Portrait of Susan Blackmore

Susan Blackmore

Writer, Lecturer, and Broadcaster
Born: July 29, 1951

Susan Jane Blackmore is a British writer, lecturer, and broadcaster known for her work in psychology and philosophy. She is a visiting professor at the University of Plymouth. After initially exploring parapsychology, Blackmore became a skeptic, focusing on scientific explanations for experiences often considered paranormal. She has a BA in psychology and physiology from Oxford University and a PhD in parapsychology from the University of Surrey, where her thesis was titled “Extrasensory Perception as a Cognitive Process.”

Blackmore is a prominent figure in the field of consciousness studies. She is particularly well-known for her work on memetics, a theory that treats ideas as “memes” that replicate and evolve in a way similar to biological genes. She wrote about this in her book, The Meme Machine. Blackmore is also known for her contributions to the scientific understanding of out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, and the illusion of the self. She has written and contributed to numerous books and academic articles, and she frequently appears on radio and television.

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Robert Lawrence Kuhn

A Landscape of Consciousness

Diverse explanations or theories of consciousness are arrayed on a roughly physicalist-to-nonphysicalist landscape of essences and mechanisms. Categories: Materialism Theories (philosophical, neurobiological, electromagnetic field, computational and informational, homeostatic and affective, embodied and enactive, relational, representational, language, phylogenetic evolution); Non-Reductive Physicalism; Quantum Theories; Integrated Information Theory; Panpsychisms; Monisms; Dualisms; Idealisms; Anomalous and Altered States Theories; Challenge Theories. There are many subcategories, especially for Materialism Theories. Each explanation is self-described by its adherents, critique is minimal and only for clarification, and there is no attempt to adjudicate among theories. The implications of consciousness explanations or theories are assessed with respect to four questions: meaning/purpose/value (if any); AI consciousness; virtual immortality; and survival beyond death. A Landscape of Consciousness, I suggest, offers perspective.