Anil Seth

We are privileged to welcome Professor Anil Seth (@anilseth.bsky.social) as our 2026 Sluckin speaker @uolsopvs.bsky.social @uniofleicester.bsky.social.

Event Details:

📅 Thursday 7th May 2026
🕒 5pm
📍 Lecture Theatre 1, Ground Floor, George Davies Centre, Leicester

Here's a striking visual illusion - the 9 purple dots.

Focus your eyes on the top left dot. That one is more purple than the others, right? Now try another dot... that one becomes the purple one! pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41744429/

Cool paper!

Congrats 🥂 very exciting

Hmmm let me check. I wasn’t aware there was an embargo. I’m sorry for the delay - im working away at the response - lots to try to get in there :)

The strongest version of this illusion I’ve seen! Absolute head-wrecker!

The Danger Of Superhuman AI Is Not What You Think | NOEMA The rhetoric over “superhuman” AI implicitly erases what’s most important about being human.

The danger of superhuman AI is not what you think. This essay in @noemamag.com by @shannonvallor.bsky.social is brilliant. Well worth a read. www.noemamag.com/the-danger-o...

This has shaped up to be quite an exciting event! Join us ( @johanneskleiner.bsky.social @jolienfrancken.bsky.social ) this Monday to explore different perspectives about measurement theory & consciousness science 🤓
www.uni-bamberg.de/en/bamxi/res...

Bots have made their way to Prolific experiments. Our lab has stopped online testing of adults entirely now for this reason - we want to know if what we study is real. Probably data collected 2-3 years ago are ok, but moving forward we just can't know. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

YouTube video by Conspicuous Cognition AI Sessions #9: The Case Against AI Consciousness (with Anil Seth)

Henry Shevlin and I chat with @anilseth.bsky.social about his scientific and philosophical case against conscious AI: youtu.be/wVYg8u5xjno?...

Really enjoyed this conversation 👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽

The Self-Evidencing Agent: Mind, Existence, and Predictive Processing How the concept of self-evidencing offers a philosophical principle for understanding mind and behavior, consciousness, value, wisdom, and meaning.What is

Here is the direct link to the Open Access book. The "book pdf" downloads the whole book, or there are links for individual chapters too.
doi.org/10.7551/mitp...

Thank you for the commentary :) I’m still plugging away the response. Turns out it’s not so easy to write a response to 50 ways of being wrong ;-)

The elusive nature of consciousness A writer grapples with neuroscience’s hardest problem

My review of Michal Pollan's book on consciousness: www.science.org/eprint/FTJG7...

Don’t miss this 👇🏽👇🏽

Hands holding a copy of "The Self-Evidencing Agent: Mind, Existence, and Predictive Processing" by Jakob Hohwy on a plain background.

"A masterful examination of what it means to be an ‘agent’ ... Essential reading for anyone interested why they are the way they are." — @anilseth.bsky.social

"The Self-Evidencing Agent" by Jakob @hohwy.bsky.social is available in paperback & #OpenAccess editions: mitpress.mit.edu/978026255389...

Nathan Gardels riffs on @anilseth.bsky.social’s prize-winning essay arguing that consciousness is inseparable from biological life and summarizes its key points.

I have yet to see an equally compelling argument for the opposite case (maybe I should look harder):

buff.ly/B9HtEiS

The audio recording from our event with Matthew Cobb and Anil Seth last week - CRICK: A Mind in Motion, From DNA to the Brain - up on our website. A fascinating discussion about the scientist, and the man - go take a listen now!

Link in comments

@anilseth.bsky.social @matthewcobb.bsky.social

The Self-Evidencing Agent What is it to be a human individual, an agent? According to Jakob Hohwy, it is to “self-evidence,” to actively seek out sensory evidence for one&...

"The Self-Evidencing Agent" - my new book - is out now with @mitpress.bsky.social

Can be purchased, or just download the whole thing for free, via the 'Open Access' option.

I'm grateful to @anilseth.bsky.social and Karl Friston for the generous endorsements.

mitpress.mit.edu/978026255389...

Wow! Many many congratulations 🥂

In case you're interested in foundations of measurement in #ConSci, you're cordially invited to join our upcoming workshop!

sh1.sendinblue.com/3hbk0uthapxp...

A huge thank you to my co-organizers @ronyhirsch.bsky.social and @jolienfrancken.bsky.social on this occasion! #ConSci

🙏🏽 and three cheers to you too for your work in, and championing of, science communication 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

The reflection presents the philosophers, artists, scientists and writers who have inspired my thinking in creating the Forms of Life season of exhibitions and programmes, including @edyong209.bsky.social @anilseth.bsky.social @sarahichioka.bsky.social

honorharger.wordpress.com/2026/02/02/f...

“Jakob Hohwy’s much anticipated new book delivers on all fronts. A masterful examination of what it means to be an ‘agent’....Essential reading for anyone interested why they are the way they are.” - @anilseth.bsky.social author of BEING YOU

👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽

PhD Scholarship

My Centre is a unique place to do a PhD in Philosophy, because you can be in constant contact with experts in veterinary medicine, psychology, zoology and policy and be part of a team united by a shared interest in animal minds. We now have our 1st ever PhD scholarship: www.lse.ac.uk/sentience/phd

AIs are chatting among themselves, and things are getting strange Neuroscientist Anil Seth argues that watching AIs converse intensifies our natural bias to see minds and intentions where none exist.

Will moltbook supercharge illusions of AI consciousness? New in @bigthink.com bigthink.com/mind-behavio...

Thank you 🙏🏽

The Mythology Of Conscious AI | NOEMA Why consciousness is more likely a property of life than of computation and why creating conscious, or even conscious-seeming AI, is a bad idea.

Intelligence and consciousness.

@anilseth.bsky.social, brief, clear and to the point: "intelligence is about doing and consciousness is about being"

www.noemamag.com/the-mytholog...

🔮 Moltbook is the most important place on the internet right now Humans not allowed

Good take, as always, from @azeem.bsky.social www.exponentialview.co/p/moltbook-i...