Consciousness: Science and Mystery of Our Identity

In this provocative series, you’ll hear from luminaries such as Jaron Lanier, the computer scientist who popularized the term “virtual reality”; David Chalmers, whose 1996 book The Conscious Mind is widely considered an essential work on consciousness and the mind-body problem; the Venerable Dr. Yifa, a religious studies scholar and Buddhist nun; and Galen Strawson, the British analytic philosopher and longtime consultant editor for The Times Literary Supplement.

In over 40 compelling interviews with experts like these, celebrated neuroscientist Robert Lawrence Kuhn explores the nature and mysteries of consciousness. He engages with his experts on a sophisticated plane without alienating you, his audience of restless souls and inquisitive minds with feet in the real world. 

How, Dr. Kuhn asks his interlocutors, can consciousness be explained? How do the microscopic particles that make up our brains cause us to experience the tranquil beauty of a setting sun, the haunting strains of Mozart’s "Requiem," or the flush of romantic love?

These interviews—with cosmologists, computer scientists, philosophers, paranormal researchers, and more—explore key questions such as these about the nature and mystery of consciousness. Join him in these conversations with scientific and philosophical heavyweights to engage and expand your own curiosity on what it means to be conscious. 

This course is part of the Learn25 Collection.

*Note: This audio series was originally produced by Closer to Truth, the television series created, written, and hosted by Dr. Robert Lawrence Kuhn and co-created, produced, and directed by Peter Getzels. Closer to Truth invites the world’s foremost scientists, philosophers, and creative thinkers to debate the deepest questions facing humanity: questions of consciousness, the cosmos, and meaning.