The Source of Consciousness - with Mark Solms

At 13:05 the tone of voice on, "I wasn't studying this because I was interested in building a career" made me so happy. That is the spirit of science. Go to 12:40 for more context.

This is the best value of time I have ever spent watching something.

It's when studying for a tedious exam, other subjects seem most remarkable.

"Homeostasis resits entropy" loved that!!

This is one of the most brilliant and informative lectures that I have had the pleasure to witness. The speaker is an exceptionally gifted communicator. Thank you!!!

51:41 "If we understand the function of the feeling, then we understand the function of the consciousness" Fascinating talk, Thank you very much.

Incredible talk on consciousness! Thank you Dr. Solms!

his binding of feelings and emotions into the mix is something i would agree with. Ive been studying my own consciousness and ability to recall situations ive been in good and bad. I HAVE found that my memories are bound more to a feeling, or more of how i remember feeling when i last interacted with that person or situation. so i guess what im saying is ive found that im naturally storing emotions and feelings as a sort of way of stacking the little details of the situation into a compact feeling or emotion. and if i need to recall the details i can recall the feeling and emotions and it links me to the reasons i felt that way which are connected to the details of what happened in that interaction.

Fascinating thanks. I was also lucky to interview Mark for my @Sentientism channel in case you're interested in hearing more from him.

This is beautiful, I can't thank you enough for being the vessel through which this knowledge got to me.

Thanks a lot for this interesting lecture Mark Solms, and thanks also to the Royal Institution for making this possible.

I would have given this talk in reverse. The content was amazing but the later parts were more crucial for the main idea and the most key point here was the one given last. Maybe it's just me who wants to know the agenda first and the details later

What a great lecture!! Thanks to Mark Solms and the RI.

The hypothesis that feelings are evolutionary adaptations in order to maintain homeostasis is brilliant! I have often thought to myself, what if I had no feelings; if I could only observe my surroundings, like a security camera, with no sensations of touch, taste, smell, hearing or emotion. Would I be conscious? What would differentiate "me" from a simple camera or a computer? If one feels nothing, and has no unique sensations or emotions, and no "individual qualities" to self-reference, would that STILL allow one to experience consciousness? A fascinating lecture...

Wow—this was fantastic! And the fact that he’s worked with Karl Friston just seals it for me!

This is the only thing I've seen which actually advanced my understanding of consciousness - thanks! Most talks either propose a solution which misses the point of the hard problem, or discuss the hard problem without advancing a solution.

I tend to view things in terms of evolution, perhaps too much, but useful here for these questions and observations: (1) consciousness is shared by many organisms, so one should expect that the source of consciousness rests in the structures of the brain that all conscious organisms share; (2) one should at least suspect, if not expect, that organisms that share structures of the brain would share the traits associated with them, suggesting that lower organisms experience feelings—including emotions—greater than many people acknowledge; (3) just as affection for offspring and mate provide an evolutionary advantage (defined as getting genes into the next generation), feelings provide an evolutionary advantage in keeping the organism alive longer, thus able to reproduce more.

I believe, like Dr. Solms states, that the source of emotions and thus foundational consciousness does reside in the (primitive) brainstem. The reticular activating systems (RAS) also, by the way, regulates some foundational aspects of attention. We need the RAS, for example, to filter the voices from the background noise at a cocktail party. So this brainstem does have a very fundamental role in our mental functions. It makes sense also from an evolutionary perspective. But the insight of homeostasis as the mechanism (the pendulum) of maintaining order and fighting entropy (the second law of thermodynamics) is absolutely brilliant. Life cannot exist with uncontrolled entropy. Life by definition is natures ability to create self-regulating systems that maintain homeostasis, the balance needed for all metabolic organisms to exist. And self-replication adds the ability of these systems to evolve under different environments. It is logical that evolution would bring about adaptive strategies to maintain a stable homeostatic state in a given environment. And as self-replicating populations adapt to new environments through mutations, evolution ensures the adaptability of lifeforms. And with the emergence of animal life, after the Cambrian explosion 540 million years ago, the animal kingdom would develop nervous systems capable regulating behavior (emotions are our evolutionary regulation of behavior) based on the homeostatic state of the individual and the predictive ability to secure this healthy, necessary state. This is all brilliant!! The neocortex (the pallium) also added a very large extension to our cognitive capabilities. This clearly also extended our capabilities of self-awareness. An awareness of self in a given environment and our ability to also change that environment in order to secure our homeostasis. This extended self-awareness is what makes us human. We are aware of our ability to modify our environment and also to feel empathy for other beings (other persons or agents). This the next level of awareness, our social awareness. We are aware of what others are aware of and even worried about what others are not aware of. This is evolutions next level. So I would also infer, that is also the next level of consciousness.

‘The dogs are the chicken’ Brilliantly laughable! lol I have a seizure condition and have been very interested in brain activity since, as I often noticed deja vu and floating feelings in body, many occasions of which were precursors to having a seizure. I also an quite interested in dream activists well since I have felt a dreamlike stage during my absence of reality. It has been a pleasure to struggle to learn as much as I can understand about my condition and my curiosity to cross these uploads on YouTube. Much respect to the Royal Institute for sharing, and even more so given to Mr. Mark Solms. Thank you infinitely! Peace and love 💕

A scientific touch to the deep relationship between feelings and consciousness. Well presented 😊💃‼️