Evan Thompson

For the neuro in neurophenomenology, I'd refer to Varela's 1996 paper on neurophenomenology in Journal of Consciousness Studies. Consciousness is a transcendental precondition of scientific investigation, so it doesn't make sense to identify it in terms of something else.

The chapter on consciousness in The Blind Spot is the most recent thing I've written on this topic.

This is not my problem: I don't think that certain classes of functions are identical to or entail consciousness. (This is not to say that there are not other problems neurophenomenology faces.)

YouTube video by The Blind Spot Podcast The Blind Spot Podcast - Episode 8: What is the World Made Of? A Brief History of Ontology

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEe5...

Play and the Mental Sweet Spot Listen now (83 mins) | Surprise, Risk, Flourishing & Active Inference with Julian Kiverstein

Algorithms don't play & animals only play when they feel safe. ❤️ Ep 65 with Julian Kiverstein (Amsterdam Medical) looks at how play relates to surprise, risk, & our capacity to handle uncertainty. New insights on Active Inference & the role of The Embodied Mind #EmbodiedMInd #play #loveandphilosophy

In this episode Julian credits @evanthompson.bsky.social and The Embodied Mind as his primary inspiration

YouTube video by The Exchange Artificial intelligence in the BC Wildfire Service

Very nice to see something intelligent about AI and about putting it to a good use for a change. www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHlL...

YouTube video by The Blind Spot Podcast The Blind Spot Podcast - Episode 7, Life: Beyond the Machine Metaphor

New episode with yours truly and @adamfrank4.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCO-...

Why Science Hasn’t Solved Consciousness (Yet) | NOEMA To understand life, we must stop treating organisms like machines and minds like code.

Why Science Hasn’t Solved Consciousness (Yet) www.noemamag.com/why-science-... by @adamfrank4.bsky.social

The cultural construction of “executive function” | PNAS In cognitive science, the term “executive function” (EF) refers to universal features of the mind. Yet, almost all results described as measuring E...

The cultural construction of “executive function” | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Executive summary: "A major achievement....sweeping in scope, yet meticulously reasoned."

„The Blind Spot“: Der Fluch des blinden Flecks Das Gehirn-Geist-Problem und andere große Rätsel der Wissenschaft harren einer Lösung. Zwei Physiker und ein Philosoph plädieren in „The Blind Spot“ für einen radikal neuen Zugang, in dem die menschli...

A review of The Blind Spot that appeared in Die Furche in April. www.furche.at/wissen/the-b...

YouTube video by The Blind Spot Podcast The Blind Spot Podcast - Episode 5, The Modern Story of the Universe, pt II

New episode of The Blind Spot just dropped. Problems with Cosmology and Unified Theories. Deep dive into success & challenges of the big bang model and String Theory and supersymmetry. Their major shortcomings and challenges. (spotify too) @evanthompson.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d5m...

YouTube video by The Blind Spot Podcast The Blind Spot Podcast - Episode 5, The Modern Story of the Universe, pt II

Episode 5 of The Blind Spot Podcast with @adamfrank4.bsky.social and Marcelo Gleiser. Part II of our reflections on modern cosmology. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d5m...

Information in the Brain: From Metaphor to Truth Despite explicit warnings from Shannon to tread carefully when applying Information Theory to fields for which it was not designed, contemporary neuroscientists adopting the framework of Information ....

"the neuroscientist has embraced the habit of treating neurons as cognitive agents, attributing to them capacities we would normally only attribute to persons." Information in the Brain: From Metaphor to Truth - Zahnoun - Theoria - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Yes, the brain is a lot more than just neurons, not just structurally but also functionally with respect to cognition.

Life, free energy, and the pursuit of goals Many Minds · Episode

Fabulous discussion with Dr. Kate Nave - wide-ranging, nuanced, clear, smart thinking about agency, purpose, life, cybernetics, the FEP, process philosophy and lots more! open.spotify.com/episode/4PKy...

Psychedelic control of neuroimmune interactions governing fear - Nature Inflammatory monocytes in the brain meninges promote stress-induced fear behaviour, and the pathways involved can be modulated using psychedelic compounds.

If you think the brain should be defined as a massive neural network, think again. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Hand holding a copy of "A Drive to Survive: The Free Energy Principle and the Meaning of Life" by Kathryn Nave. The cover is blue with orange text and features a geometric design at the center.

“A game-changer for cognitive science." — @evanthompson.bsky.social‬

In "A Drive to Survive," @kathrynnave.bsky.social‬ offers an extended critical analysis of the strengths and limitations of the free energy principle. Available #openaccess: mitpress.mit.edu/978026255132...

Prolegomena for a Philosophical Practice in the 21st Century, Ljiljana Radenovic The history of modern-day philosophical counseling is short. It starts in the 1980s of the last century. Its official founder is the philosopher Gerd Achenbach, who became the first philosophical…

Dear friends, I wrote a piece in which I explain why I think reviving ancient views of phil life can work only partially for us today. I also explain why I think that bringing great books to the counseling table is the key to self-transformation. social-epistemology.com/2025/06/04/p...

Nancy Jack Todd Remembering

In memory of Nancy Jack Todd by @beckety.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/oceanark...

Episode 4: Cosmology, The Modern Story of the Universe The Blind Spot Podcast · Episode

Episode 4 of our new podcast The Blind Spot with @adamfrank4.bsky.social and Marcelo Gleiser. This time we're talking about cosmology. open.spotify.com/episode/45sm...

Rebecca Todd on Substack This note is a first tribute to my mother, Nancy Jack Todd, who died peacefully at home in the evening of May 30, in sunlight, with John and her grandson Max holding her hands. Other obituaries and t...

My mother-in-law, the inestimable Nancy Jack Todd, has left us. Here's a piece about her by her daughter and my partner, @beckety.bsky.social substack.com/@beckettodd/...

Episode 3: What is Time? Part II - The Arrow of Time and Time in Relativity The Blind Spot Podcast · Episode

Just a reminder that @evanthompson.bsky.social Marcelo Gleiser and I have started a podcast called The Blind Spot (its about science, philosophy and beyond).

Here is a link to the latest episode which is Part II of our discussion of Time

open.spotify.com/episode/3KYp...

Pictures of Varela’s Biological Autonomy book

Really excited to read the reprint of Varela’s Biological Autonomy annotated by @evanthompson.bsky.social. I really want to offer a special topics course focusing on it in an upcoming semester.

This is the sequel that some of you wanted and some of you perhaps didn't want :) @pessoabrain.bsky.social @jbarbosa.org @algarwegian.bsky.social @evanthompson.bsky.social @frosas.bsky.social @haesemeyerlab.bsky.social @networksunknown.bsky.social

Principles of Biological Autonomy A new, updated edition of the 1979 classic from one of the foremost authors in cognitive science and theoretical biology, with the original text as well as

Open access edition of "Principles of Biological Autonomy" can be found here: direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...

YouTube video by Mind & Life Europe Book Launch & Roundtable Discussion: Principles of Biological Autonomy

Yesterday's book launch discussion for our new edition of Francisco Varela's Principles of BIological Autonomy published by @mitpress.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbdN...

How the human brain is like a murmuration of starlings | Aeon Essays The brain is much less like a machine than it is like the murmurations of a flock of starlings or an orchestral symphony

The Entangled Brain by @pessoabrain.bsky.social aeon.co/essays/how-t...

"Information is a manner of speaking, nothing more." www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/27...