A New Way of Being
Breaking Down Barriers Through Skillful Conversation: Neuroscientist Shane O'Mara
06 Nov 2023
The power of skillful conversation - from the personal to the global level.This week's conversation is with professor Shane O'Mara, a neuroscientist of the top order who is professor of Experimental Brain Research at Trinity College Dublin. He is also the author of Talking Heads: The New Science of How Conversations Shapes Our World. Shane explains the role that conversation and memory has in our ability to envisage a better future.We talk about lots in this episode including the difference between the narrative self - the 'story of me' made up of memories, beliefs and the like - and the 'aware self', which experiences the present moment directly. Most people identify with the former and not the latter - but is that really wise?Shane also explains how countries are created by conversations, and are ideas rather than real entities, and he shares some powerful and proven conversational tools to bridge gaps, break down walls and dissolve the propensity some people have to dehumanize 'the other'. We also discuss the Hard Problem of Consciousness.Shane's new book: Talking Heads: The New Science of How Conversation Shapes Our Worlds Shane's newsletter: BrainPizzaMy YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/YouTubeSimonMundieInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/simonmundie/Sign up to my newsletter: simonmundie.comHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
No persons identified in this episode.
This episode hasn't been transcribed yet
Help us prioritize this episode for transcription by upvoting it.
Popular episodes get transcribed faster
Other recent transcribed episodes
Transcribed and ready to explore now
#2426 - Cameron Hanes & Adam Greentree
16 Dec 2025
The Joe Rogan Experience
#487 – Irving Finkel: Deciphering Secrets of Ancient Civilizations & Flood Myths
12 Dec 2025
Lex Fridman Podcast
#2425 - Ethan Hawke
11 Dec 2025
The Joe Rogan Experience
SpaceX Said to Pursue 2026 IPO
10 Dec 2025
Bloomberg Tech
Don’t Call It a Comeback
10 Dec 2025
Motley Fool Money
Japan Claims AGI, Pentagon Adopts Gemini, and MIT Designs New Medicines
10 Dec 2025
The Daily AI Show