Podcast | Michael Pollan on Consciousness, AI, and the Self

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Can artificial intelligence ever be conscious? Michael Pollan says no, and at the Harvest Series in Kaplankaya, he lays out exactly why, starting with what he calls a faulty metaphor: the idea that the brain is a computer.

Jeff and Pollan dig into consciousness science, plant sentience, and the psychedelic research that shaped Pollan's thinking, then turn to AI, chatbots, and what happens when people mistake simulation for feeling.

• The neuroscience case against AI consciousness, and why feelings may require a body, mortality, and the ability to suffer
• Plant sentience explained: what it means for a plant to sense, evaluate, and act, without being "conscious"
• The 22 competing theories of consciousness, and why they all hit the same wall
• Why the upper brainstem, not the cortex, may be where consciousness actually begins
• The rise of "AI psychosis" and why 72% of American teens now turn to AI for companionship 

This episode is for anyone following the AI consciousness debate who wants the case laid out by someone who's spent years studying the real science.

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About the Commune Podcast

Hosted by Jeff Krasno, the Commune podcast features thoughtful conversations for modern times. Not always comfortable but definitely needed, we explore both humanity and our human-ness. How can we live healthy, purpose-filled lives and be in service of something bigger? Guests include spiritual teachers, poets, scientists, philosophers, and activists for food sustainability, functional medicine, mental and physical health, and collective healing.