What is the main message of Conscious?

The main message of Conscious is that consciousness is a fundamental component of our existence.

Who is the author of Conscious?

The author of Conscious is Annaka Harris.

Philosophy

Conscious Book Summary - Conscious Book explained in key points

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Conscious summary

Name: Conscious
Rating: 4.3 (227 reviews)
Author: Annaka Harris

Annaka Harris

A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind

4.3 (227 ratings)

17 mins

Brief summary

Conscious by Annaka Harris is a mind-bending exploration of the nature of consciousness. Drawing on the latest neuroscience and philosophy, it challenges our assumptions about the self and the world we live in, ultimately revealing the mysterious and wondrous nature of our own awareness.

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The Brain Theoretical Philosophy

Table of Contents

Conscious
Summary of 6 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 6

What’s in it for me? Take a deep dive into the workings of the mind and explore what it means to be conscious.

When you think about consciousness, you might think about things like self-awareness or the ability to engage in complex thought. Generally speaking, we tend to think of consciousness as it relates to other traits and characteristics that are often associated with human beings. But this may be taking a very limited view of the topic.

In these blinks, we’ll explore two big questions: Is there really any external evidence of human consciousness? And is being conscious an important factor in human behavior? To answer these questions, we’ll follow some logical arguments to reach some conclusions that might surprise you.

We’ll also look at just how widespread consciousness may or may not be in the universe. Conscious things other than human beings may not experience the same level of complex thought that we do, but does that mean they don’t experience anything at all?

In these blinks, you’ll find out

what kind of communication takes place between trees;
what LSD experiences can tell us about consciousness; and
what happens when the human brain gets divided in two.

To understand consciousness, we must question our understanding of experience and intuition.

When you think of what it means to be conscious, or to experience consciousness, what comes to mind? For something that is so central to our lives, consciousness continues to be an elusive and mysterious subject, and one of the primary reasons for this is that we tend to have a variety of ideas as to what it really means to have consciousness.

To gain a better understanding of what consciousness is, we can begin by ruling out what it isn’t. But in order to begin this inquiry on a solid footing, it would be helpful for us to agree upon a rough idea of what it is we’re talking about in the first place.

For this, we’ll turn to the esteemed philosopher Thomas Nagel, who in 1974 suggested that “an organism is conscious if there is something that it is like to be that organism.” Essentially, this means that a conscious organism is one that has some sort of experience.

So it would be like something to be you in this moment, since you’re currently experiencing things. But it may not be like anything to be the seat you’re sitting on, if the chair isn’t experiencing anything, right?

With that in mind, we can start looking at things that are often closely related to experience to see if they are indeed aspects of our consciousness or can be ruled out altogether.

However, it’s important to note that when we do this, our intuition is playing a big role. Since no one knows for sure what consciousness is precisely, we often rely on our intuition to tell us what seems right or wrong when we consider questions like which things in the world experience consciousness.

Ironically enough, intuition is also a mysterious thing that science has yet to fully grasp. Basically, intuition is that gut feeling you have when you know something is amiss and yet you can’t pinpoint why.

Maybe you see a stranger getting on the subway and sense that he poses a threat. Your intuition could be due to the man’s face being flushed and his eyes being dilated. These are signs that he may become violent, and you may have noticed them, but only on an instinctual, subconscious level.

However, our intuition can, and often does, lead us astray as well. Early on, our instincts told us that the Earth was flat until someone noticed that the stars in the sky suggested otherwise. And today, many people feel instinctively more worried when they board a plane than when they get into a car, even though a car ride comes with a much higher chance of injury.

So, in the blinks ahead, listen to your intuition, but also try to keep an open mind about the possibilities of consciousness.

Traits we often associate with consciousness aren’t exclusive to human behavior.

There are very few things we can say for certain about consciousness, but one of them is that we humans are indeed conscious. Of course, our form of consciousness is the only one we directly experience and are therefore familiar with. As a result, our intuition can lead us to believe that only things with human-like qualities and behaviors can have consciousness.

However, if we take a close look at our own behaviors, we can see that they’re not so exclusive after all.

Consciousness is separate from the decisions we make and the thoughts we have.

For the most part, our behavior in the world is a matter of automatic cause and effect. Something happens and we react to it instinctively. And as it turns out, these instinctive reactions have little to do with our consciousness.

This is due, in part, to the fact that human senses reach the brain at different times, and what we consider conscious experience happens only after sight, sound, smell and touch have gone through a binding process in the brain.

Consciousness can also be seen as separate from our sense of self.

The brain is capable of creating a number of illusions for itself. As we already mentioned, there’s the illusion that we are making conscious decisions with every movement and action that we take.

But there’s also the illusion that we are receiving all of the information from all of our senses at precisely the same moment. It seems like everything is unified, but in reality, our sense of touch takes longer to reach our brain than our sense of hearing, for instance.

The idea of all matter being conscious may sound crazy, but it is also scientifically sound.

So now’s a good time to ask the following question: If there are no human behaviors or characteristics tied to consciousness, is it possible that consciousness isn’t limited to humans at all? And once we start opening our minds to this possibility, we can even take it to its extreme and ask an even more provocative question: What if all matter has some form of consciousness?

At first, it may sound fantastical to suggest that all matter is conscious, but this theory, known as panpsychism, is far from being scientifically unsound. In fact, it agrees with everything we know about biology and physics.

If we revise some of our limited ideas of consciousness, panpsychism could provide valuable answers to complex questions.

The concept of panpsychism is far from having widespread acceptance. After all, it calls for a pretty big shift in our assumptions and intuitions about the world around us. But as we know, sometimes our intuition is wrong.

Even among scientists who are willing to consider the theory of all matter being conscious, some of them balk at the notion that a kidney or liver would have its own consciousness within a conscious human’s body.

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What is Conscious about?

Conscious (2019) offers a contemplative and probing look at one of life's central mysteries: consciousness. Author Annaka Harris explores two fundamental questions: How do we define consciousness? And how widespread is its existence in the universe?

Conscious Review

Conscious (2019) by Annaka Harris is a thought-provoking exploration of the nature of consciousness and why it matters. Here's why this book is worth reading:

Explores cutting-edge scientific research and philosophical questions, offering a fresh perspective on the mysterious phenomenon of consciousness.
Provides clear, accessible explanations of complex ideas, making it easy for readers to grasp and engage with the material.
Promotes reflection and self-awareness, encouraging readers to question their own consciousness and explore the implications of this understanding on our lives.

Who should read Conscious?

Curious people interested in life’s mysteries
Students of philosophy and biology
Anyone curious about the human brain

About the Author

Annaka Harris is a writer whose work has been featured in the New York Times. She also works as a consultant for other science writers, and she was a collaborator in creating the Mindful Games Activity Cards. She is also the author of the children’s book I Wonder and has two children of her own with the podcast host and neuroscientist Sam Harris.

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