Janine Edge, OC from the Scientific and Medical Network and Dr Guy Saunders from the University of the West of England led the first of two seminars on ‘The Science of Consciousness’. Under the heading “What is it like to be a bat?”, they posed the following questions. What does it mean to be self-aware? Does the brain produce consciousness? If we are the result of chemical reactions in the brain, how can we act freely? Can a machine have experience? Are we just complex machines – or zombies?

 

Beginning with practical exercises designed to make pupils aware of the puzzle of self-awareness and the difficulties of knowing what another is experiencing, and moving on via clips from ‘The Matrix’ and ‘Bladerunner’, possible answers to the questions touched on concepts such as the quantum vacuum, pure consciousness and even the mind of God, as science strayed ineluctably into the province of philosophy and religion.

 

The two speakers were admirable catalysts for a fierce debate that continued well into dinner, itself an appetiser for the second seminar, “Who am I?”, which takes place in November.