Consciousness is a mystery

Hogging seats on a crowded train, not saying excuse me, watching videos on your phone with no headphones in. Sometimes it feels like we don't know how to act anymore. What we have been seeing, increasingly, is people breaking rules. Why should I play by the rules if nobody else is going to do that for me? This week on Explain It to Me, how to mind your manners.

New episodes Sundays wherever you get your podcasts. Maybe the greatest mystery we have is consciousness. How does the three-pound lump of goo inside our skulls decide that it's a self? And the more we learn about how the brain works, the bigger this mystery gets. And the more we learn about other creatures, mammals, even plants, the more it seems like maybe consciousness isn't just a human thing.

There is, after all, no obvious reason that it should feel like anything to be alive. No reason that you should believe that there's some I sitting inside your head. So why are we so sure that there is? I'm Sean Illing and this is the gray area. Today's guest is Michael Pollan.

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