"A World Appears is a beautifully crafted, personal account of his five-year-long quest to understand how scientists, philosophers and novelists explore the nature of conscious experience. The modern era of consciousness research began in the early 1990s. Researchers sought to tackle what philosopher David Chalmers called the 'hard problem' of consciousness: the challenge of explaining why any physical process - be it neurons firing at particular frequencies or the transmission of information through specific regions of the brain - should 'feel' like anything at all."
"Researchers began trying to identify the brain circuits and cells that lead to the experience of consciousness in mammals. They focused on the neocortex, the brain's outermost layer, which is often assumed to be responsible for consciousness. Although this lofty goal of identifying brain circuits is yet to be achieved, in parallel, scientists have developed formal, empirically testable theories that relate consciousness to underlying neural circuits."
Humans and many animals possess subjective inner lives that include perception, imagination, memory, and emotions, yet these experiences remain unexplained by physical sciences. Psychedelic compounds can reveal that sensations are brain-constructed and can broaden perception, defamiliarizing everyday consciousness. Personal psychedelic experiences can catalyze deeper inquiry into consciousness. Modern consciousness research accelerated in the early 1990s, confronting the 'hard problem' of why physical processes should feel like anything. Researchers have sought specific brain circuits, often focusing on the neocortex, while parallel efforts produced formal, empirically testable theories linking conscious experience to neural circuits.
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