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What if your experience of reality isn’t real—but something your brain is creating? And what does it really mean to be you?

It sounds abstract, even a little out there. But scientists are actively studying these questions, and what they’re discovering is both fascinating and a bit unsettling. The way you perceive reality—what you see, hear, and feel—may not be a direct reflection of the world at all. Instead, it could be something your brain is actively constructing in real time.

Anil Seth, professor of cognitive and computational neuroscience at the University of Sussex, has spent years exploring how consciousness works. In our conversation, he explains how your brain creates your sense of self, why your experience of reality is unique to you, and how two people can live in the same world yet experience it very differently. He is author of Being You: A New Science of Consciousness (https://amzn.to/3DvkibU).

If you’ve ever wondered why you see the world the way you do—or what’s really behind that experience—this discussion will likely change how you think about your own mind.

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