Episode 172 – Consciousness, Science and Metaphysics – w/ Dr. Rupert Sheldrake

Ideas worth returning to

Quotes

Five substantial excerpts from the published transcript, lightly edited for clarity without changing their meaning.

1. “We infer that colors, tastes, and other sensations are caused by external objects. But the qualities of conscious experience—the qualia—are not inferred; they are known directly by us. That distinction between what we infer about the external world and what we know through immediate experience is extremely useful.”

   From the conversation

2. “The phrase “the hard problem of consciousness” was coined by the Australian philosopher David Chalmers in 1995, but the problem itself is ancient. It is also called the mind–matter problem or mystery. Fundamentally, it asks about the relationship between matter—the physical world—and mind, consciousness, or sentience.”

   From the conversation

3. “There is much more to say about time when consciousness is included than mathematics and physics alone can currently express. I believe that philosophy of mind and psychology will eventually be joined with physics to create a broader cosmology—one capable of explaining more of the anomalies and phenomena we encounter.”

   From the conversation

4. “Our ordinary intuition about space and time may be profoundly wrong—a distinctly human vision rather than reality itself. Psychedelics might, in some cases but not all, disrupt this shared perceptual construction and offer more direct insight into the nature of reality. That possibility should not be treated as guaranteed in every experience.”

   From the conversation

5. “Human beings may not yet be equipped to judge these questions one way or another. We can speculate and hope that we will evolve into beings with greater powers of cognition. Transhumanism and posthumanism include that hope: that future minds may become capable of understanding more of the universe.”

   From the conversation