Exploring the Unconscious Mind with Professor Mark Solms

Friederike Fabritius and Professor Mark Solms, author of 'The Hidden Spring,' use their final conversation together to discuss the unconscious mind. They explain how 95% (or more!) of what your brain does is hidden from you, influencing decisions, memories, and perceptions in ways you aren’t even aware of. Mark Solms shares a surprising experiment that reveals how subliminal messages can sway and shape the choices you make, and the practical ways to honor our unconscious in daily life. They finish their conversation by taking a look at AI, what it would mean to have a machine that is "conscious" and if that is a good or ethical thing to pursue. Tune in to rethink your understanding of your own mind and learn why trusting your gut might be smarter than you think.

00:00 Introduction to the Unconscious
00:23 Historical Context and Freud's Radical Idea
01:37 Subliminal Messaging and Tachistoscope Experiment
04:47 The Extent of Unconscious Processing
07:35 Practical Implications of Unconscious Dominance
10:10 Leveraging the Unconscious in Daily Life
13:19 Exploring Artificial Consciousness
18:39 Ethical Considerations and Conclusion

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Professor Mark Solms is Director of Neuropsychology at the Neuroscience Institute of the University of Cape Town. He is also Honorary Lecturer in Neurosurgery at the St Bartholomew’s & Royal London Hospital School of Medicine and an Honorary Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists. He is a member of the British Psychoanalytical Society and the American and South African Psychoanalytic Associations. He has received numerous honours and awards, including the Sigourney Prize.  He has published 350 scientific papers, and eight books, the latest being The Hidden Spring (Norton, 2021). He is the authorized editor and translator of the Revised Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (24 volumes) and the forthcoming Complete Neuroscientific Works of Sigmund Freud (4 volumes).