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The Big Idea

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A big idea that shapes how we understand our place in the world - from the idea’s creator.

What are the big ideas shaping our world?  This new series from the BBC World Service picks the best ideas from economics to psychology, neuroscience to philosophy, political science to anthropology, and makes them easy to digest.

Each episode of "The Big Idea" outlines the important idea through the words of the person who’s developed the theory. In just nine minutes we offer a weekly chance to listen and feel just a little bit wiser.

The Big Idea: Consciousness: A strange theory

Consciousness A Strange Theory

18/08/2018 GMT

Consciousness: A strange theory

BBC World Service - The Big Idea, Consciousness: A strange theory

Humans are conscious, but is consciousness also in tables and chairs?

Is consciousness everywhere? Humans are conscious, but is consciousness also in tables and chairs? David Chalmers explains why this claim is worth taking seriously.

Human consciousness - our subjective experience - remains a mystery. 

How is it that we can smell coffee and feel the touch of a flower? How does the brain produce consciousness? Well, one of the world’s top philosophers, David Chalmers, has a suggestion. 

Perhaps consciousness exists everywhere, in some form; perhaps it exists in every subatomic particle – the particles that make up not just humans, but tables and chairs. It sounds completely wacky? 

But Professor Chalmers explains why it’s a theory worth taking seriously. 

Presenter David Edmonds 
Producer Ben Cooper 

(Image: Glittering Particles Credit: Shutterstock)

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