What is this place?
Nobody knows what consciousness is. Not the neuroscientists (they'll admit it, two drinks in). Not the philosophers (they'll volunteer it, unprompted, at length). Certainly not us.
But here's the thing: "nobody knows" isn't where the fun ends — it's where it starts. This is a small museum of experiments you can run on the one laboratory you've had continuous, exclusive access to your entire life: you. Each exhibit takes about as long as a cup of coffee stays warm.
Some of what's in here is rock-solid science. Some of it is an open question humanity has been elegantly failing to answer for a few thousand years. Every exhibit ends with a Humility-o-Meter™ telling you which is which — because knowing how much you know is the whole game.
The Hole in the World
There's a gap in your vision big enough to swallow a grapefruit, and your brain has been quietly papering over it your entire life. Let's go find it.
Settled science Exhibit № 2 · PerceptionThe Invented In-Between
Two dots. Nothing between them — you can check the code. Watch yourself manufacture the motion anyway.
Pretty confident Exhibit № 3 · AttentionThe Changing Room
Something in a simple scene will change, boldly, over and over, while you stare straight at it. Your job is to spot it. Your job will be embarrassing.
Settled science Exhibit № 4 · TimeYou Live in the Past
Breaking news arrives late. So, it turns out, does "now." A small game to measure your personal broadcast delay.
Pretty confident Exhibit № 5 · QualiaIs My Red Your Red?
You can point at red. You cannot point at your red. A short exhibit about the most private thing you own.
Nobody knows Exhibit № 6 · Body & SelfThe Kitchen Table Laboratory
Five real experiments using a fork, a flashlight and your own nose. Grow a second nose in 40 seconds. Printable, for the actual kitchen table.
Settled science Exhibit № 7 · Other MindsThe Bat Room
Echolocate in a pitch-dark room. Then catch your imagination red-handed, swapping the bat's inner world for a light show. Nagel's famous question, hands-on.
Nobody knows Exhibit № 8 · Other MindsThe Octopus Annex
Be an octopus. Micromanage eight arms the way you're used to — then hand the job to the arms and watch them not need you. One self, or nine?
Vigorous hand-waving Exhibit № 9 · Other MindsThe Mirror Test
Science's tidiest test for "is anybody in there" — run it on eight creatures, then discover what it actually measures. (Spoiler: us.)
Vigorous hand-waving Exhibit № 10 · SelvesThe Split-Brain Wing
You play the half of the brain that talks. Your body does things you didn't order, and you explain them beautifully. You will not enjoy this.
Vigorous hand-waving Exhibit № 11 · IdentityThe Ship of You
Most of your parts have been replaced, some of them many times. Sincerely: still you? Drag the slider and decide.
Vigorous hand-waving Exhibit № 12 · AbsenceThe Anesthesia Gap
Tonight you will stop for several hours and won't mind at all. Scrub through one ordinary night and see where you actually were.
Educated hunch Exhibit № 13 · DreamsThe Dream Lobby
Every night your brain builds a whole convincing world out of nothing and you believe all of it. Reality checks included — try them tonight.
Educated hunch Exhibit № 14 · Free WillDid You Decide That?
Press a button whenever you freely choose. Then meet the brain data that saw your choice coming — and the philosophers who say relax, it's still yours.
Vigorous hand-waving Exhibit № 15 · The Hard ProblemThe Zombie Test
A short quiz that cannot determine whether you have an inner life. (Nothing can. That's the exhibit.)
Nobody knows Exhibit № 16 · SubstrateThe Chalkboard Neuron
Wire up one brain cell yourself — it does exactly three things. Then try to make it do XOR, fail, and discover you just caused an AI winter.
Pretty confident Exhibit № 17 · MachinesThe Feeling You Can Read
A machine whose entire inner life is nine numbers you can read completely. It has moods, a sense of time, and surprise. Does total transparency help? No.
Nobody knows Exhibit № 18 · MachinesThe Machine Question
Tick the criteria you'd require before calling something somebody. Watch every single one of them bite you back.
Nobody knows Exhibit № 19 · The Big OneWhat Am I?
The question you've been carrying since before you could ask it. Ninety quiet seconds, then some candidate answers. Bring your coffee.
✳ the big one Exhibit № 20 · The way outThe Guest Book
No gift shop. Just a book where you write your own answer — in a room full of people whose answers you will never be able to read.
✳ sign itHouse rules
1. Touch everything. 2. There is no wrong way to be conscious of an exhibit about consciousness. 3. If an exhibit makes you laugh and then makes you quietly stare out a window — that was the intended dosage. 4. Certainty is permitted, in the marked areas only.