Night Waves - BBC Radio 3

I was on Thursday's programme (24 March) talking about my new book, The Ego Trick, and also with a few words on the census. You can listen to it here.

Edinburgh Science Festival - 16 April

Talking about my new book, The Ego Trick. Full details here.

Oxford Literary Festival - 6 & 10 April

Talking about my new book, The Ego Trick, at 2pm on Wednesday 6th and joining Anouchka Grose to talk about love on Sunday at 4pm. Full details here.

Lust for certainty - London, 26 March

I'm talking at the Sea of Faith London conference, alongside David Boulton and Kenan Malik. Full details here.

The blurred reality of humanity

"Neuroscience and psychology provide plenty of data to support the view that common sense is wrong when it thinks that the "I" is a separate entity from the thoughts and experiences it has. But it does not therefore show that this "I" is just an illusion. There is what I call an Ego Trick, but it is not that the self doesn't exist, only that it is not what we generally assume it to be."

Article in today's Independent relating to my new book, The Ego Trick

Ego - School of Life, 22 March

A 2-hour evening in London based on my new book, The Ego Trick. Full details here.

The self: why science is not enough

"Recent science has told us a great deal about the physical basis for how the sense of self emerges, but next to nothing about what a self actually is."

Article in this week's New Scientist (12 March)

Nature is not evil, simply amoral

"In Japan, nature has shown that she too is no benevolent Gaia, before which we should bow down. Rather, she is indifferent to us and our welfare. We should respect her as a fighter respects the strength and skills of an opponent, not as a pupil respects the knowledge and wisdom of her master."

Article in today's Independent

Ideas for modern living: you

"When René Descartes tried to systematically doubt everything he believed, he succeeded – until it came to his own existence. The very act of questioning whether you exist proves you do, because you must be there for the doubt to be entertained in the first place. But Descartes missed a trick. For even if your own existence is the most certain fact in the universe, this thing called you turns out to be remarkably elusive."

Short column in today's Observer about my new book, The Ego Trick.

The Shrink & The Sage: Therapy

"The charge that people seeking therapy are morally indulgent collapses. No one can be morally blamed for what they can’t change, only for not trying to change. And in seeking help, people are not indulging their narcissism, they’re trying to remove it."

Latest column in the FT's Weekend magazine.

Philosophy matters - Bristol, 21 March

I'm chairing this discussion at the Wills Memorial Building, 18:00-19:30

Why study philosophy? Is philosophy valuable to those in society who don't engage with it directly? Is a degree in philosophy a good preparation for employment? How does philosophy contribute to civic life and culture, and can it help us to be happy?

Speakers include: Professor AC Grayling (Birkbeck College, University of London), Professor Baroness Onora O'Neill (University of Cambridge), Professor James Ladyman (University of Bristol), Dr Havi Carel (UWE Bristol). Full details here.

Organ donation - Bristol, 17 March

I'm chairing a public event will bring together people involved in organ donation and transplantation to discuss the current situation in the UK. You will have a chance to hear about the complexity of transplant coordination, the harrowing experience of waiting for and going through a transplant, as well as philosophical and moral issues surrounding organ donation.

Speakers include: Paul Arnold (Family member), Gill Hollis (Transplant recipient), Lynne Holt (Transplant Coordinator, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle), David Nix (Chairman, Donor Family Network), Dr John Troyer (Deputy Director of the Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath).

At The Watershed, 6.30pm. Full details here (PDF).

Words by the Water - Keswick, 13 March

Talking about my new book, The Ego Trick, at 2pm and also leading a discussion an 11:30 a.m. Full details here.

Aye Write Festival - Glasgow 11 March

Talking tonight about my new book, The Ego Trick. Full details here.

More Than Machine

Back in the 1940s, the early IT pioneer Claude Shannon fell in love with a computer called Betty, and no one raised an eyebrow. At the time, "computer" was simply the term for a person who performed routine calculations for technical or scientific purposes. Seventy years later, digital processors do all that work and more, and the only "human computers" are mathematical whizzes who can occasionally match the digital processors' feats. "We imitate our old imitators," writes Brian Christian in his absorbing "The Most Human Human."...

Review in today's Wall Street Journal

We’re more than the sum of our pasts

"Culture in its natural state is fluid. Some Italian immigrants did open pizzerias, but others opened fish and chip shops, which were originally the invention of Jewish immigrants. The moment we start saying that cultural inheritance is core to our identity, we discourage this sort of creative, free and vibrant blending across the generations."

Essay in this week's Sunday Herald (6 March)

The Shrink & The Sage: Meaning

"The harsh message of existentialism is that you can yearn as much as you like, but what you’re yearning for ain’t there. Life can have meaning solely in the here and now, but no one can guarantee that you’ll succeed in creating it. Meaninglessness is a constant threat for everyone, philosopher or not."

Latest FT Weekend magazine column (Published 5/6 March)