Your brain hallucinates your conscious reality | Anil Seth | TED

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Published 2017-07-18
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Right now, billions of neurons in your brain are working together to generate a conscious experience -- and not just any conscious experience, your experience of the world around you and of yourself within it. How does this happen? According to neuroscientist Anil Seth, we're all hallucinating all the time; when we agree about our hallucinations, we call it "reality." Join Seth for a delightfully disorienting talk that may leave you questioning the very nature of your existence.

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All Comments (21)
  • @MANISHDADDU
    "Brain is the most important organ" says the Brain.
  • @enderwolf2153
    Ah yes watching this during an existential crisis in the middle of the night was a great idea
  • @daniels3795
    The Buddha once said “we are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts, and with our thoughts we create the world”. The 1st time I ever read that quote, I instantly understood it was meant in the literal sense.
  • @adenfayt5433
    Saw this video a while ago but I just rewatched it, and I have to say this is one of the best videos I've seen on YouTube. His presentation is wonderful and engaging, and what he says is up to date with neuroscience. Great speaker and great video!
  • "We're all hallucinating all the time, even right now. It's just that when we agree about our hallucinations, we call that reality" - Anil Seth Best. Quote. Ever!!!
  • @Shlogger
    "When we agree about our hallucination, we call that reality.."..nailed it with that one
  • A masterpiece of speech, especially his final, closing words. Thank you.
  • @ashtonjaymes6133
    Right off the bat you got me with you because when I had surgery and I got put under, I remember my eyes getting heavy and I fell asleep and right as my eyes closed, they opened back up again. That's how it felt to me. I woke up in the recovery room after surgery and it felt like I had fallen asleep and woke up again immediately like when you're in class and tired and catch yourself drifting. It'd actually even several hours
  • “Imagine being a brain” My brain: Tries to imagine being a brain
  • @OhmVibe
    "What we call reality is, in fact, nothing more than a culturally sanctioned and linguistically reinforced hallucination." - Terence McKenna
  • "We predicted ourselves to reality" What a statement because of these i can understand how other creatures perceive the same reality In different ways because they predicted themselves as they are right now.
  • @IamKlaus007
    To be relaxed, present and accepting of what is, in my current surroundings, is quite possibly the best method I've ever found of dissolving my many negative emotions.
  • @sianoamedeo
    "We dont just passively perceive the world, we actively generate it"
  • @benhenson4515
    "There's nothing to be afraid of. Nothing at all"....he knows something....
  • "With a greater sense of understanding comes a greater sense of wonder and a greater realisation that we are a part of and not a part from nature" The guy has a way with words. that's a powerful statement. I love it.
  • Anil Seth is brilliant at so many levels. He is a brilliant scientist but what most impresses me is his ability to take very complex ideas and make them understandable to the masses and to do it in a very entertaining way. Gifted speaker.
  • @set-tes4316
    That's the type of title that cause an existential crisis in my mind before I even click on the video..
  • @sirvapalot
    "we are definitely a part of Nature not apart from it" nice quote.
  • @soluteemoji
    Psychedelics seem to allow you to break the cycle of human perceptual contiguity just like anesthesia. Good vid.