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.
Articles
- Sometimes, paying attention means we see the world less clearly. Aeon/Psyche. This is about the way that attention can distort out conscious experience of the world, and what this means for our knowledge of the world.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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. The translation is available here.
- 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 an aggressive response to this article. A reply to his criticisms (as well as a link to his response) is available here.
Podcasts
- I have been interviewed here, by Mike Livemore about my work. 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. 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 interviewed Dr Nikk Effingham for a podcast on time travel.
Interviews
- In January 2021, i was interviewed by The Voice of Islam, about the influence of Aristotle’s metaphysics on Islamic Philosophy. The recording is available here (starts at 1 hour, 7 minutes).
- I have also been interviewed by The Voice of Islam about the role of emotions in our moral judgements. The recording is available here (starts at 1 hour, 7 minutes).
Other
- In December 2016, I gave a public lecture for the Royal Institute of Philosophy titled ‘what can zombies teach us about consciousness?’. The slides are available here.
- I have organised and run a Summer School in Durham to introduce A-level students to philosophy, and I have done some voluntary A-level philosophy teaching at Hills Road Sixth Form College.
