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Reading Our Times · Dec 2, 2025 · 41 min

What is consciousness? In conversation with Baroness Susan Greenfield

Consciousness is famously called the “hard problem” and it elicits a very wide range of (sometimes very strongly held) opinions. These range from the idea that it is little more than a trick played on us by our brain, to the idea that it is built into the very fabric of matter at the most fundamental level. How does consciousness differ from mindedness? It is all or nothing, or are there grades of consciousness? And how does it map on our ordinary, everyday lives? This week, Nick Spencer speaks to Baroness Susan Greenfield about her new book: A Day in the Life of the Brain: The Neuroscience of Consciousness from Dawn Till Dusk. You can buy a copy of her book here.

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transcript

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show notes

Consciousness is famously called the “hard problem” and it elicits a very wide range of (sometimes very strongly held) opinions.

These range from the idea that it is little more than a trick played on us by our brain, to the idea that it is built into the very fabric of matter at the most fundamental level.

How does consciousness differ from mindedness? It is all or nothing, or are there grades of consciousness? And how does it map on our ordinary, everyday lives?

This week, Nick Spencer speaks to Baroness Susan Greenfield about her new book: A Day in the Life of the Brain: The Neuroscience of Consciousness from Dawn Till Dusk.

You can buy a copy of her book here.

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