Episode 66 Anil Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he is also Director of the Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science. He is also Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Program on Brain, Mind, and Consciousness.
He was the founding Editor-in-Chief of Neuroscience of Consciousness (Oxford University Press), a role he served from 2014-2024. He currently serves on the Editorial Board of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B and on the Advisory Committee for 1907 Research and for Chile’s Congreso Futuro.He was Conference Chair for the 16th Meeting of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (ASSC16, 2012) and was an ASSC ‘member at large’ from 2014-2022. He previously co-directed the Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Program: From Sensation and Perception to Awareness, and was an Engagement Fellow with the Wellcome Trust (2016-2020).
##consciousness #neuroscience #evolutionarybiology #biology
“Chatbots like Claude may be able to simulate consciousness, but they are no more likely to be conscious than a simulation of a hurricane is likely to blow a real roof off a real house”
@profanilseth
🔗 Link in bio. Read more of our journalism and subscribe to our free, twice-weekly newsletter at thenerve.news
Can AI be conscious? @profanilseth challenges this idea, making a case that conscious AI is very unlikely - and also a really bad idea.
Professor Anil Seth’s new main-stage @TED talk has been published on the TED website today. View the full talk on the link in our bio: /anilseth26
Anil Seth’s first TED talk, from 2017, has been seen more than 15 million times, In his new TED talk, delivered on the main TED stage in Vancouver last month, Anil addressed one of the most important questions of our time: Can AI be conscious? Many people, including many experts, believe that conscious AI is either coming soon or already here. Anil challenges this idea, making a case that conscious AI is very unlikely - and also a really bad idea. As he says: “When we sell our minds too easily to our machine creations, we not only overestimate them - we underestimate ourselves.”
Anil Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience within the School of Engineering and Informatics at the University of Sussex. @sussexuni@EngInfSussex
“If you come to my lab at the University of Sussex you’ll find Scientists from all different disciplines… and sometimes even philosophers. All of us together trying to understand how consciousness happens and what happens when it goes wrong.” Anil Seth
#tedtalks #computerscience #neuroscience #anilseth #informatics
#CIFARWinterSchool applications are now open! 🧠
This is a fully funded, 3-day intensive for senior PhD students and postdoctoral fellows working in neuroscience and consciousness research.
This year’s theme is “Why Consciousness Matters.” Participants will explore this central question through lectures with leading researchers, peer networking, and immersive workshops.
Hosted by members of CIFAR’s Brain, Mind & Consciousness program and the @templetonworld Charity Foundation, this year’s event takes place December 3 to 5.
🔗 Apply by June 10 at the link in our bio.
#NeuroscienceResearch #ConsciousnessStudies #PhDLife PostdocOpportunities
Send this to someone who thinks ChatGPT has feelings and don’t say anything
Consciousness might need biology. Not silicon. Not code.
The difference between flight and digestion changes everything about how you think about AI.
Full episode out now. Anil Seth on Watson-Howland. World-leading neuroscientist on consciousness, AI, and what it means to be alive.
#consciousness #AIconscious #neuroscience #anilseth #brainvscomputer
“I open my eyes and a world appears”. I loved connecting @profanilseth & @michael.pollan back in 2020 when I was making How To Change Your Mind for Netflix. And I loved listening to them now talking at @ri_science about Michael’s new book A World Appears, which takes its title from the quoted passage in Anil’s book “Being You”. Both beautifully written and worth reading as always.
By popular demand, an additional screening of CONSCIOUS has been added after two sold-out screenings at CPH:DOX!
If you missed out the first time, here’s your chance to join us for a beautiful and moving exploration of human consciousness:
📅 Date: Tuesday 24th March at 7:15 PM
📍 Location: Empire Bio
🔗 Tickets: https://cphdox.dk/film/conscious/
A film by Suki Chan
CONSCIOUS is a hopeful and cinematic experience, taking us closer to understanding the strength and frailty of the human mind.
Music by Dominik Scherrer, an Ivor Novello Award-winning composer.
A co-production between Conscious Productions and Aconite Productions.
Thank you to our partners, funders, contributors and collaborators who has supported the journey and helped bring this film to life: @screenscots@britishfilminstitute@thedocsociety@sundanceorg | Sandbox Fund @cphdox
Is reality something you perceive… or something your brain creates?
In our latest #TopTechVoices episode, neuroscientist Anil Seth (@profanilseth ) unpacks how our brains construct conscious experience — and why that matters more than ever.
If you’ve ever wondered what it really means to be conscious, this conversation is for you.
👉 Listen now, link in Bio!
#Science #MindBlown #Perception #Podcast
We are humbled by the incredible reception of CONSCIOUS. Following two sold-out screenings at @cphdox , the festival has officially added an additional screening to the schedule!✨
If you missed out on tickets the first time around, now is your chance to join us in this exploration of the nature of human consciousness:
📅 Date: Tuesday 24th March at 7:15 PM
📍 Location: Empire Bio
🔗 Tickets: https://cphdox.dk/film/conscious/
Thank you to everyone who has supported the journey so far, and to our funders, @screenscots , @sundanceorg , @britishfilminstitute /Doc Society. We look forward to the remaining nights of screenings.
Are We All Hallucinating?
In this clip from our Future of StoryTelling 2018 Speaker Film, neuroscientist Anil Seth explains why what we perceive isn’t an exact reflection of the real world.
Our brains are constantly interpreting sensory signals and shaping the reality we experience.
For storytellers, that idea changes everything.
Hear @profanilseth explore stories, senses, and consciousness on The FoST Podcast.
Full episode in bio.
To celebrate the World Premiere of CONSCIOUS at CPH:DOX, we collaborated with designer Scott Woolston to create these beautiful limited-edition bookmarks.
A small printed piece to hold a place - in a book, and perhaps in memory.
The purple ribbon references dementia awareness, which feels especially meaningful as two of the film’s contributors, Anil Seth and Wendy Mitchell, are also authors whose writing has helped deepen public conversations around consciousness and lived experiences of dementia.
These signed and numbered bookmarks will be available for audiences attending our last screening at CPH:Dox festival, this Friday at 4.45pm, Dagmar Teatret. Please come and pick one up!
Link to book tickets in bio.
Thanks to our funders for their continued support of CONSCIOUS! 💕
@thedocsociety@britishfilminstitute@sundanceorg@screenscots and to the Sundance/Sandbox Fund.
Printed by @Calverts_London Designed by @Scottwool Signed & numbered by @schansuki & her collaborators Co-produced with @aconitedocs@teresavkgrimes@grajah Contributors @profanilseth @ Wendymitchell @winfield.maureen Composer @dominik_g_scherrer
