Alex O'Connor

speaker

2,073 appearances 2 recordings 2 series first heard Sep 2025 last heard 25 May

Alex O'Connor’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in May 2026 with 1.

Appearances

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On Purpose with Jay Shetty · Alex O’Connor: #1 Shift That Stops Endless Overthinking (FINALLY Get Unstuck) · 25 May 2026 podcast

And I'm like, that's fair enough.

If that's what you think, if you don't think that's an interesting question, then fine.

But then why are we here at an event called what is consciousness?

It would sort of be like if we were at an event that was like talking about like football and somebody asked about why the offside rule exists and somebody started talking about how like, well, you know, it's a bit like in basketball where this, how it's a bit like in cricket or it's a bit like, and then I said, but hold on, like,

I want to talk about actually football.

People might think I'm being a little unfair.

I'd encourage them to just watch it themselves.

I don't mean to disparage these people.

As I say, they are geniuses and they do very important work.

But I think it's quite clear to me that when we're talking about what consciousness is,

We're just not talking about the same thing.

I'm talking about the experience.

I'm talking about the redness of red.

I'm talking about like the feeling of cold on your skin.

I'm not talking about a neuron firing.

And I don't think those are the same thing.

So the common view amongst materialists is that experiences are just the same thing as brain activity.

And I understand that thought, but they can't literally be the same thing.

I'll tell you why.

There's a law, it's called Leibniz's law, which says that if two things are identical, they share precisely the same properties.

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