Dr. Christof (Christoph) Koch

So it's not easy to get into someone else's head, although some people can do it.

Actors, for example, can try to do it.

The methods of acting.

We totally try to adopt the point of view of the character you're trying to play.

But, of course, that's much more difficult for other animals that share or we may share a close evolutionary history like with all mammals.

but that have very different, you know, that may have infrared sensors or they have a much more potent sense of smell.

And how do we, that have a different motor system that hang from the ceiling, right?

So how do we imagine doing that?

But I think it is possible.

It's challenging.

And of course, it's this classical essay by Thomas Nagel, what is it like to be a bat, right?

And his position, this American philosopher says, well, we can never truly know what it is like to be a bat.

But I think we can approximate it.

I can't really ever know what is it like to be Andrew Huberman, right?

But I can try to imagine it.

And, you know, this is what empathy is, right?

trying to feel like you and trying to realize that we're all conscious beings.

We're all a bookended between two eternities.

And so in some sense, we're very, very similar.

And the thing that makes us, that divide us are really tiny subsets of all the things that we share, including with cats and dogs and elephants and squids and everything else on the tree of life.