Can consciousness ever be understood — this side of death? Philosophers, psychologists, neuroscientists, plant biologists and novelists have all grappled with the mysteries of conscious experience, to an uncertain end. A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness Michael Pollan Penguin (2026) Humans and other animals have subjective inner mental lives, seeing, smelling, imagining, remembering and feeling emotions such as anger and boredom. These experiences are innate but remain utterly unpredictable on the basis of the physical sciences — nothing explains how living matter can love or hate, daydream about sex, or fear for the future. As journalist Michael Pollan recounts in A World Appears, the use of a handful of organic compounds can demonstrate that these sensations are constructs shaped and formed by the brain — and that these sensations can be expanded considerably. “In small doses, psychedelics smudge the pane of normal perception,” he notes. “The experience defamiliarizes everyday consciousness, allowing us to see it freshly.” #consciousness #AI #bodilysensations https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00448-5