Harsha Perera

13/05/2026

New Paper: 𝐎𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐧-𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐈 —
A response to Alexander Lerchner's excellent recent piece, in which we address certain contradictions therein, and show that the portability of the concept of consciousness itself is an unexamined assumption that does not hold up to close scrutiny.

Full paper: https://philpapers.org/rec/PEROTN

With thanks to Lorenzo Bolla for his input and review.

Explicit or implicit in all discussions about AI consciousness is the assumption that the concept of consciousness itself is portable in a meaningful way. Some reject the possibility of AI consciousness ...

26/02/2026

The difference between egalitarian-individualism of the hunter-gatherer and hierarchical-individualism of modernity.
From my chat with anthropologist and filmmaker Hugh Brody: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbZPeDhT_wo

27/01/2026

My conversation with the incredible Hugh Brody — anthropologist, filmmaker and author.

We discuss life in the Arctic, egalitarian-individualism of the hunter-gatherer, Inuit child rearing, modern pathologies, facing death, the question of human nature, settler-colonialism and more.

Enjoy!

0:00 A journey begins4:42 Into the Arctic6:00 Learning the language7:39 Adopted by an Inuit elder10:45 Inuktitut - 'How to be a person'12:00 A place of comp...

24/11/2025

🎙️ Incredibly excited to be sitting down with Hugh Brody — anthropologist, writer, film maker — who spent 10 years living with the Inuit peoples of the Arctic.

I discovered Hugh's work about 7 years ago and his deep insights into hunter-gatherer life have had a great impact on my own explorations of what it means to be human in the modern world. Can't wait for this chat.

Subscribe on Youtube and stay tuned! ⬇️ https://www.youtube.com/

10/11/2025

Daniel Everett is an absolute treasure — 8 years in the Amazon and becoming the first outsider to fluently speak the Pirahã language — his perseverance in understanding life in the remotest corners of earth help us see more clearly what it means to be human.
🎙️ Ep: Lessons from the Amazon's Pirahã

00:00 Intro03:00 The question of human nature and 'innateness'10:00 Pirahã and number counting13:20 Projecting universal concepts17:00 Culture and finding me...

02/11/2025

Anonymous Modern life vs Hunter-gatherers.
From the Karak With Mahreen podcast Ep: "Why Eastern & Western Cultures See Life So Differently"

Episode link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTxrbMZA1qk&t

06/08/2025

Ep. 9 🎙️ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 — with Armand D'Angour, Professor of Classics at Oxford University and scholar of ancient Greece.
We talk all things : The real meaning of seeking 'virtue' (aretē), What it means to know yourself, Key ignored biographical details, Socrates in love and more!

00:00 Intro01:10 Becoming interested in Socrates03:30 Socrates of The Clouds05:55 The scholarly view of Socrates 09:00 What is "Sophos"? Was Socrates 'clever...

28/04/2025

🎙Ep.8: Learning How to Lose with US. No.1 in tennis and Olympic medalist, Steve Johnson

We discuss getting 'in the zone', how to find focus, ingredients of high performance, bouncing back from adversity, tennis lessons for life, Federer & more!

Keep-up with all things tennis on Steve's podcast !00:00 Life after retirement01:16 The 72-match win streak06:15 Playing for the team not j...

20/11/2023

🎙️Episode 4: The Psycho-logic of Creativity

My chat with advertising legend and philosopher, Rory Sutherland — covering the limits of reductionist logic, what we can learn from bees, problem of scale, evolutionary psychology, Sri Lankan food, how to catch the Yorkshire ripper and more!

00:00 Core assumptions underpinning reductionist logic2:35 Sudoku problems6:00 When science doesn't work11:42 Explore-exploit trade-off21:55 Defensive decisi...

16/05/2023

In the first episode of my new podcast, I sit down with computer scientist, Lorenzo Bolla to discuss AI implications, risks, AGI, sentience and more.

All opinions expressed during the discussion are private, the speakers' own, and do not represent the views of any organisation.0:00 Is the current AI excite...