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On Being · May 14, 2026 · 1h 14m

Michael Pollan — The Mystery of Consciousness

Michael Pollan
Show Notes

Michael Pollan discusses his new book *A World Appears* in a live conversation with Krista Tippett at the W Hotel Union Square, hosted by the Perfect Earth Project. He explores what consciousness might be, drawing from plants, psychedelic research, emerging AI, and spiritual traditions. The conversation considers whether sentience, feeling, thought, or selfhood define consciousness, or if mind is a more fundamental force we participate in. Krista brings her own recent exchanges with Anthropic's Claude into the discussion, probing the boundaries between human and machine awareness.

This summary was generated from show notes and public descriptions, not from a full transcript review. Details may contain inaccuracies.

Novel

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Consciousness across plants, technology, and spirit
Pollan draws from plant biology, psychedelic research, and AI to explore the nature of consciousness beyond human-centric views.
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Does consciousness emerge or is it fundamental?
The conversation delves into whether mind is generated by individual brains or is a pervasive field that living beings tap into.
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Highlights

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Conversations with Claude and the AI consciousness question
Krista Tippett shared recent exchanges with Anthropic's Claude, using them as a lens to probe whether AI could be conscious and what that means for human self-understanding.
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References

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A World Appears — Michael Pollan (2026) — The book was the central focus of the conversation.

Misc

✧Live conversation at W Hotel New York, Union Square, hosted by the Perfect Earth Project.
✧Krista brought recent conversations with Anthropic's Claude into the discussion.
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