The World Behind the World: Consciousness, Free Will, and the Limits of Science

From a Forbes 30 Under 30 scientist comes a fascinating exploration into how the brain creates our conscious experiences--potentially revolutionizing neuroscience and the future of technology--transforming the very fabric of our society. Throughout history, two perspectives on the world have dueled in our minds: the extrinsic--that of mechanism and physics--and the intrinsic--that of feelings, thoughts, and ideas. The intrinsic perspective allows us to tell stories about our lives, to chart our anger and our lust, to understand our psychologies. The extrinsic allows us to chart the physical world, to build upon it, and to travel across it. These perspectives have never been reconciled; they almost seem to exist on different planes of thought. Only recently, due to the pioneering work of DNA-discoverer Francis Crick, have these two perspectives been conjoined. This attempt to reconcile these perspectives is the science of consciousness, and posits that the intrinsic aspect of the