A Cup of Science: Recent Episodes
Giuseppe Lai
Firstly, if you have stumbled upon this introduction, you’re probably someone interested in science and philosophical discussion. You’re also likely to only have a finite amount of attention and time in the day for podcast consumption. We appreciate that, so we’ll make your decision simple. If you are not someone who routinely asks themselves: ‘how is it I exist,’ ‘what is time and space expanding into,’ ‘why consciousness,’ and ‘how can a photon behave like a particle and a damn wave?’ then this podcast probably isn’t for you. If, however, you find yourself shouting ‘yes, I do ask myself those questions,’ then sit back, let your neurons fire and slurp a cup of science, with us
Although the wheels behind the idea of biological immortality seem to be slowing, the promise of human transcendence seems to be becoming stronger.
In this concluding episode to the season on consciousness, Giuseppe and Tom discuss becoming immortal on the cloud. In other words, can we upload consciousness into a computer and exist on silicon? This question, as well as many others, are discussed in this exciting end to the season.
Enjoy the episode!
Can psychedelically-induced experiences offer a look into the future, or give us further insight into the reality in which we find ourselves? In this episode, hosts Tom & Giuseppe sit down with Dr David Luke - an honorary senior lecturer at Imperial College London in the Centre for Psychedelic Research - to discuss altered states of consciousness associated with psychedelics. The conversation explores the experiential, neuroscientific, clinical applications & everything in between of psychedelics. We hope you enjoy this fascinating conversation as much as we did!
David is also a module leader of the Psychology of Exceptional Human Experience at Greenwich University. As well, David sits as a director of Breaking Convention - a conference that brings together researchers from a large range of disciplines to discuss psychedelic substances.
No, you’re hallucinating! In this episode, Giuseppe and Tom discuss the hallucinatory experience of consciousness. Their conversation touches on the prevalence of hallucinations and why we hallucinate a large part of our everyday experience. They also discuss the nature of schizophrenia-aligned hallucinations and the mysteries of phantom limb syndrome. It is a fun conversation that will entice you to reflect on your own everyday experiences. Enjoy.
Tom & Giuseppe discuss integrated information theory (IIT) further and have some fun with some of the predictions the theory postulates. They ask whether a ‘consciousness detector’ could become reality and the implications this would have on the clinical as well as comparative psychology communities. As listeners should expect, there is a fair amount of humour and quirky conversation - which includes, but is not limited to, discussion on sharing experience with an octopus. Enjoy.
In this episode, Tom & Giuseppe discuss how a physical system might begin to experience. Their conversation introduces the integrated information theory (IIT) theory of consciousness and its predictions. The hosts discuss what makes this theory so unique & interesting, as well as what the theory perhaps doesn’t explain about what it is like to be you. Enjoy.