During a psychedelic experience in his garden, Michael Pollan became convinced that the plants around him were conscious. They seemed to be returning his gaze, he said — benevolent and perhaps grateful for his gardening. Back in ordinary consciousness, the author and UC Berkeley journalism professor emeritus faced a harder question: What should he do with that conviction? Was it an insight into reality, or simply an effect of the drug?
In this episode of Berkeley Talks, Pollan joins Christof Koch, a leading researcher on the neuroscience of consciousness, and moderator Shayla Love, a science journalist, for a conversation about consciousness and what psychedelics can — and cannot — reveal about it. Presented by Cal Performances in partnership with the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics, the Oct. 13 discussion draws on neuroscience, philosophy and the speakers’ own experiences with altered states.
For Pollan, whose 2026 book is A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness, researching psychedelics made something familiar suddenly strange. Consciousness ordinarily works like a transparent windshield, he says: We look through it without noticing it. Psychedelics smudge the glass, making us notice — and question — the consciousness we ordinarily take for granted.
“You start wondering, there’s a windshield, what is that about?” he said. “And why is it that way and not this way?”
The group went on to discuss consciousness not just as a problem to solve, but as something to cultivate — by spending time in nature, meditating or simply allowing ourselves to be bored instead of reaching for a phone.
Watch the conversation, listen to the episode and read the transcript on UC Berkeley News (news.berkeley.edu/podcasts/berkeley-talks).
Screenshot from UC Berkeley video.
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