mysteries of consciousness in his new book, A World Appears ADDICTIVE STOCK CREATIVES / Alam What is consciousness? It is one of the most perplexing questions in science. You would expect our intimacy with it to give us a leg up in understanding how it works, but this has proven to be more of a hindrance than a help. Science prizes objectivity. So how can you study something objectively when it is also the very tool you are using to do the studying? This conundrum forms the backbone of Michael Pollan’s latest book, A World Appears: A journey into consciousness. Pollan’s previous works include The Omnivore’s Dilemma and How to Change Your Mind. The former helped bring the environmental and animal welfare impacts of the US food system to light, while the latter introduced the public to the psychedelic research renaissance. Both heavily influenced me as a young adult, steering me towards a career in science journalism. So I was eager for his take on consciousness. Pollan approaches …

Michael Pollan explores AI and consciousness in ‘A World Appears’ : NPR

Michael Pollan explores AI and consciousness in ‘A World Appears’ : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

Michael Pollan is the author of A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness. Christopher Michel/Penguin Random House hide caption toggle caption Christopher Michel/Penguin Random House What is consciousness? After writing a book about how using psychedelics in a therapeutic setting can change your consciousness, that’s the question journalist Michael Pollan found himself struggling to answer. “There’s nothing any of us know with more certainty than the fact that we are conscious. It’s immediately available to us. It’s the voice in our head,” he says. And yet, Pollan adds: “How does three pounds of this tofu-like substance between your ears generate subjective experience? Nobody knows the answer to that question.” His new book, A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness, explores consciousness on both a personal and technological level. Pollan, who lives close to Silicon Valley, says some believe that Artificial Intelligence is capable of consciousness. “They base this on a premise … that basically the brain is a computer, and that consciousness is software,” he says. “And if you can run it on the brain, …

The best new popular science books of February 2026 include titles by Maggie Aderin and Michael Pollan

The best new popular science books of February 2026 include titles by Maggie Aderin and Michael Pollan

Published by skeptic

Space scientist Maggie Aderin has a new book out this month Steven May / Alamy Stock Photo It’s nowhere near early enough for those of us in the northern hemisphere to start struggling against winter’s somnolent spell, so there’s no need for excuses as you take to your bed with a pile of good books. And there’s plenty to keep you occupied while you eschew the chilly outdoors. This month, we have climate hope from a well-placed environmental reporter, formerly of this parish, an honest memoir from a star scientist and a jaw-dropping account of the commodification of women’s bodies. Given the Valentine’s Day fun this month, we also have a book that may challenge what we thought we knew about finding love. It’s always good to get all the help we can in that department – enjoy! “On clear moonlit nights we sometimes step outside and howl at the moon together. It is cathartic, primal and a really good laugh. I am not sure what our neighbours think about it, though.” That’s Maggie Aderin, …