What Humans, Animals & Plants Tell Us About Consciousness | Michael Pollan

Michael Pollan is a renowned author, journalist and professor at UC Berkeley. He is best known for his influential works on how humans and plants have shaped each other at the level of food, medicine, health, and culture. In this episode we discuss consciousness—what it is and how the recognition between our self vs others contributes to-- but also can impair, certain aspects of conscious experience. We discuss psychedelics, the microbiome, caffeine, and how the unconscious dialogue between our body and brain impacts our thoughts and feelings. Pollan offers a hopeful perspective on how our relationship with plants and animals – including other humans, can lead us to a healthier, and far richer experience of life.

Articles

• What Is It Like to Be a Bat? (The Philosophical Review)
• Plants respond to leaf vibrations caused by insect herbivore chewing (Oecologia)
• Tuned in: plant roots use sound to locate water (Oecologia)
• A cellular platform for the development of synthetic living machines (Science Robotics)
• Chimpanzees: Self-Recognition (Science)
• A gut bacterial pathway metabolizes aromatic amino acids into nine circulating metabolites (Nature)
• The physiological basis of psychological disgust and moral judgments (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology)
• Awe, the diminished self, and collective engagement: Universals and cultural variations in the small self (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology)

Books

• Second Nature: A Gardener's Education by Michael Pollan
• A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness by Michael Pollan
• The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature by William James
• The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan
• How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence by Michael Pollan
• Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life by Dacher Keltner
• The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley
• The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
• Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health by Marion Nestle
• Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser
• Diet for a New America: How Your Food Choices Affect Your Health, Happiness and the Future of Life on Earth by John Robbins
• Natural Intelligence & the Logic of Consciousness by Antonio Damasio
• This Is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Pollan

Other Resources

• Wendell Berry (Poetry Foundation)
• The Berry Center
• Wendell Berry (Library of America)
• Power Steer by Michael Pollan (The New York Times)
• Make America Healthy Again (MAHA)
• Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)
• COMPASS Pathways
• Weston A. Price Foundation

Huberman Lab Episodes Mentioned

• Raising a Dog & Mastering Calm Assertive Energy | Cesar Millan
• Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett: How to Understand Emotions

People Mentioned

• Wendell Berry: poet, essayist, environmental activist
• Henry David Thoreau: writer, philosopher, naturalist
• Ralph Waldo Emerson: essayist, philosopher, transcendentalist
• John Muir: naturalist, writer, conservationist
• René Descartes: philosopher, mathematician
• William James: philosopher, psychologist
• Michael Levin: professor of biology, Tufts University
• Justin Sonnenburg: professor of microbiology and immunology, Stanford University
• Antonio Damasio: professor of neuroscience, psychology and philosophy, USC Dornsife
• Mark Solms: professor of psychology, University of Cape Town
• Edward Chang: professor of neurological surgery, UCSF
• Christof Koch: neuroscientist, Meritorious Investigator, Allen Institute
• Henri Bergson: philosopher
• Aldous Huxley: author, philosopher
• Qiufu Ma: professor of neurobiology, Westlake University
• Alison Gopnik: professor of psychology, UC Berkeley
• Norbert Wiener: mathematician, cybernetics
• Susumu Tonegawa: neuroscientist/geneticist
• Mark Mayford: professor of neuroscience, UC Irvine
• Michio Kaku: theoretical physicist, City College of New York
• Teddy Roosevelt: U.S. president, conservationist
• Joel Salatin: regenerative farmer
• Chellie Pingree: U.S. representative for Maine
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services
• Rick Perry: former Texas governor
• Rick Doblin: founder, president of Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)
• Marcus Luttrell: former U.S. Navy SEAL, author
• Marcus Capone: former U.S. Navy SEAL, co-founder of Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions (VETS)
• Tim Ferriss: author, podcaster, entrepreneur
• Roland Griffiths: psychedelic researcher