{"podcast":{"title":"Giants Shoulder","slug":"the-giants-shoulder-6943930","podcast_index_feed_id":6943930,"rss_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/f592b1d4/podcast/rss","website_url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/evanmcgloughlin","image_url":"https://d3t3ozftmdmh3i.cloudfront.net/staging/podcast_uploaded_nologo/41100317/41100317-1740226956129-96396ebc63bd9.jpg","author":"Evan McGloughlin","episode_count":140,"summary":"A Neuroscience podcast. Each week I talk with experts on a range of topics from consciousness and neuroplasticity to evolution and everything in between. I have a particular interest in consciousness and understanding our inner subjective conscious experience. Evan has a Neuroscience degree from Trinity College Dublin and is the co-founder of 2 (failed) edtech startups. He is a professional tennis coach and Triathlete enthusiast.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-03T04:19:34.566536+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-giants-shoulder-6943930"},"episode":{"title":"#103 Meet The Social Neuroscientist Proving We’re All Living In A Collective Consciousness","slug":"103-meet-the-social-neuroscientist-proving-we-re-all-living-in-a-collective-consciousness","published_at":"2026-03-16T04:46:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-giants-shoulder-6943930/103-meet-the-social-neuroscientist-proving-we-re-all-living-in-a-collective-consciousness","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-giants-shoulder-6943930","url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/evanmcgloughlin/episodes/103-Meet-The-Social-Neuroscientist-Proving-Were-All-Living-In-A-Collective-Consciousness-e3g83fv","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO8512764820.mp3","summary":"Chris Frith is a pioneering neuroscientist who helped launch the field of cognitive neuroscience — and his work has completely changed how we understand reality, consciousness, and mental illness.In this episode, you’ll learn why perception is just a controlled hallucination, how our brains build reality through social connection, why people with schizophrenia see the world differently, how consciousness evolved to help us coordinate with others, and why your sense of self might be an illusion shared to stay sane. Timestamps: 02:12 What Is Consciousness? A Brain-Built Social Model 06:34 Predictive Processing and Why You Never Really See the World 11:29 Controlled Hallucinations: How the Brain Manufactures Reality 16:45 Optical Illusions, Schizophrenia, and Seeing Too Much 21:08 What Schizophrenia Teaches Us About the Nature of Belief 27:10 Social Models, Sanity, and the Idea of a Collective Mind 32:43 Consciousness as a Social Adaptation — Not a Solo Experience 38:50 Generative Models and the Brain’s Simulation Engine 45:02 Why Solitude Breaks the Mind and Social Sync Holds It Together 50:31 Can AI Be Conscious? What’s Missing From Machines 56:07 Free Will, Agency and the Brain’s Self-Narrative 01:00:45 The Myth of a Single Reality: Delusions, Politics and Group Models 01:06:58 Consciousness, Intelligence, and the AI Illusion 01:11:41 Why the Self Is Just a Useful Story 01:17:09 Do Octopuses Have Consciousness? 01:21:16 Where Does the Line Fall Between Conscious and Not?01:25:20 Frith’s Thoughts on the Future of Consciousness Research 01:30:03 AI, Prediction, and the Limits of Machine Minds 01:34:38 Final Reflections: Social Brains, Sanity, and Shared Reality ... Email for sponsorship enquiries: evan@thegiantsshoulder.com ❤️ Subscribe to our main channel - https://www.…","meta_description":"Chris Frith is a pioneering neuroscientist who helped launch the field of cognitive neuroscience — and his work has completely changed how we understand r…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":5906,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-giants-shoulder-6943930/episodes/103-meet-the-social-neuroscientist-proving-we-re-all-living-in-a-collective-consciousness/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-giants-shoulder-6943930/103-meet-the-social-neuroscientist-proving-we-re-all-living-in-a-collective-consciousness.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}