Lights On

How Understanding Consciousness Helps Us Understand the Universe

De: Annaka Harris

Narrado por: Annaka Harris

“Consciousness might be the greatest mystery of the universe, and Annaka Harris is our best detective… You’ll never think about what happens between your ears in the same way again.” —Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again

“Follow along as Annaka Harris interviews (and graciously challenges) the world’s leading scientists on the nature of consciousness… Magnificent.” —Susan Cain, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Quiet

As accessible as it is awe-inspiring, this exclusive audio documentary by New York Times bestselling author Annaka Harris explores the unknown corners of consciousness and the cosmos.

Is consciousness a fundamental building block of the universe, like gravity? Can humans develop new senses through neuroscience? And can artificial intelligence ever truly replicate the subjective experience of being conscious?

Join Annaka Harris as she calls on distinguished experts in science and philosophy to find answers to today’s most perplexing questions about our minds and the universe at large. Through interviews with thinkers such as Brian Greene, David Eagleman, Anil Seth, Carlo Rovelli, and more, Harris presents diverse perspectives on whether consciousness could be considered a fundamental aspect of the universe.

This revolutionary idea challenges traditional neuroscience and quantum physics, shattering what we think we know about ourselves and scientific phenomena as foundational as space and time. Lights On also questions how a new understanding of consciousness might affect our perception of existence, our notions of free will, the development of technology, and the future of scientific discovery. In a follow-up to her seminal book, Conscious, this audio-original documentary offers beginners and experts alike a chance to unravel some of humankind’s most enduring puzzles. Where Conscious presents new questions about felt experience, Lights On seeks to find the answers.

“Only Annaka Harris could take one of the greatest mysteries of science and make it not only an adventure but also deeply relevant to everyday human flourishing.” —Dan Harris, author of the New York Times bestseller 10% Happier and host of the 10% Percent Happier podcast

Narrated by Annaka Harris; featuring Jay Shapiro, Susan Blackmore, Sean Carroll, Daniel Chamovitz, David Eagleman, Sascha Fink, Adam Frank, Philip Goff, Joseph Goldstein, Brian Greene, Donald Hoffman, Patrick House, Christof Koch, Janna Levin, George Musser, Zoë Schlanger, Anil Seth, Lee Smolin, Sara Imari Walker

Produced and directed by Jay Shapiro and Annaka Harris

An audio original from Macmillan Audio.

©2025 Annaka Harris (P)2025 Macmillan Audio

Absolutely delighted

I loved this. I just felt it out and had to get the gist of a lot of it because I don’t have a strong science or math mind - but I absolutely love the questions and curiosity that Annnika is working with, “obsessed” with and sharing here! I am fascinated by the “fact” that we are even here and don’t take it for granted - I love hearing the wonders and questions that she brings up and the conversations included. I am delighted that people are out there working seriously on these questions!

Truly Excellent Work

Anaka Harris brings the tone, narrative style and disposition of a reporter. Do not be misled. She is the most coherent philosopher of consciousness who is currently publishing. She clarifies arguments that leaders in the field struggle to express while maintaining a level of humility and detached objectivity that, frankly speaking, puts her counterparts in academia to shame.

SO GOOD!

I enjoyed this audio documentary from beginning to end. I plan to listen again. Annaka is so clear in her thinking, and it's a joy to hear her ideas about consciousness evolve throughout the documentary. DEFINITELY RECOMMEND!! Five gold stars.

Deep Thoughts on Consciousness

The author presents her views that consciousness is fundamental, along with supporting and oppositional views. The book is engaging and very thought provoking.

Casual stroll toward Idealism

This project is a little shaggy, but it is a great intro for the consciousness curious. Great fly overs of intriguing concepts that are not intuitive for the science minded. And methinks the lady doth protest too much! The repeated declarations of her materialist status led me to believe she is in fact an idealist, even if she doesn’t know it yet!

Frustrating

I'm only 1/3 through and will probably stop. Annika is a delightfully curious thinker, but time after time she interviews deeply thoughtful people who are praised for their skills as communicators only to hear a few snippets from them because she repeatedly interrupts, rehashing her own muddled confusion.

Exceptional!

I know I will listen to this multiple times and learn more with each listen! Really thorough and put together beautifully. I hope Annaka releases this content in other formats.

Cool listen

I enjoyed this. I might even listen again. Like 5 grams of psilocybin alone in the dark but less destabilizing.

Mind expanding (and sometimes mind boggling) exploration of perhaps the most fundamental question.

Thank you for what felt like compassionate, considerate, careful guidance through some of the thickest, most challenging physics and philosophical conversations I’ve ever listened to. Learned a lot, and realized how much more I still have to learn. Thank you for inspiring a deeper awareness of the profundity of ALL THIS.

What could be more interesting?

Consciousness and our perception of it in relation to “reality”, is an area our language is, at least currently, ill equipped to handle.
That said, Annaka Harris and the other distinguished participants have made a noble and entertaining effort here. The answers to the questions asked and those yet to be asked, could well be the key to understanding our place in the universe.
One minor criticism. Lose the distracting background sounds.