We Are The Main Character

What does it mean to be consciously aware? In Being You, Anil Seth embarks on a multidisciplinary exploration into the enigmatic depths of consciousness. He unveils how our perceptions are not mirrors of reality but creative constructions shaped by brain mechanisms, bodily processes, and sensory cues. Seth also examines consciousness across the animal kingdom and contemplates the possibility of machine sentience, leaving readers pondering the essence of awareness across life forms and artificial entities.

Bridging neuroscience, philosophy, and technology, this thought-provoking analysis challenges conventional notions about the origins and nature of consciousness. Seth encourages readers to rethink their understanding of themselves and scrutinize the criteria that distinguish conscious beings.

How much do you know about the universe you live in? Thanks to scientific discoveries of the twentieth century, scientists have gained insight into many of nature’s secrets, from the origin of the universe to the nature of space and time. In A Brief History of Time, physicist Stephen Hawking explains these insights for a general audience.

In this guide, we’ll present Hawking’s exposition of modern physics through the lens of five big questions that the book answers: Is reality relative or absolute? Is the future predetermined? How did the universe begin? What is the nature of a black hole? And can you build a time machine? Where applicable, we’ll also examine how Hawking’s assertions and predictions stack up to new data that scientists have collected since the book was published.

If you’re like most people, you have a pretty good sense of who you are and how you relate to the world. But everything you know about yourself is wrong—according to neuroscientist Chris Niebauer. In No Self, No Problem, he explains that your sense of self is nothing more than an illusion crafted by your storytelling left brain. While science is just catching on to how this works, Niebauer notes that Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism have been teaching something similar for thousands of years.

In this guide, we’ll follow Niebauer through a tour of your sense of self and the brain regions that bring it into being. We’ll also consider his advice for loosening your grip on the thoughts and judgments that make you dissatisfied with your reality. Along the way, we’ll explore what other scientists, philosophers, and artists have to say about who we are and what it means to be a person.

How much do you know about the universe you live in? Thanks to scientific discoveries of the twentieth century, scientists have gained insight into many of nature’s secrets, from the origin of the universe to the nature of space and time. In A Brief History of Time, physicist Stephen Hawking explains these insights for a general audience.

In this guide, we’ll present Hawking’s exposition of modern physics through the lens of five big questions that the book answers: Is reality relative or absolute? Is the future predetermined? How did the universe begin? What is the nature of a black hole? And can you build a time machine? Where applicable, we’ll also examine how Hawking’s assertions and predictions stack up to new data that scientists have collected since the book was published.

The science of physics studies many topics, from the gravity holding planets together to electromagnetism and the microscopic forces inside the heart of the atom. Each of these forces works by different rules, some of which contradict each other. For centuries, scientists have sought a single theory that would unify these disparate fields and provide one equation from which we can derive a complete understanding of the universe. In The God Equation, theoretical physicist Michio Kaku suggests that an approach called “string theory” may be the path to uniting all the different laws of nature.

In this guide, we’ll trace the history of discoveries that unify areas of knowledge and reveal the underlying symmetries of nature. We’ll delve into string theory and define terms and concepts to give readers an understanding of the topic. We’ll discuss research to support string theory’s claims, and we’ll touch on the philosophical implications that a theory of the universe entails.

The 21st century will bring changes and challenges unlike any humans have encountered before. Globalism and technological innovations are changing the structures of societies worldwide—and the changes are happening quickly. If people don’t face these challenges and help shape the future, the world could have a class of obsolete workers whose jobs have been automated and people could lose their ability to make their own decisions. In 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, Yuval Noah Harari highlights the biggest challenges in the modern world, and he offers advice on making sense of and navigating such transitional times.

In this summary, you'll learn how algorithms like Netflix movie recommendations are teaching you to distrust your own judgment, why religion can’t solve 21st-century challenges, and how automation will threaten the jobs of humans in every industry.

If you’re like most people, you have a pretty good sense of who you are and how you relate to the world. But everything you know about yourself is wrong—according to neuroscientist Chris Niebauer. In No Self, No Problem, he explains that your sense of self is nothing more than an illusion crafted by your storytelling left brain. While science is just catching on to how this works, Niebauer notes that Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism have been teaching something similar for thousands of years.

In this guide, we’ll follow Niebauer through a tour of your sense of self and the brain regions that bring it into being. We’ll also consider his advice for loosening your grip on the thoughts and judgments that make you dissatisfied with your reality. Along the way, we’ll explore what other scientists, philosophers, and artists have to say about who we are and what it means to be a person.

Everyone wants to be happy, but the modern world is rife with obstacles to happiness. Many people view happiness as an elusive goal that’s perpetually out of reach. However, Mo Gawdat argues that we can be consistently happy if we bring our expectations and perceptions of our lives into alignment.

In Solve for Happy, Gawdat outlines a simple algorithm to do so: First, dispel six misconceptions that cause us to suffer; next, remove seven weaknesses that make us unhappy; and finally, embrace five pillars to become permanently happy. By following this three-part algorithm, we can enjoy lasting happiness.

In this guide, we’ll examine Gawdat’s algorithm and address the misconceptions, weaknesses, and pillars that he discusses. We’ll examine concrete strategies for following this algorithm, and we’ll compare Gawdat’s work to other guides for happiness.

What’s a definition of justice everyone can agree on? How should wealth and power be distributed in society? What obligations do citizens have to each other? These are some of the questions 20th-century American philosopher John Rawls confronts in his 1971 work, A Theory of Justice. Rawls tries to determine how government can distribute rights, opportunities, wealth, and power using only reason and logic. The result is a theory of “justice as fairness,” which merges liberalism’s emphasis on equal rights and individualism with economic equality and safety nets for the most vulnerable members of society.

We’ll explore how Rawls both defends and reimagines classic liberalism in a modern context, as well as how he defines an ideal government. In addition, we’ll examine critiques of his work, the intellectual basis for his arguments, and real-world examples of the politics he discusses.

For millennia, humans struggled with three serious problems—famine, plagues, and war—which led to the deaths of millions of people and to the rise and fall of global empires. People coped with these problems and answered life's questions with religion. However, in the modern era, we no longer rely on prayer—we’ve mostly overcome these three problems through the development of technology and medical knowledge.

In Homo Deus, Yuval Noah Harari, a professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, envisions a future in which technology replaces humanist ideals and liberal government. Dissecting the concepts of religion, immortality, and technology, Harari argues that the world of the future may be run by advanced algorithms and artificial intelligence, not human beings.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb probes the inherent constraints of human perception in The Bed of Procrustes, exploring our tendency to simplify intricate ideas into more digestible terms. He examines the pitfalls of reductive thinking across various domains, from modern institutions prioritizing conformity over nuanced understanding to everyday oversimplifications that distort reality.

In calling for universal principles over inflexible rules, Taleb investigates the balance between moral behavior rooted in deeper ethics and the appreciation of imperfection. He advocates for a simpler, more spontaneous lifestyle in harmony with nature's rhythms as an antidote to the excessive structuring and automation of contemporary living.