Published in 2025
11 hours and 9 minutes
Annaka Harris is the author of CONSCIOUS: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind. She is an editor and consultant for science writers, specializing in neuroscience and physics, whose work has appeared in the New York Times. Annaka is the author of the children’s book I Wonder, a collaborator on the Mindful Games Activity Cards by Susan Kaiser Greenland, and a volunteer mindfulness teacher for the Inner Kids organization. She lives with her husband, the neuroscientist, author, and podcaster Sam Harris, and their two children.
What is this book about?
As accessible as it is awe-inspiring, this exclusive audio documentary by New York Times bestselling author Annaka Harris explores the unknown corners of consciousness and the cosmos.
Is consciousness a fundamental building block of the universe, like gravity? Can humans develop new senses through neuroscience? And can artificial intelligence ever truly replicate the subjective experience of being conscious?
Join Annaka Harris as she calls on distinguished experts in science and philosophy to find answers to today’s most perplexing questions about our minds and the universe at large. Through interviews with thinkers such as Brian Greene, David Eagleman, Anil Seth, Carlo Rovelli, and more, Harris presents diverse perspectives on whether consciousness could be considered a fundamental aspect of the universe.
This revolutionary idea challenges traditional neuroscience and quantum physics, shattering what we think we know about ourselves and scientific phenomena as foundational as space and time. Lights On also questions how a new understanding of consciousness might affect our perception of existence, our notions of free will, the development of technology, and the future of scientific discovery. In a follow-up to her seminal book, Conscious, this audio-original documentary offers beginners and experts alike a chance to unravel some of humankind’s most enduring puzzles. Where Conscious presents new questions about felt experience, Lights On seeks to find the answers.
Narrated by Annaka Harris; featuring Jay Shapiro, Susan Blackmore, Sean Carroll, Daniel Chamovitz, David Eagleman, Sascha Fink, Adam Frank, Philip Goff, Joseph Goldstein, Brian Greene, Donald Hoffman, Patrick House, Christof Koch, Janna Levin, George Musser, Zoë Schlanger, Anil Seth, Lee Smolin, Sara Imari Walker
