Public Stuff

Here are some things that are aimed at a more general, non-specialist audience. These are a bit more accessible than my published papers, and don’t require any prior knowledge of philosophy or psychology.

I am a passionate believer in public philosophy. If you have a public engagement event in mind and you would like me to do something, please email me (email address on the homepage).

Articles.

• Do aliens exist? We studied what scientists really think. The Conversation. This is about a survey of scientists on extra-terrestrial life. It’s written by Peter Vickers, Sean McMahon, and me. It was translated into Portugese. The translated version is available here.

• Babies and animals can’t tell us if they have consciousness – but philosophers and scientists are starting to find answers. The Conversation. This surveys some of the ways that we’re making progress on studying consciousness in babies, animals, and robots.

• Why robots can be culturally insensitive – and how scientists are trying to fix it. The Conversation. This is about cultural robotics: the practice of designing robots to fit with differing cultural norms and expectations. It’s written by me and Masoumeh Mansouri.

• Sometimes, paying attention means we see the world less clearly. Aeon/Psyche. This is about the way that attention can distort our conscious experience of the world, and what this means for our knowledge of the world.

• Visual illusion that may help explain consciousness: new study. The Conversation. This is about a new visual illusion that Bilge Sayim and I discovered, and which may help us understand peripheral vision. This was republished in The Independent, which is available here.

• Blindsight: a strange neurological condition that could help explain consciousness. The Conversation. This is about blindsight and the problem of consciousness. This article was traslated into Arabic.

• What is a species? The most important concept in all of biology is a complete mystery. The Conversation. This is about the species problem in biology. The biologist and blogger Jerry Coyne wrote a response to this article. A reply to his criticisms (as well as a link to his response) is available here.

Podcasts, Radio, and Interviews.

• I was a guest on The RE Podcast. This is a podcast for educators teaching religious education in schools. The title is The one about AI. I talk about consciousness, AI and robots. It’s here.

• I did a Thursday Thoughts segment. This is where a member of staff at Birmingham poses a question for distribution on Instagram, so that people can give their thoughts. My question was ‘Should robots be allowed to look after the elderly?’

• I was a guest on Capetalk radio (a radio station based in Cape Town) in 2024. I chatted about how you can tell whether babies and octopuses are conscious. It’s here.

• I was a guest on the Fun Kids Science Weekly podcast in 2024. This is a podcast produced by Fun Kids Radio, aimed at an age of about ten. I chat about the philosophy of science. It’s here (starts at 16.25).

• A short interview with me will be part of the University of Birmingham’s ‘AI Futures’ exhibition from February to November 2024, at The Exchange in Birmingham City Centre.

• I was a guest on the Parker’s Pensees podcast in 2023. The episode is called ‘the philosophy of mind vs the science of consciousness’. We talk about my work on natural kinds, global workspace theory and the science of consciousness. We also talk about whether you could have been a poached egg, or a desk. It’s available here. This podcast is aimed at advanced undergraduate/postgraduate level.

• I have been interviewed here, by Mike Livemore for the Free Range podcast. We talk about attention, perception, species, scientific concepts, and Jaffa Cakes. This podcast is aimed at a general academic audience, so it’s a little less accessible than some of the other stuff on this page.

• I interviewed Mike Livermore here for the Free Range podcast. Mike is a Law Professor at the University of Virginia. We talk about the ethics of artificial intelligence being used in the law, whether AI can recognise when law is being applied too literally, and whether AI is better than human judges and juries.

• I have been interviewed by The Voice of Islam, radio twice, about the influence of Aristotle’s metaphysics on Islamic Philosophy, and about the role of emotions in our moral judgements.

• I have interviewed Nikk Effingham for a podcast on time travel for the University of Birmingham.

Media discussion.

• (2025) Scientists now say MILLIONS of planets could be teeming with life. MailOnline. Article by Jonathan Chadwick, which discusses some of the work by Peter Vickers’ team (which includes me) on extraterrestrial life.

• (2025) How studying babies’ minds is prompting us to rethink consciousness. New Scientist. This is an article by David Robson, that discusses some of my work, amongst others.

• Sabine Hossenfelder has discussed some work by Peter Vickers’ group (of which I am a member) on scientific consensus. A response to Hossenfelder by Peter Vickers is here.

Events.

• In September 2025, I gave a talk about robots at Christopher Whitehead Languages College and Sixth Form College in Worcester.

• In June 2025, I presented at the University’s Ten Talks programme. Ten Talks is a prestigious series of short Ted-style talks by academics at the University, which take place in the Summer. I had two excellent undergraduate respondents.

• In May 2025, I gave a talk about animal rights at a Philosophy in the Classroom event (organised by Lisa Bortolotti). Several local schools were in attendance. If, for some reason, you want to see what it looked like, you can here and here.

• On 2nd April 2025, I gave a short talk on robots as part of the University’s 125th Anniversary programme of events. More info here.

• In March 2025, I presented at a Philosophy in the Classroom event as part of the Philosophy Matters fortnight in March. This was an online event aimed at anyone teaching philosophy in schools. The recording is here.

• On 28th February 2025, I judged the Philosothon competition at King Edward’s High School for Girls in Birmingham. More info here.

• On 24th February 2025, I gave a public talk called Are Robots the Future? in the Oxfam bookshop in Swansea city centre. It’s kindly funded by the Royal Institute of Philosophy. The poster is here.

• In October 2024, I took part in a panel discussion in Birmingham on Can AI Fix Our Care ‘Crisis’? It was in The Exchange, Birmingham. It brought together academics, with lived experience practitioners to discuss the future of technology in care. More details here.

• In May 2024, I did Pint of Science. This was at the Moseley Hive in Birmingham. Me and Andrew Bremner talked about when infants become conscious.

• In February 2024, there was a ‘BotBuilders’ event at The Exchange in Birmingham City Centre. This is a free family-oriented event, where children created and designed their very own robot using old materials, guided by local artist Tat Vision. This is based on my and Masoumeh Mansouri’s work on culture in robotics (we were there for some of it to chat about robots!). This is part of the University of Birmingham’s ‘AI Futures’ project: a series of public engagement events based around the theme of AI and the future.

• In November 2023, I gave a public talk at The Exchange in Birmingham City Centre. The title is What is Consciousness: two answers. It introduces the public to two of the mainstream views of consciousness in cognitive science. The event was hosted by The Philosophers‘ Yard. The talk was recorded, and is here. Philosophers’ Yard also did a short interview with me, which is available here.

• In January 2023, I co-organised New Directions for a Science of Consciousness. We heard three talks on various aspects of consciousness studies, including how to study consciousness after brain injury, how to study consciousness in animals, and how to establish consciousness in other people. This event featured talks by Davinia Fernandez-Espejo (Neuroscience, University of Birmingham), Jack Lyons (Philosophy, University of Glasgow) and Heather Browning (Philosophy, University of Southampton). The videos of the talks are available here. Sponsored by the Royal Institute of Philosophy. This was co-organised with Francesco Antilici.

• In December 2016, I gave a public lecture for the Royal Institute of Philosophy titled ‘what can zombies teach us about consciousness?’.  

Blogposts and press releases.

• What does it mean for a robot to be cultured? Imperfect Cognitions. This blogpost is about my work with Masoumeh Mansouri on ‘cultural robotics’: the project of making robots more culturally sensitive.

• Researchers propose a new way to identify when babies become conscious. This is a press release based around a letter in Trends in Cognitive Sciences written by me and Andy Bremner. It’s about using natural kinds to study infant consciousness.

• What is the relationship between your conscious mind, and yourself? Accessible summary of one of my recent articles on the relation between subjects and their conscious experiences.

• Computational indeterminacy: what is your computer really doing? This is a blogpost for the Intercontinental Academia 4 Project on Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence. It’s about how best to interpret which algorithms a computer is computing, when there are at least two algorithms that in principle accurately describe its activity. This is sometimes called ‘computational indeterminacy’, and it has ramifications to whether rocks are computers.

Other.

• My work was featured in the University of Birmingham’s AI Adventures activity booklet in 2024. This is an artist-led activity booklet aimed at families, containing lots of fun activities to teach kids about AI.

• I have organised and run a Summer School in Durham to introduce A-level students to philosophy.

• In 2011, I did some voluntary A-level philosophy teaching at Hills Road Sixth Form College