Scientist, Author, Speaker


The science of consciousness

Understanding the biological basis of conscious experience is one of the great challenges for 21st Century Science. Check out my essay The Mythology of Conscious AI, which won the 2025 Berggruen Prize Essay Competition and my new main-stage TED talk.

The neuroscience of consciousness.

Highlights of my research and outreach.

Books, article, and blog posts.

The Sunday Times Top 10 Bestseller


Being You – A New Science of Consciousness

A 2021 Book of the Year (New Statesman, Economist, Bloomberg, Five Books), a 2021 Science Book of the Year (Guardian, Financial Times). Being You is out now in hardback, paperback, ebook, and audio.

Consciousness at TED


Your brain hallucinates your conscious reality

My main-stage TED talk has more than 15 million views.

TED Talk 2026


Why AI is unlikely to become conscious

I had the opportunity to offer feedback on Claude's Constitution to the authors at Anthropic (in person). This piece nicely converges with my own thinking:

I'm honoured that #BeingYou features in the @SundayGuardian's "10 mind-blowing books about time, space, consciousness, & the human mind" - alongside @carlorovelli, Daniel Dennett, Stephen Hawking, @pgodfreysmith, @davideagleman & others https://sundayguardianlive.com/trending/10-mind-blowing-books-about-time-space-consciousness-the-human-mind-293421/amp/ .@FaberBooks

Thanks @davetroy - appreciated 🙏🏽. FWIW the key entry points in my work are (in order of accessibility) my TED talk (), my @NoemaMag essay (https://www.noemamag.com/the-mythology-of-conscious-ai/), and - just out - this @BBSJournal collection ()

Dave Troy @davetroy

IMHO @anilkseth has articulated this line of thought better than most and I’d advise people to follow him.