'The Interview': Michael Pollan Says Humanity Is About to Undergo a Revolutionary Change

What It Covers

Michael Pollan explores consciousness in his new book, defining it as subjective experience and addressing the hard problem of how matter creates mind. He examines evolutionary theories, panpsychism, AI consciousness limitations, Buddhist perspectives on self, psychedelic experiences, and how consciousness relates to embodiment, feelings, and memory construction in modern life.

Key Questions Answered

• •Consciousness Definition Framework: Consciousness equals subjective experience, tested by philosopher Thomas Nagel's bat question: if you can imagine what it's like to be something, that entity possesses consciousness. This distinguishes conscious beings from objects like toasters. The framework helps evaluate which entities deserve moral consideration, though humans inconsistently grant personhood even to confirmed conscious beings while extending it to unconscious corporations.
• •Hard Problem Origins: Consciousness likely originates in the brain stem through feelings and bodily monitoring, not the cortex where thinking occurs. Researchers Antonio Damasio and Mark Soames demonstrate that decorticated animals retain consciousness, but turning off brain stem structures eliminates it. This embodiment requirement suggests AI cannot achieve consciousness because machines lack physical bodies generating feelings that enable subjective experience.
• •Self as Construct: The self functions as a useful illusion, similar to naming a river despite constantly changing water. Memory undergoes continuous rewriting through mnemonic improvisation, where each recalled memory gets slightly modified before storage. This process constructs a functional self for present needs rather than preserving objective history. Computers would be discarded for this behavior, but humans require it for identity formation.
• •Ego Transcendence Value: Ninety to ninety-five percent of brain activity operates unconsciously, managing bodily functions without awareness. Consciousness serves complex social navigation and competing need prioritization. Peak life experiences occur during self-dissolution through meditation, psychedelics, or flow states, when ego walls dissolve and connection to larger systems emerges. Annual guided psychedelic sessions provide opportunities for reality assessment and emotional processing beyond everyday awareness.
• •Consciousness Protection Strategy: Political figures like Trump occupy significant attention bandwidth daily, polluting collective consciousness through constant distraction. Consciousness hygiene practices become essential for preserving mental privacy, freedom of thought, and capacity for political action. The rise of AI claiming consciousness and increasing animal consciousness research create a Copernican moment requiring humanity to redefine what distinguishes human experience from machines and other species.