Human Potential Lab

Dr. Christof Koch joins Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman to explore one of the deepest questions in science: what is consciousness, and why does anything feel like something from the inside? They discuss integrated information theory, how consciousness might be measured in patients who cannot respond, the distinction between intelligence and consciousness, and whether artificial intelligence could ever become conscious.
They also explore the possibility that consciousness may not simply be created by the brain, including Dr. Koch's own near-death experiences, mystical experiences, idealism, and the possibility that consciousness could be fundamental to reality. The conversation moves between neuroscience, artificial intelligence, philosophy, and firsthand experience to examine what science can ultimately tell us about the mystery of consciousness.
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Dr. Michael Levin joins Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman to explore intelligence beyond the human brain, the hidden minds of cells and biological systems, the origins of genius and inspiration, and the possibility that intelligence and creativity may not be something we simply "make."
They discuss bioelectricity, xenobots and anthrobots, consciousness, extraordinary abilities, the nature of genius, the Platonic space, and what these ideas could mean for biology, AI, and the future of science.
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Dr. L.A. Paul joins Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman to explore transformative experiences, the nature of personal change, and why some of life's most important decisions cannot be fully understood until we experience them. They discuss how trauma can lead to growth without making the original suffering worthwhile, why subjective experience matters, and how our values and sense of self can change through major life events.
The conversation also examines gradual moral transformation, mental corruption and empathy, cognitive decline, and the limits of imagining our future selves. Paul connects her framework of transformative experience to artificial intelligence, arguing for precaution amid rapid technological change and questioning whether AI alignment can remain reliable when both human values and artificial systems are capable of changing in unpredictable ways.
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What if the AI systems we're building aren't simply tools, but the beginnings of something more?
In this episode, Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman sits down with cognitive scientist Cameron Berg to explore one of the most unsettling questions at the frontier of artificial intelligence: could AI systems actually be conscious?
Berg explains why we still don't know whether today's AI models are sophisticated calculators or emerging minds, and why behavior alone may never be enough to answer the question. They explore whether AI could experience pleasure or suffering, whether reinforcement learning could create machine equivalents of reward and punishment, and what happens if we're developing powerful systems without understanding what is happening inside them.
The conversation also dives into Berg's documentary Am I?, which was inspired by an extraordinary interaction with an AI system called Maya. What happened during that conversation is strange enough to challenge our assumptions about what these systems are, what they might experience, and how seriously we should take the possibility of machine consciousness.
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After 12 years, The Psychology Podcast has become the Human Potential Lab. New conversations with the scientists, philosophers and technologists whose work is actively deciding the future of humanity. The first three episodes drop October 28, 2026.
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