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A reading path through the field

Six steps, roughly an hour of reading, from the basic question to the frontiers of research.

Forest path in warm evening light
  1. The hard problem: why consciousness is puzzling in the first place.
  2. Theories of consciousness: a field guide: the main contenders, side by side.
  3. IIT vs Global Workspace: how theories are now put to the test.
  4. Is consciousness quantum?: the boldest physical proposals and their critics.
  5. Altered states: what sleep, dreams, anaesthesia and psychedelics reveal.
  6. Near-death experiences: the hardest questions, handled with evidence.

Along the way, every claim carries an Evidence Meter badge: Established Debated Speculative.

Prefer books? See The Library.

Compass resting on a map