Ep94 "How does the brain construct reality?"

This episode of Inner Cosmos interviews Anil Seth about his book, *Being You*, focusing on the neuroscience of consciousness. The conversation explores Seth's "controlled hallucination" theory, arguing that perception is a constructive process where the brain generates predictions and uses sensory input to refine them. The discussion also touches on individual differences in perception, highlighting Seth's Perception Census project which gathered data from 40,000 participants across 127 countries. Finally, they debate the consciousness of animals and AI, concluding that while animal consciousness is likely underestimated, AI consciousness is likely overestimated. The interview concludes by discussing the ongoing mystery of how consciousness arises from the brain, suggesting that the questions themselves may evolve as research progresses.