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Anil Seth

Michael Berkeley鈥檚 guest is neuroscientist Anil Seth. Music by Bach, Chopin and Nina Simone.

It鈥檚 the size and shape of a cauliflower, and weighs about 3 lbs. And yet the average human brain has so many intricate and complex connections that if you counted one connection every second it would take you more than three million years.

Professor Anil Seth has devoted his career to trying to understand the brain, puzzling over the mystery of consciousness itself. He鈥檚 Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the Sackler Centre at the University of Sussex, and the author of a popular book, 鈥淭he 30-second Brain鈥. In Private Passions, he muses on how our consciousness of the world, and of ourselves, is 鈥渙ne of the big central mysteries of life鈥. And it鈥檚 a mystery we face every day 鈥 when we fall asleep and when we wake up. In conversation with Michael Berkeley, Anil Seth explores the concept of free will (he doesn鈥檛 believe in it); why music evokes such strong memories; and how meditation changes the structure of the brain.

Music choices include Chopin, Bach, Nina Simone, and an ancient Hindi mantra.

A Loftus production for 成人快手 Radio 3
Produced by Elizabeth Burke

Available now

32 minutes

Last on

Sun 23 Jun 2019 12:00

Music Played

  • Fr茅d茅ric Chopin

    Prelude in D flat major (Raindrop)

    Performer: Alexandre Tharaud.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Magnificat in D major

    Conductor: Stephen Cleobury. Singer: Susan Gritton.
  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Concerto in B flat major for violin and strings (2nd mvt: Andante)

    Performer: Giacomo Agazzini. Performer: Ezio Bosso. Orchestra: Orquesta sinf贸nica de Madrid.
  • Walter Donaldson

    Love me or leave me

    Singer: Nina Simone.
  • Billy Taylor

    I wish I knew (how it would feel to be free)

    Composer: Dick Dallas. Ensemble: The Billy Taylor Trio.
  • Enrique Granados

    Spanish Dance no.5

    Performer: John Williams.
  • Traditional Indian

    Gayati Mantra

    Performer: Anuradha Paudwal.
  • Lin鈥怣anuel Miranda

    Alexander Hamilton (Hamilton)

    Performer: Lin鈥怣anuel Miranda. Performer: Ren茅e Elise Goldsberry. Performer: Alex Lacamoire.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 4 Nov 2018 12:00
  • Sun 23 Jun 2019 12:00

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