Ezra Klein

Yeah.

You know, we identify with our heads more than our bodies, right?

Maybe because our eyes are there.

I don't know.

But consciousness probably arises with feelings first.

It starts with things like hunger and itchiness.

And as it gets filtered into the cortex, becomes...

the kind of complicated thinking that we pride ourselves on.

I think that feelings are based in the body finally.

It's how the body talks to the brain.

And we have to remember this very simple fact, which is the brain exists to keep the body alive, not the other way around.

We're not just a support system for this amazing three pounds of tofu in our heads.

Once you realize that, you realize that the messages coming from the body are really important to the brain.

These feelings are the beginning of conscious experience.

If you didn't have them, it's questionable whether you would have consciousness.

Exactly.

And where do you experience disgust, like moral disgust?

It's in your belly.

You have a great experiment in the book about people giving ginger.

Yeah, this is a very cool experiment.