Claire Isabel Webb & Nina Miolane - The Geometry of Consciousness

What is consciousness — and how might we describe it scientifically? Neuroscience can map neural activity with extraordinary detail, yet the relationship between electrical signals and subjective experience remains one of humanity’s most enduring questions. Mathematician and machine learning researcher Nina Miolane approaches this question from an unexpected direction: geometry. In her work, patterns of neural activity can be understood as structures in a mathematical space. In this view, cognition may be described through the geometry of neural representations: patterns that can be measured, compared, and modeled across biological and artificial systems. In conversation with science historian Claire Isabel Webb, Miolane explores how new mathematical frameworks may help illuminate long-standing puzzles in the science of mind. If consciousness arises from structured patterns of activity, what does that imply about intelligence? Could similar patterns arise in machine systems? And what might it mean to study consciousness as a phenomenon that admits formal description? As humanity increasingly shares cognitive labor with machines, a rigorous language for studying the mind would be game-changing. If that language could unlock a deeper understanding of consciousness, it would not only have broad implications for the evolving relationship between human cognition and AI, but for how we as human beings fundamentally understand ourselves. From Aristotle to Descartes, every generation has recast the mystery of consciousness. A geometric and mathematical explanation might lead to a paradigm shift that could affect all of society's pace layers — how we design, govern, and relate to each other in the next 10,000 years and beyond. This talk was presented April 20, 02026 at The Interval in San Francisco. Episode notes: https://longnow.org/talks/02026-webb-miolane/ The event livestream is here: https://youtube.com/live/w6MvOXg9fdw This talk is part of Long Now Talks. Launched by Stewart Brand in 02003, Long Now Talks has invited more than 400 leading thinkers to share their civilization-scale ideas with a live audience and millions around the globe tuning in to our podcast and videos. Long Now Talks are brought to you by The Long Now Foundation, which has spent the last 25 years igniting cultural imagination around long-term thinking. By inspiring thought and conversation about how we've been shaped by the last 10,000 years and what might be in store for us over the next 10,000 years, Long Now Talks seek to expand our collective sense of the present moment. Long Now Talks cover futurism and speculative fiction; time, nature, and contemplative practices; the intersection of the humanities and sciences; the evolution of counterculture to cyberculture; cultural imagination, land art and public monuments; and of course, long-term thinking and being a good ancestor. In our age of compounding crises, The Long Now Foundation is a counterweight. We are a force that imagines new possibilities, thinks critically, and takes action over the long term. We believe that when we all come together, bound by commitment and curiosity, audacious things become possible. Will you join us? https://longnow.org/join