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The magazine will feature exclusive interviews with artists, scientists, writers and creative thinkers.

Passing Thoughts

Susan Aldworth is an experimental printmaker and filmmaker referencing both neuroscience and philosophy in her work exploring human identity.

Significant recent shows include Susan Aldworth:The Portrait Anatomised at the National Portrait Gallery; Brains: The mind as matter, Wellcome Collection; Mind Maps: Stories from Psychology, Science Museum, London; and Images of the Mind, in Dresden and Brno. Her work is in many collections including the V&A, British Museum, Hunterian Museum and Wellcome Collection.

On The Master and his Emissary

Iain McGilchrist is a psychiatrist and writer. He is committed to the idea that the mind and brain can be understood only by seeing them in the broadest possible context, that of the whole of our physical and spiritual existence, and of the wider human culture in which they arise – the culture which helps to mould, and in turn is moulded by, our minds and brains. His seminal book, The Master and his Emissary, is a fascinating exploration of the differences between the brain’s right and left hemispheres and their effects on society, history and culture. In it, he argues that, despite its inferior grasp of reality, the left hemisphere is increasingly taking precedence in the modern world, with potentially disastrous consequences. In this exclusive interview, Iain McGilchrist discusses the book and the need for a greater understanding between science and the humanities.

Brain, Consciousness and Neuromania

Raymond Tallis is a philosopher, poet, novelist and cultural critic and was until recently a physician and clinical scientist. In the Economist’s Intelligent LifeMagazine (Autumn 2009) he was listed as one of the top living polymaths in the world. In this exclusive interview he offers a critique of current predominant intellectual trends and discusses an alternative understanding of human consciousness and of what it is to be a human being.

Understanding Consciousness

Max Velmans is currently Emeritus Professor of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, Visiting Professor in Consciousness Studies, University of Plymouth, an Academician of the Social Sciences, and has been involved in consciousness studies for around 40 years. His main research focus is on integrating work on the philosophy, cognitive psychology and neuropsychology of consciousness, and, more recently, on East-West integrative approaches.

Mind Uploading

Mind-Uploading: the process of transferring one’s mind from the brain to a new substrate, generally a computer. It is the stuff of science fiction, immediately recognizable in contemporary literature and cinema. However, it has also become increasingly respectable–or at least approachable–within technological, neurological, and philosophical circles. In this exclusive interview, Keith Wiley (author of ‘A Taxonomy and Metaphysics of Mind-Uploading’), discusses the ways that minds may be uploaded in the future, and some of the key issues that this poses.

Passionate about Consciousness

Philip Goff is an Associate Professor in Philosophy at Central European University in Budapest. HIs main research focus is trying to explain how the brain produces consciousness. In this exclusive interview he discusses how we need to radically rethink our understanding of matter in order to explain consciousness, in something like the way Einstein radically rethought the nature of space and time

Eunoia- beautiful thoughts

American-born and Korean-raised, Lisa Park is a multidisciplinary artist who is currently based in New York. In the past few years, she started experimenting with biosensors (brainwave, heart-rate monitoring devices) as a vehicle for manifesting her inner states. Park’s recent performances “Eunoia” and “Eunoia II” involved using a commercial brainwave(EEG) headset as a self-monitoring tool to obtain real-time feedback of her emotional reactions. The performances were done in an attempt to visually reflect the vibrations of the mind by expressing herself on the surface of the water.

On the interface between neuroscience and philosophy

Patricia Smith Churchland is a Professor emerita of Philosophy at the University of California, San Diego, an adjunct Professor at the Salk Institute and recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship for her work in neurophilosophy. Her research focuses on the interface between neuroscience and philosophy, realizing that to understand the mind one must understand the brain. She is the author of many insightful books, including ‘Touching a Nerve: The Self as Brain’; ‘Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells Us about Morality’; and the groundbreaking book, ‘Neurophilosophy’.

The Brain and its Embodiment

Murray Shanahan is Professor of Cognitive Robotics at Imperial College London. His current interests include brain connectivity, neurodynamics, comparative cognition, and the relationship between cognition and consciousness. His book “Embodiment and the Inner Life” was published by Oxford University Press in 2010, and he is currently working on a book about the technological singularity for MIT Press.