Michael Pollan’s journey to understand consciousness
February 19, 2026
45 min
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195 of 300
February 19, 2026
Michael Pollan’s journey to understand consciousness
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Episode 195 of 300 — walk the feed in the order it was published.
Michael Pollan’s journey to understand consciousness
Summary
<p dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Science journalist Michael Pollan has written extensively about the therapeutic benefits of mind-altering psychedelics. His new book, ‘A World Appears,’ asks, what is consciousness? “Consciousness has kind of become the secular substitute for the soul,” he tells Terry Gross. Pollan also talks about current studies on consciousness and whether plants and artificial intelligence have consciousness. <br /><br />See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>
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