How does self-awareness connect us to others, society, and the universe? 4 experts explain.

Christof Koch, PhD, Daniel Dennett, PhD, Sam Harris, PhD, and Deepak Chopra, MD—four thinkers from neuroscience, philosophy, biology, and medicine—each share their own interpretation of consciousness, combining their ideas to paint one massive, mysterious picture of what it means to be an awakened being.

Sleep helps us recharge, but research suggests its impact is far larger than recharging our physical and mental batteries.

According to Patrick McNamara PhD, Shelby Harris PsyD, DBSM, and Dave Asprey, sleep is imperative to restoring cells, regulating metabolism, consolidating memory, and synchronizing the body’s internal clocks. REM in particular aided human cultural evolution, allowing our ancestors to make creative leaps by connecting disparate ideas. With this powerful ability, humanity was able to advance past lives of pure survival and into ones filled with art, science, and culture.

When we are born, our brains are only about 40% of the size they will reach by adulthood. As we grow, our environments, experiences, and cultures shape both our understanding of the world and the way our brains develop. This is why language is so important: it gives us a tool for growth, thought, and cultural expansion. Daniel Dennett, PhD, Ethan Kross, PhD, and Agustín Fuentes, PhD explain how belief, language, inner chatter, and rituals work together to make us distinctively human.

Your brain makes habits stick. The good news? The same science shows how to replace the bad ones.

Why are bad habits so hard to break?

Neuroscientist Carl Hart, PhD, journalist Charles Duhigg, and psychologist Adam Alter, PhD explain how your brain wires habits as cue-routine-reward loops that control nearly half of your daily life. They show why willpower alone rarely works, why technology fuels new forms of addiction, and why habits can only be replaced, not erased.

About Carl Hart, PhD:

Dr. Hart is an Associate Professor of Psychology in both the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology at Columbia University, and Director of the Residential Studies and Methamphetamine Research Laboratories at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. A major focus of Dr. Hart’s research is to understand complex interactions between drugs of abuse and the neurobiology and environmental factors that mediate human behavior and physiology.

About Charles Duhigg:

Charles Duhigg is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the author of The Power of Habit, which spent over three years on bestseller lists and has been translated into 40 languages, and Smarter Faster Better, also a bestseller. Mr. Duhigg writes for The New Yorker magazine and is a graduate of Yale University and the Harvard Business School. He has been a frequent contributor to CNBC, This American Life, NPR, The Colbert Report, NewsHour, and Frontline.

About Adam Alter, PhD:

Adam Alter is an Associate Professor of Marketing at New York University’s Stern School of Business, with an affiliated appointment in the New York University Psychology Department.

Do you actually control your own mind? Three experts in philosophy and neuroscience explain: It’s not so simple.

Uri Maoz, PhD, Daniel C. Dennett, PhD, and Sam Harris, PhD explore how unconscious processes shape decisions we believe are conscious. From brain experiments that reveal the illusion of control, to mindfulness practices that reframe perception, they show how philosophy and neuroscience together unpack the truth about free will.

Want to know if someone is compassionate? It’s identifiable in more ways than one.

Philosopher Meghan Sullivan, PhD, Buddhist scholar and former monk Thupten Jinpa, PhD, and meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg explore love through neuroscience, philosophy, and lived practice. They discuss society’s flaw in mistaking kindness for weakness, how neuroscience has proven to identify compassion in brain scans, and how expanding Aristotle’s Love Ethic can change our society for the better.

Writer Oliver Burkeman, psychologist Laurie Santos, and organizational psychologist Melanie Katzman discuss the illusion of perfectionism, the signs of burnout, and the limits of productivity. According to their research, the constant drive to improve often leaves people more exhausted and less productive – even if their intentions were to grow, improve, or achieve bigger goals. 

Together, they explain how accepting “good enough” and finding value beyond work can lead to greater balance and lasting happiness.

David Eagleman, PhD, Brian Greene, PhD, and Dean Buonomano, PhD, explore one of science’s strangest questions: what is time? From Einstein’s spacetime theory to the brain’s internal clock, they examine whether time is an external property of the universe or a mental construct. By connecting physics and neuroscience, they unpack the idea that how we experience time may differ entirely from how it actually works.

Behavioral scientist Dan Cable, philosopher Philip Kitcher, and management scholar D. Quinn Mills explore how purpose functions as both a psychological tool and a philosophical compass.

Together, they argue that purpose isn’t some distant, abstract idea, but instead, is something essential to being human. It’s how we learn, adjust, and keep going when things become difficult. When we care about meaning instead of just basic needs, we find more energy; when we rethink what we believe, we grow wiser.