What is really known about consciousness?

You may agree that the so-called hard problem of consciousness exposes the deep inadequacies of a materialist worldview. But the alternatives - various forms of panpsychism, panentheism and idealism - raise rich and fascinating questions too. In this episode of The Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues, Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon explore the leading edge of consciousness research, with Rupert just back from The Science of Consciousness Conference 2025 in Barcelona. They discuss the impact of Indian researchers in consciousness and the proposals of microchip inventor, Federico Faggin. They consider trainings in extra-ocular vision and questions thrown up by the hit podcast series, The Telepathy Tapes. One thing is clear: when the materialist paradigm passes, the science of consciousness will have only just begun.

You can listen to What is really known about consciousness? online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

What is really known about consciousness? is an episode from The Sheldrake Vernon Dialogues by Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon.

This episode is 47:11 long.

This episode was published on Aug 6, 2025.

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