Body, Brain, and Consciousness: Event, Pop-ups, and Family Workshop

Neuroscientist Anil Seth suggests the neuroscience of consciousness can be explained through biological processes that are designed into us for our survival. To understand consciousness and our minds, we need to understand the human brain as a system embedded within its environment. Neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux traced these survival mechanisms past our mammalian ancestors to simple organisms such as eukaryotes, prokaryotes, and bacteria. In these ancient unicellular organisms he found recognizable survival behaviors. Many of our routine human emotions and behaviors are possibly more ancient than we realize and are not always tools of the conscious mind.

As an accompaniment to Charles Atlas’s exhibit The Mathematics of Consciousness, Kari, co-curated the event alongside Charles and then worked with the PW science team to book the guests, research and script the conversation, and produce the evening. The event also featured a companion pop-up of brain specimens from Mount Sinai’s brain bank and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, as well as an asynchronous family workshop hosted by Backyard Brains.