Consciousness Science

Understanding the human mind and how it relates to the world of experience has challenged scientists and philosophers for centuries. How do we even begin to think about ‘minds’ that are not human? That is the question explored in this ground-breaking book. Award-winning science writer Philip Ball argues that in order to understand our own minds and imagine those of others, we need to move on from considering the human mind as a standard against which all others should be measured.

In this audiobook, Oxford biologist John Parrington proposes a radical new theory of human consciousness, arguing that a qualitative leap in consciousness occurred during human evolution as language and tool use transformed our brains. Rejecting outdated views of the brain as a hard-wired circuit diagram, he draws on the latest insights from neuroscience to show that meaning is created within our heads through a dynamic interaction of oscillating brain waves.

In science fiction, artificial intelligence takes the shape of computers that can speak like people, think for themselves, and sometimes act against us. Reality of course is vastly different, though in many ways computers surpass their fictional counterparts. This book reviews work in the field and covers topics from chess-playing to quantum computing. The writers tackle how to make computers more powerful, how we define consciousness, what the hard problems are, and even how computers might be built once the limits of silicon chips have been reached.

Does free will exist? The question has fueled heated debates spanning from philosophy to psychology and religion. The answer has major implications, and the stakes are high. To put it in the simple terms that have come to dominate these debates, if we are free to make our own decisions, we are accountable for what we do, and if we aren't free, we're off the hook.

The original treatise introducing rational nondualism. What if Western thought is warped by an illusion so persuasive that it affects almost every aspect of our understanding, including modern science? Scientists look for objective knowledge. But suppose the distinction between the observer and the observed does not exist. This insight—called nondual awareness—is deeply counterintuitive; few grasp its full implications. Yet rational thought points to a nondual world, as articulated in Existential Rationalism. The realization forces us to reexamine the foundations of modern science: ...

Changing our relationship to the afterlife will transform our relationship to this world. As the worldview of monistic or analytic idealism displaces the obsolete model of reductive materialism, the values of our civilization will also change profoundly. Hence, on every level, this is a subject of primary importance for humanity's future.

What is the secret to being happy? Does happiness come from outside us or do we need to look within? Can meditation help? Gelong Thubten has worked with everyone from Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to Ruby Wax and Benedict Cumberbatch. In his warm and engaging debut book he explores the nature of happiness and explains how to bring meditation into our busy 21st-century lives with simple yet effective exercises. Gelong Thubten, Buddhist monk, meditation teacher and author, has always been fascinated by the question of happiness.

Patanjali the founder of ancient yoga has laid out a fascinating understanding of body and mind. Osho brings this ancient system into a contemporary understanding, creating a holistic approach to health and meditation.

Until very recently, no society had seen marriage as anything other than a conjugal partnership: a male-female union. What Is Marriage? identifies and defends the reasons for this historic consensus and shows why redefining civil marriage as something other than the conjugal union of husband and wife is a mistake. Originally published in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, this book’s core argument quickly became the year’s most widely read essay on the most prominent scholarly network in the social sciences.

Are humans the only dreamers on Earth? What goes on in the minds of animals when they sleep? When Animals Dream brings together behavioral and neuroscientific research on animal sleep with philosophical theories of dreaming. It shows that dreams provide an invaluable window into the cognitive and emotional lives of nonhuman animals, giving us access to a seemingly inaccessible realm of animal experience. The book carries profound implications for debates about animal cognition, animal ethics, and animal rights, challenging us to regard animals as beings who matter.

The road to recovery can be tough and arduous. But Charles Fuchs reveals his practical solution and guide to stay sober for the rest of your life! If your recovering from alcoholism and do not want to relapse back into your old ways, than this concise, informative and impact book is for you! Life is a journey and the path to freedom can be overwhelming, but in the book Living Sober: Life Beyond Alcoholism Guide you will learn how to remain sober and alcohol-free for the rest of your life!

A diabetic woman awakens from a coma having forgotten the last 10 years of her life. A Haitian immigrant has nightmares that begin bleeding into his waking hours. A retired teacher loses the use of her right hand due to pain of no known origin. Noga Arikha began studying these patients and their confounding symptoms in order to explore how our physical experiences inform our identities. Soon after she initiated her work, the question took on unexpected urgency, as Arikha’s own mother began to show signs of Alzheimer’s disease.

What is it that makes us human? Is it language, imagination, morality, or is it that we cook and wear shoes? Or perhaps we are less human than we think - Neanderthal and Denisovan genes can be found within all of us! Once again, New Scientist have all of the unexpected answers, and - just as they did for the universe in The Origin of (Almost) Everything - they take us on a tour around the human body and brain, taking in everything from evolution to email, from the Stone Age to Spotify.

¡Aunque no lo parezca, este libro es bastante serio! Una filosofía de vida para vivir bien de una buena vez, un audiolibro que busca dar una visión moderna del estoicismo. Aplicar el arte del Importaculismo Práctico es retomar el control y darle la importancia que corresponde a quien más lo merece: ¡Uno mismo! ¡Nos volvimos esclavos del qué dirán!

This text draws together central components of Hegel's philosophical system as he explores the development of Mind (Spirit, Geist) in its individual, communal and conceptual aspects. Translator William Wallace writes (1894): 'I here offer a translation of the third or last part of Hegel's encyclopaedic sketch of philosophy, Philosophy of Mind. The volume, like its subject, stands complete in itself. But it may also be regarded as a supplement or continuation of the work begun in my version of his logic.'

The world is louder than ever. It's not just the noise in our ears, but also the noise on our screens and in our heads. 'Silence is golden,' the adage goes. But how do we find it in times like these? Justin Zorn and Leigh Marz take us on an unlikely journey exploring why silence is essential for physical health, mental clarity, professional fulfilment, nourishing relationships, ecological sustainability and vibrant community.

This book is a profound exploration of the external influences that shape human consciousness, from healing rituals to digital devices. In this voyage through thousands of years of psychosomatic healing, distinguished anthropologist and sociologist Roger Bartra examines the placebo effect as a key to our understanding of human consciousness. Shamans and Robots demonstrates how biology and technology become intertwined within human culture by using the various histories of ritual and symbolic healing to speculate about future developments in artificial intelligence.

Unveil the wisdom of antiquity with the immersive audiobook version of Manly P. Hall's magnum opus, The Secret Teachings of All Ages. This masterwork, expertly revised and narrated by Dennis Logan (producer of the Amazon Best-Seller The Books of Enoch: The Angels, Watchers and Nephilim) lets you engage with the wealth of knowledge that has been revered by truth seekers for nearly a century, all while you're on the move.

"Most of the serious thinking I have done over the past 20 years has been done while running," says philosophy professor Rowlands, who has run for most of his life. And for him, running and philosophizing are inextricably connected. In Running with the Pack, he reveals the most significant runs of his life - from the entire day he spent running as a boy in Wales, to the runs along French beaches and up Irish mountains with his beloved wolf, Brenin, and through Florida swamps with his dog, Nina.

This revolutionary treatise starts from one fundamental premise: that our phenomenal consciousness includes direct experience of value. For too long, ethical theorists have looked for value in external states of affairs or reduced value to a projection of the mind onto them. The result, unsurprisingly, is widespread antirealism about ethics. In this book, Sharon Hewitt Rawlette turns our metaethical gaze inward and dares us to consider that value, rather than being something “out there”, is a quality woven into the very fabric of our conscious experience, in a highly objective way.