How to Blow Your Mind
Consciousness, a new law of nature, and the mathematics of thought top our list of the most fascinating ideas we came across this week.
This Week on the Next Big Idea Podcast
Michael Pollan on the mysteries of consciousness.
Five years ago, Michael Pollan, the acclaimed author of The Botany of Desire, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and How to Change Your Mind, went looking for an answer to one of life’s great mysteries: “How does three pounds of brain matter generate subjective experience?” The result is his luminous new book, A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness.
Great journalists like Michael have a nose for story and a knack for timing. Both are on display in A World Appears. It’s a page-turner teeming with maverick characters. It’s a startling look at the emerging science of plant sentience. And it’s an urgent exploration of a question we can’t afford to ignore: Could consciousness, i.e., “subjective or felt experience,” emerge in AI?
Listen to our conversation on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or watch it on YouTube.
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Book Bite of the Week
Is it time for a new law of nature?
Biological systems aren’t the only ones that evolve. Minerals, music, AI, and other systems also show signs of adaptation over time. Michael Wong and Robert Hazen, researchers at the Carnegie Institution for Science’s Earth and Planets Laboratory, say they’ve discovered a new law of nature, one that helps describe, explain, and predict evolution in phenomena as varied as geology, life, and technology. Check out their summary on the Next Big Idea app, or pick up a copy of the book on Amazon.
This Week on the Next Big Idea Daily Podcast
Is there a mathematics of the mind?
From the coauthor of Algorithms to Live By, an exploration of the quest to use mathematics to describe the ways we think, from its origins three hundred years ago to the ideas behind modern AI systems and the ways in which they still differ from human minds. Hear Tom Griffith’s summary of his new book The Laws of Thought: The Quest for a Mathematical Theory of the Mind on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
This edition of Book of the Day is sponsored by Granola. Get three months free at granola.ai/idea.
🎉 Happy Publication Week! 🎉
Books by these must-read authors came out this week:
Blythe Henwood Harris & Mallory May, Daily Creative: The 5-Minute Habit to Rewire Your Brain, Leslie John, Revealing: The Underrated Power of Oversharing, Karen van Kampen, The Brain Never Sleeps: Why We Dream and What It Means for Our Health, Michael Lynton & Joshua Steiner, From Mistakes to Meaning: Owning Your Past So It Doesn't Own You, Matt Kaplan, I Told You So!: Scientists Who Were Ridiculed, Exiled, and Imprisoned for Being Right, Helen Zoe Veit, Picky: How American Children Became the Fussiest Eaters in History, Jennifer Doleac, The Science of Second Chances: A Revolution in Criminal Justice, Darcey Steinke, This Is the Door: The Body, Pain, and Faith, Beth Gardiner, Plastic Inc.: The Secret History and Shocking Future of Big Oil's Biggest Bet, Michael Pollan, A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness.