There's a really great book called Consciousness and the Brain that goes into all the various research around how our brain works, and there is a huge amount that we think of as "thinking" that is totally unconscious to us. As I've aged, it seems like more and more of my thought processes are unknown to me. I just get agitated thinking about things, go do something for a while, then my unconscious "me" is suddenly like, "ok, here's the understanding".

https://www.amazon.com/Consciousness-Brain-Deciphering-Codes...

The book: https://www.amazon.com/Consciousness-Brain-Deciphering-Codes...

Publication date: Dec 2014

One trick is to figure out if there are any objective measurements that can be taken which line up with the subjective input. One example is taking an EEG recording while performing a backward-masking experiment (aka displaying subliminal images), and seeing if their subjective experience "I did see the second image" versus "I did not see the second image" line up with the EEG measurements in the prefontal lobe.

https://www.amazon.com/Consciousness-Brain-Deciphering-Codes...

Are you talking about consciousness?

https://www.amazon.com/Consciousness-Brain-Deciphering-Codes...

A very good book about what we currently (minus 3 years, perhaps) know: https://www.amazon.com/Consciousness-Brain-Deciphering-Codes...

If you're interested in a more rigorous analysis of what is known about consciousness today, I'd recommend the book Consciousness and the Brain: http://www.amazon.com/Consciousness-Brain-Deciphering-Codes-...

I've seen a few TED talks: notably, from those published on Netflix under "Head Games". There are some interesting topics there. Cults, consciousness (always amusing to hear people claim they've cracked this one), self-deception, the optimism bias, and so on.

It's not something you should watch a lot of. I'd consider it mostly "inspiration" and not actually a learning experience, as most of the speakers make grandiose claims (fluent in a language within a month, on the brink of understanding the entire brain, etc.).

TED should be watched and enjoyed if you like that sort of thing, and then heavily supplemented with more trusted academic material.

For consciousness, I found this book at my school's library last year, and enjoyed reading it: http://www.amazon.com/Consciousness-Brain-Deciphering-Codes-...

I don't remember if I saw the TED talk first, and then read that book, or vice-versa...

TED talks make me feel like I'm living in the future. Even if the speakers are overconfident to the point of foolishness, it's enjoyable to watch as long as you remind yourself that it is sometimes only conjecture and science-fiction. I think the author of this article is overreacting.