By MIKE MAGEE
Stanford neuroscientist, David Eagleman, reminded us this week that “A coherent explanation of consciousness eludes modern science.” That was his opening line in the New York Times book review of Michael Pollan’s latest effort, “A World Appears.” In it, Pollan asks innocently, “How does the brain generate a unified sense of self?”
According to Eagleman, “Pollan is not able to furnish...
This piece weaves together disparate fields—neuroscience, philosophy, epigenetics, and immunology—to probe one of humanity’s oldest questions: *What is the self?* The strongest version of its narrative is that science is edging toward a more fluid, relational understanding of identity, where rigid boundaries between "self" and "other" dissolve. Epigenetics shows genes as dynamic, not fixed; immunology reveals the body as an ecosystem, not a fortress; and philosophy grapples with consciousness as...