What Humans, Animals and Plants Tell Us About Consciousness | Michael Pollan
Author and journalist Michael Pollan joins Dr. Andrew Huberman to explore the nature of consciousness, sentience in plants, and how somatic feelings from the body shape the mind. They discuss the evolutionary functions of the ego, the neurobiology and politics surrounding psychedelics, the microbiome's influence on human behavior, and Pollan's experiment quitting caffeine.
- Former Texas Governor Rick Perry and conservative veteran groups now lead advocacy for ibogaine and MDMA to treat combat trauma and addiction. Read →
- Michael Pollan quit all caffeine for three months after a conversation with psychopharmacologist Roland Griffiths. Read →
- The human ego acts primarily as a protective defense mechanism that separates self from others, driving competitive ambition while cutting people off from connection. Read →
- Humans function as superorganisms, relying on more bacterial genes across the body than human genes to survive. Read →
- Antonio Damasio and Mark Solms argue that consciousness starts with visceral feelings in the brain stem, not high-level thoughts in the neocortex. Read →