Can consciousness exist without a body?

We discuss a recent claim by a prominent scientist that consciousness can't exist outside a flesh-and-blood body, whether uploading your mind would capture you or just a copy of your cognition, why we understand death about as well as we understand sleep (barely), and whether the first person to live to 500 would be lucky or cursed. Jordan makes the case that immortality might be monstrous. Mal says death is the salt of life. A scientist claims consciousness can’t exist outside a body “You are more than your body” — but you are also your body “How the hell do you know what happens when you die?” Prize goes to the first person to die, turn to mulch, then come back and tell us what happened The pharmacy of the body The kids in The Telepathy Tapes Energy bodies, astral bodies, and the limits of Western materialism (round and round we go) If we don’t understand sleep, how do we understand death? Uploading cognition vs awareness Every human project is an immortality project BJ Miller on why we treat the disabled as angels or monsters Dracula is a class narrative People have been saying the first person to live to 500 has already been born Immortality is monstrous because death is what makes us human Adam Miller on the unexpected spiritual consequence of “transhumanist” longevity Oliver Burkeman on the freedom of limits What the body knows, and the risks of resisting resistance Mormon stuff And in the epilogue… How to protect the part of yourself that creates Rebecca Black (yep) Not the Bible (oops) Want to come on the show and share a story? Or do you have recommendations or requests for future guests? Send an email to GodsGhostsUFOs[at]gmail.com.