Michael Pollan Says Humanity Is About to Undergo a Revolutionary Change

Michael Pollan, author of How to Change Your Mind and The Omnivore’s Dilemma, has a new book, A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness, arriving this month. He says questions about consciousness—what it is, what causes it and what it means—have become more urgent with the rise of artificial intelligence and the relentless political pressure on our attention.

Pollan defines consciousness as subjective experience or awareness, invoking Thomas Nagel’s idea of imagining what it is like to be a bat. He points to the “hard problem”: how matter becomes mind, how neurons give rise to subjective experience. One practical view he cites is that consciousness opens a space for decision-making among competing needs and helps navigate a complex social world.

While Pollan leans toward evolutionary explanations, he also acknowledges alternatives such as panpsychism. He is persuaded by researchers like Antonio Damasio and Mark Solms that feelings, not thoughts, are central—that feelings are the way the body talks to the brain.