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Suzi Travis

@suzitravis.bsky.social

353 followers 46 following 104 posts

Neuroscientist PhD. I write about neuroscience, consciousness, and AI ⭐️ Newsletter: suzitravis.substack.com

Posts Replies Media

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

This week, I revisit the classic inverting goggles experiments. How does the brain adapt when the world gets flipped upside-down? Does it rebuild an representation — or simply adjust its predictions? 🧪 What are we really doing when we say we’re seeing? suzitravis.substack.com/p/is-seeing-...

suzitravis.substack.com

Is Seeing Really Believing?

What happens when our senses disagree?

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

We talk about meaning all the time. It feels obvious that meaning is something we have. Probably in the brain. Somewhere. But it’s not clear what “means” really means in this context. What is meaning? And where does it really come from? 🧪 suzitravis.substack.com/p/looking-fo...

suzitravis.substack.com

Looking for Meaning

...in all the wrong places

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

The usual story is: the brain takes in information, represents it, and uses that representation to take action. But what if we’ve got it backwards? This week, I wrote a gentle intro to enactivism -- What if minds aren’t things we have but things we do? 🧪 suzitravis.substack.com/p/does-the-m...

suzitravis.substack.com

Does the Mind Need a Body?

How enactivism tries to explain where meaning comes from.

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

You can think about a dog. Or a snake. Or why freedom of speech matters. Your brain can think about all sorts of things. Even things that aren’t there — or things that aren't even things. But how? How can brain activity be about anything? 🧪 #consciousness suzitravis.substack.com/p/what-gives...

suzitravis.substack.com

What Gives Brain Activity Meaning?

Can teleosemantics explain how mental representations get their meaning?

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

You see a dog. Something happens in your brain. We say your brain “represents” the dog. But is that really what’s happening? We know your brain isn’t creating literal pictures — so what is it doing? 🧪 #neuroscience #consciousness #philosophyofmind suzitravis.substack.com/p/representa...

suzitravis.substack.com

Does your Brain Represent the Outside World?

The Rise (and Trouble) of Representationalism in Neuroscience

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

LLMs can describe what it feels like to pet a dog — without eyes, ears, or hands. Some say they don’t understand because they lack grounding in the world. But not everyone’s convinced. Do LLMs have a grounding problem? Or are we asking the wrong question? 🧪 suzitravis.substack.com/p/the-ground...

suzitravis.substack.com

Could a Language Model Know What a Dog Is?

The Grounding Problem and How Words Get Their Meaning

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

In 1972, NASA pinned a message to a spaceship, hoping one day an alien life form might find it and understand it. The plaque was full of symbols. Those symbols mean something to us. But could an alien understand them too? What gives a symbol its meaning? 🧪 suzitravis.substack.com/p/how-to-tal...

suzitravis.substack.com

How to Talk to Aliens

The Hitchhiker's Guide to Symbols

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

This week, I wrote an essay on Searle’s Chinese Room. This thought experiment might be the most famous thought experiment of the 20th century. But is it any good? And can it tell us whether LLMs could ever really understand? 🧪 #consciousness #ai #philosophy suzitravis.substack.com/p/searles-ch...

suzitravis.substack.com

Hello? Is There Anybody in There?

John Searle's Chinese Room Thought Experiment

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

Brains predict. LLMs predict. But does that mean they’re doing the same thing? We used to think intelligence was all about reasoning. Then we said it was biological. Now we’re told maybe it’s about... prediction? 🧪 #ai #consciousness suzitravis.substack.com/p/if-it-pred...

suzitravis.substack.com

If It Predicts, Is It Intelligent?

The trouble with words

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Could a neural network ever grow like a brain? Would it matter? What happens when we stop trying to build artificial brains — and we start trying to grow them? It's worth asking, because the line between what's built and what grows is starting to blur. 🧪 suzitravis.substack.com/p/how-to-bui...

suzitravis.substack.com

How to Build a Brain

The difference between building and growing brains

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

It’s a tempting idea, isn’t it?: consciousness is just what happens when things get complicated enough. Like it’s an automatic bonus that comes with a powerful brain — or a powerful AI. But the science tells a messier story. 🧪 #consciousness suzitravis.substack.com/p/does-consc...

suzitravis.substack.com

Does Consciousness Come Along for the Ride?

Information and Complexity: Essay 6

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Complexity is difficult to define — which is odd, really, because it seems pretty easy to recognise -- we know complexity when we see it, right!? So, why is it so hard to define? This week, I explore why complexity is so complex. 🧪 suzitravis.substack.com/p/why-is-com...

suzitravis.substack.com

Why is Complexity So Complex?

Information and Complexity: Essay 5

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

What if consciousness can only exist in a universe where entropy increases? Entropy explains why eggs break and time moves forward — but could it also explain memory, life, and consciousness? 🧪 suzitravis.substack.com/p/could-entr...

suzitravis.substack.com

Could Entropy Explain Consciousness?

Entropy, time, and why experience only goes one way

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

This week, I explore Maxwell’s Demon, a famous thought experiment that puzzled physicists for more than a century. Solving it changed how we understanding what information really is. 🧪 #consciousness suzitravis.substack.com/p/maxwells-d...

suzitravis.substack.com

Information Isn't Free. Even Demons Must Pay

Information and Complexity: Essay 3

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

Today, if you tune into a podcast on the mind, you won’t hear much about what the mind is made of. Instead, the focus is on what it does. How did we get here? This week, I explore how we went from the mind as soul to the mind as information processing. 🧪 suzitravis.substack.com/p/history-of...

suzitravis.substack.com

A Short History of the Mind (and some of the Weird Things We've Thought About It)

Information and Complexity: Essay 2

Reposted by Suzi Travis

C.L. Vaillant @clvaliant.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Was inspired to reflect on my own thoughts on the topic after reading the attached.

rgemergence.com

Consciousness Beyond Matter: — Recursive Generative Emergence

A Meditation after reading Suzi Travis’s "Does the Matter Matter?".

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

If physics explains everything, why do we need biology to understand life and psychology to understand human behaviour? What's left if physics covers everything? And what does this have to do with the possibility of artificial minds? 🧪 #consciousness suzitravis.substack.com/p/consciousn...

suzitravis.substack.com

Consciousness: Does the Matter Matter?

Information and Complexity: Essay 1

Reposted by Suzi Travis

Jim Coan @jimmycoan.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

There is no now.

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

When you catch a ball, are you seeing it in real time or guessing where it will be? The brain is too slow to react instantly, so it relies on predictions to stay ahead. If this is true, it raises some strange questions: When exactly are we? 🧪 #consciousness suzitravis.substack.com/p/when-does-...

suzitravis.substack.com

When Does Consciousness Happen?

How do you catch a ball without it hitting you in the face?

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

Information feels both abstract and tangible. We can't hold information in our hands, but we store it on hard drives. Every time we create or alter information—even just saving a file—it requires energy. This raises the question: is information physical? suzitravis.substack.com/p/is-informa...

suzitravis.substack.com

Is Information Physical?

but, hold up, what is physical?

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

What’s the right level of focus when studying something as complex as the brain? Should we zoom out to things like behaviour or dive deep into the molecular and cellular? What can we safely ignore in our quest to understand? And what might we lose if we do? 🧪 suzitravis.substack.com/p/the-proble...

suzitravis.substack.com

The Problem with Complex Things

Is it's Someone Else's Problem

Reposted by Suzi Travis

Anil Seth @anilseth.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

Fantastic news that Andy Clark is the inaugural winner of the #DennettPrize, in honour of Daniel Dennett. Congrats Andy 🍾🍾🍾 super-well deserved @sussexuni.bsky.social hardproblem.it/projects/the...

The Dennett Prizeclose

<p> The International Center for Consciousness Studies establishes the Dennett Prize—an annual prize that is awarded to an outstanding scholar whose research has significantly advanced the und...

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

Happy New Year! This week, I start a mini-series of little essays about BIG questions. From genes to butterfly migration routes to human brains - there seems to be more information in biological systems than what's in their genes. But how is this possible? 🧪 suzitravis.substack.com/p/what-is-in...

suzitravis.substack.com

What is Information and Where Does it Come From?

Starting 2025 with a Little Series about Big Questions

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

Can you trust your own experiences? This week it's Dennett vs Qualia -- the latest in our series on the thought experiments in the philosophy of mind. 🧪 #consciousness suzitravis.substack.com/p/coffee-wit...

suzitravis.substack.com

Coffee With a Shot of Qualia?

Thought Experiments [Part 6]

Reposted by Suzi Travis

Catherine H Phillips @catherinehphillips.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

Useful. “A memory system that focuses on what’s useful right now (rather than storing everything perfectly) gives us an incredible advantage.”

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

Do you think your memories are reliable? Science suggests our brain's tendency to misremember might be its secret superpower. False memories are not a flaw in the system at all. 🧪 suzitravis.substack.com/p/false-memo...

suzitravis.substack.com

False Memories are Exactly What You Need

Why our imperfect memory system is a feature, not a bug

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

If you could erase your most painful memories, would you? What parts of you would be lost if you did? 🧪 #neuroscience #memory This week, I explore the science and the fiction of memory manipulation. suzitravis.substack.com/p/eternal-su...

suzitravis.substack.com

Yes, We Can Delete Memories. But...

The Science and the Fiction of Memory Manipulation

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

We know memories aren't stored like computer files. They are actively reconstructed each time we recall them. But if memory is reconstructed, how much can we trust them? What if our most remembered memories are the ones that have been changed the most? 🧪 suzitravis.substack.com/p/memory-is-...

suzitravis.substack.com

Memory Is Your Brain Making Things Up

Why Memory is not Like Computer Files

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Mary's Room thought experiment has been used to argue that science can't explain consciousness. But what if science already knows what would happen to Mary? And what does this tell us about consciousness? 🧪 #consciousness suzitravis.substack.com/p/marys-room...

suzitravis.substack.com

Mary's Room: Has the Answer Been in Her Textbook All Along?

Thought Experiments [Part 5]

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

Do we need eyes to see? Blind individuals can ride bikes, and blind babies can learn to see using sound. So, what if seeing isn't really about having eyes at all? The answer might just change how you think about what it means to see. 🧪 #consciousness suzitravis.substack.com/p/human-echo...

suzitravis.substack.com

How the Blind Use Echolocation to See

Yes, Actually See

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 30/10/2024

This month marks exactly 50 years since Nagel first asked us to imagine what it is like to be a bat. This week, to celebrate, I discuss this 1974 classic. What does it tell us about consciousness? 🧪 #consciousness #philosophyofmind suzitravis.substack.com/p/what-is-it...

suzitravis.substack.com

What Is It Like to Be a Bat? 50 Years On

Thought Experiments [Part 4]

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 23/10/2024

This week, I explore phantom limb pain. Why do some amputees feel pain in limbs they no longer have? The answer might have something to do with how our brain constructs our reality. 🧪 #neuroscience suzitravis.substack.com/p/the-phanto...

suzitravis.substack.com

The Phantom Pain Puzzle

Why Phantom Limbs Won't Go Away

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 02/10/2024

This week, I watched the movie Her (again). And I got wondering… if Samantha were real, would she be an intelligence so unlike our own it would force us to rethink what it means to experience the world? 🧪 #Consciousness #PhilosophyofMind #neuroscience suzitravis.substack.com/p/the-movie-...

suzitravis.substack.com

Ain't Got No Body: What 'Her' Reveals About Being Human

The Movie 'Her' is Really About Him

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 26/09/2024

Ever wondered why you can’t tickle yourself? The answer has a lot to do with why you need your body to perceive the world. 🧪 #consciousness #philosophyofmind suzitravis.substack.com/p/can-we-hav...

suzitravis.substack.com

Can We Have a Mind Without a Body?

Why can’t you tickle yourself? This glitch points to a surprising connection between your mind and body.

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 18/09/2024

Are you a zombie? This week, I explore the idea of philosophical zombies—creatures just like you but with no consciousness. If we can imagine beings without inner lives, does that mean consciousness is something more than just brain activity? #consciousness 🧪 suzitravis.substack.com/p/the-p-zomb...

suzitravis.substack.com

The P-Zombie Argument

Thought Experiments [Part 2]

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 11/09/2024

Crows are surprisingly brainy birds. This week, I got curious about the fascinating world of crow intelligence. I wanted to explore just how smart these black-feathered birds really are and whether we can detect consciousness in crows. 🧪 #animalintelligence suzitravis.substack.com/p/the-mind-o...

suzitravis.substack.com

The Mind of a Crow

Making Friends With the Flying Monkeys in My Backyard

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 05/09/2024

We humans love to imagine what's possible. From time travel to conscious AI, our imaginations wonder about what could be. But is our ability to imagine a reliable guide to what's truly possible? 🧪 #consciousness suzitravis.substack.com/p/is-everyth...

suzitravis.substack.com

Is Everything We Imagine Possible?

Thought Experiments [Part 1]

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 28/08/2024

Ex Machina raises fascinating philosophical questions about consciousness, humanity, and the ethics of AI. At its core, the film is a modern take on the Turing test. But Ex Machina also raises questions about what it means to be human. 🧪 #consciousness suzitravis.substack.com/p/ex-machina...

suzitravis.substack.com

Ex Machina: What Would AI Think of Us?

Exploring Alex Garland's Sci-Fi Classic

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 21/08/2024

Do out-of-body experiences prove that consciousness can exist separately from the physical body? How do scientists explain out-of-body experiences? 🧪 #consciousness suzitravis.substack.com/p/the-scienc...

suzitravis.substack.com

The Science of Out-of-Body Experiences

How Our Brains Create the Illusion of Leaving Our Bodies

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 14/08/2024

As a theory of consciousness, non-reductive materialism tries to give us everything -- our intuitive ideas about consciousness and a scientific explanation. But does it succeed? Can we have it all? 🧪 #consciousness suzitravis.substack.com/p/non-reduct...

suzitravis.substack.com

Non-Reductive Materialism: Can Physicalists Have Their Cake and Choose to Have It Too?

Consciousness Theories. Physicalism #7

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 07/08/2024

Defining consciousness can be challenging. Attempts to pin it down often ignite heated debates that frequently end in stalemates. This week, I explore how science thinks about consciousness. 🧪 #consciousness suzitravis.substack.com/p/how-scienc...

suzitravis.substack.com

How Science Thinks about Consciousness

Three Empirical Approaches to Understanding Consciousness

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 31/07/2024

What if everything you think you know about your own mind is an illusion? Eliminative materialism makes this claim. Seems absurd, doesn't it!? But despite apparent absurdity, it's a significant theory in philosophy. This week, we ask, why? #consciousness 🧪 suzitravis.substack.com/p/eliminativ...

suzitravis.substack.com

Does the Mind Exist? Understanding Eliminative Materialism

Consciousness Theories. Physicalism #5

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 24/07/2024

We perceive the world as a seemingly coherent unified stream of awareness. This apparent unity is so fundamental to our experience that we rarely question it. But there is a problem with this intuitive view. 🧪 #consciousness suzitravis.substack.com/p/the-unity-...

suzitravis.substack.com

The Unity of Consciousness and The Binding Problem

How does the Brain Create a Seamless World?

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 17/07/2024

Are the differences between brains and digital computers the differences that truly matter when it comes to consciousness? Why ‘mortality’ might be the biological edge that AI can’t replicate (yet). 🧪 #consciousness #AI suzitravis.substack.com/p/will-ai-ev...

suzitravis.substack.com

Will AI Ever Be Conscious?

The Biological Edge AI Can't Replicate (Yet)

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 10/07/2024

Functionalism is the most popular consciousness theory and the theory behind the idea that AI could (one day) be conscious. But despite its popularity, not everyone is convinced by its claims. So, what's the issue with functionalism? 🧪 #consciousness suzitravis.substack.com/p/functional...

suzitravis.substack.com

Functionalism: Why the Most Popular Consciousness Theory Might be Wrong

Consciousness Theories. Physicalism #4B

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 03/07/2024

This week, we’re exploring functionalism — currently the most popular theory among academics who study consciousness. But just because a theory is popular doesn’t make it true. So, let’s explore the merits of functionalism. 🧪 #philosophyofmind #consciousness suzitravis.substack.com/p/functional...

suzitravis.substack.com

Functionalism: The Mind is What the Brain Does. [Part 1]

Consciousness Theories. Physicalism #4A

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 26/06/2024

How intelligent are octopuses? And how many brains do they actually have? This week we are exploring the wonderful mind of the octopus. 🐙 🧪 #consciousness #science suzitravis.substack.com/p/the-mind-o...

suzitravis.substack.com

The Mind of an Octopus

Are Octopuses the Smartest Aliens on Earth?

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 12/06/2024

On a cold winter morning, the bustling courtyard in Oxford filled with townspeople. They had come for one reason — to watch a young woman be hanged for murdering her newborn child. The problem was she was led to the gallows for a crime she did not commit. 🧪 suzitravis.substack.com/p/cognitive-...

suzitravis.substack.com

The Woman Who Was Hung, Survived, and Sparked the Birth of Cognitive Neuroscience

The Story of Anne Green, Thomas Willis and William Petty

Suzi Travis @suzitravis.bsky.social · 06/06/2024

This week we explore how scientists are using computer code and optogenetics to restore sight to the blind and improve computer vision. 🧪 #science #neuroscience #BCI suzitravis.substack.com/p/the-code-t...

suzitravis.substack.com

The Code that Cures Blindness

BCI #2: Optogenetics, Math, and a Vision for Our Future