# Will science ever explain the self? Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/god-forbid-567088/will-science-ever-explain-the-self Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/god-forbid-567088/will-science-ever-explain-the-self.md Podcast: [God Forbid](https://stenobird.com/podcast/god-forbid-567088) Published: 2026-08-28T05:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/godforbid/science-and-self/107015354 Audio file: https://mediacore-live-production.akamaized.net/audio/02/nv/Z/1s.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/god-forbid-567088/episodes/will-science-ever-explain-the-self Duration seconds: 3278 ## Resource Neuroscience is now spectacularly good at explaining how brains work. But there’s one thing it still can’t explain: why having a brain feels like something. Like anything at all! Philosophers call this the Hard Problem of consciousness. Is this gap in our knowledge something that science can never fully understand? Something intangible, even unknowable? Some say it's a life force, an essence, a soul. What, if anything, can religion offer this intangible? GUESTS: Rev Antonios Caldas Coptic Orthodox priest and lecturer at St Cyril’s Coptic Orthodox Theological College Prof Neil Levy philosopher at Macquarie University and Oxford University ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/god-forbid-567088/episodes/will-science-ever-explain-the-self/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/god-forbid-567088/will-science-ever-explain-the-self.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.