Susan Blackmore
Visiting Professor
University of Plymouth, United Kingdom
Profile – Susan Blackmore (b. 1951)
As a student at Oxford, reading physiology and psychology, Sue Blackmore had a dramatic out-of-body experience which convinced her that consciousness could leave the body and made her determined, against much sound advice, to study parapsychology. She learned to read Tarot cards, sat with mediums, and trained as a witch, but her 1979 PhD thesis contained only null results in all her experiments on extra-sensory perception and psychokinesis. Becoming ever more sceptical of paranormal claims, she turned to studying the experiences that foster paranormal belief, including near-death experiences, sleep paralysis, and dreams, eventually concluding that parapsychology is a red herring in any attempt to understand consciousness. Meditation proved far more helpful, and she has been practising Zen since the early 1980s. She carried out one of the first experiments on change blindness, and her books include the controversial bestseller The Meme Machine as well as books on OBEs, NDEs, meditation, and consciousness. While at the University of the West of England in Bristol, she taught the consciousness course on which this book is based, but finally decided that the only way to learn more about consciousness was to give up the job and write this book. Since then she has been a freelance writer and lecturer, and she is now working on tremes (technological memes) and memes of religion. She plays in a samba band and loves painting, kayaking, powerlifting, and her garden. She is Visiting Professor in Psychology at the University of Plymouth.
More biographical information
Interviews with Susan Blackmore
Interview with Roy Waidler: 2018 Questions on psychic powers, psychedelics, Zen, and memes, on meeting Francis Crick and why atheists are so often portrayed as unspiritual.
‘In-sight’. April 2014
Personal website
Wikipedia
Facebook
Publications
Complete list of publications
Citations on Google Scholar
Quotes on Goodreads
Selected publications relevant to consciousness
For publications and podcasts on other topics see AI, drugs, lucid dreams and sleep paralysis, memetics, near-death and out-of-body experiences, parapsychology, atheism and religion, Zen and meditation.
Books on Consciousness
Blackmore, S. and Troscianko, E. 2024 Consciousness: An Introduction, Fourth Edition, London, Routledge. (19 April 2024), ISBN-10: 1032292563. See the companion website.
Blackmore, S 2017 Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction, (Second Edition) Oxford, Oxford University Press ISBN-10: 0198794738 Translations. Listen to VSI Consciousness Podcast. Also available as E-book ISBN: 9780192513717
Blackmore, S. 2020. Seeing Myself: What Out-of-body Experiences Tell Us About Life, Death & the Mind, London. Little, Brown Book Group (This is the paperback version of Seeing Myself 2017), ISBN-10:147213737X, ISBN-13:978-1472137371
Blackmore, S 2011 Zen and the Art of Consciousness, Oxford, Oneworld Publications, ISBN-10: 185168798X Translations.
Blackmore, S. 2005 Conversations on Consciousness, Oxford, Oxford University Press, hb ISBN 0 19 280622-X and New York 2006 hardback ISBN 0-19-517958-7 Translations.
Blackmore, S. 1999 The Meme Machine , Oxford and New York, Oxford University Press, Hardback ISBN 0-19-850365-2. 2000 Paperback ISBN 0-19-286212-X Translations. Also available as E-book ISBN: 9780191574610
Blackmore, S. 1996 In Search of the Light: The Adventures of a Parapsychologist, Amherst, New York, Prometheus Books, ISBN1-57392-061-4.
Book chapters
Blackmore, S. (2013) Living without free will. In Exploring the Illusion of Free Will and Moral Responsibility. Ed G. Caruso, Lexington Books, 161-175
Blackmore, S. (2012) Turning on the light to see how the darkness looks. In Consciousness: Its Nature and Functions, Ed Shulamith Kreitler and Oded Maimon, NY, Nova pp 1-22
Blackmore, S. (2010) Why I had to change my mind. In Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behaviour, Sixth Edition, by Richard Gross, London, Hodder Education, pp 86-7 Reprinted in Opposing Viewpoints: Paranormal Phenomenon. Gale, London, 2012
Blackmore, S.J. (2007) In The Myth of Free Will, Ed. Cris Evatt, Cafe Essays, Princeville, HI, Foreword (ix-xiv) and Living Happily and Morally (49-51)
Blackmore, S.J. (2005) It is possible to live happily and morally without believing in free will. InWhat We Believe But Cannot Prove: Today’s Leading Thinkers on Science in the Age of Certainty. Ed. John Brockman, Free Press, 41-2
Contributions to the Edge Questions, later published in books edited by John Brockman.
The last Edge Question 2018. What is the last question? My answer was “What kinds of minds could solve the mind-body problem?”
The Edge Question 2014. What scientific idea is ready for retirement? My answer: The neural correlates of consciousness.
The Edge question 2012. What is your favourite deep, elegant, or beautiful explanation? My answer was Evolution by means of natural selection.
The Edge Question 2011. What scientific concept would improve everybody’s cognitive toolkit? My answer was “Correlation is not a cause”.
The Edge Question 2008. “What have you changed your mind about?” See my answer “The Paranormal”
The Edge Question 2005 – “What do you believe is true, even though you cannot prove it?” My answer was “It is possible to live happily and morally without believing in free will”.
The Edge Question 2001. “What questions have disappeared?” My answer was “Do we survive death?”
Articles
Blackmore, S. 2024. Obituary Dan Dennett 2024. Daniel Clement Dennett, born 28 March 1942, died 19 April 2024. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 31, 178-186, 2024
Winfield A.F.T. and Blackmore S. 2021 Experiments in artificial culture: from noisy imitation to storytelling robots. Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society B 377: 20200323. See also an article about the paper in Nautilus 23.03.2022
Blackmore, S. 2020a But AST really is illusionism: Commentary on Graziano et al, Cognitive Neuropsychology, 37, 1-3.
Blackmore, S. and Troscianko, E.T. 2019 Out with Folk Psychology, In with What? Review of The Mind Is Flat: The Remarkable Shallowness of the Improvising Brain by Nick Chater, The American Journal of Psychology Vol. 132:3, 369-374
Blackmore, S. 2018 The Hardest Problem: Decoding the puzzle of human consciousness. Scientific American, September, 48-52
Blackmore, S. 2017. What if consciousness has no function? Commentary on Morsella, Godwin, Jantz, Krieger and Gazzaley, Behavioral and Brain Sciences. Download PDF
Blackmore, S. 2017 The science behind out-of-body experiences, BBC Focus Magazine, September 2017
Blackmore, S. 2016 Delusions of consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 23, 52-64
Blackmore, S. 2012 She won’t be me. Journal of Consciousness Studies, Singularity Special Edition, 19, No 1-2, 16-19
Blackmore, S.J. (2005) Confusion worse confounded. Commentary on Sheldrake. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 12:6, 64-6 PDF
Blackmore, S.J. (2003) Consciousness in Meme Machines. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 10:4-5, 19-30 WORD PDF
Blackmore,S.J. (2002) There is no stream of consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 9, 17-28
Blackmore,S.J. 2002 The Question is – Who am I? Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 96, 2002, 143-151. Reprinted from Exceptional Human Experience, 1992 PDF
Blackmore, S. 2002 The grand illusion: Why consciousness only exists when you look for it. New Scientist, 22.6.02, 26-29 (cover story)
Parker, J.D. and Blackmore, S.J. (2002) Comparing the content of sleep paralysis and dream reports. Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. 12, 45-59 PDF
Blackmore, S. (2001) Three experiments to test the sensorimotor theory of vision. Commentary on O’Regan and Noë, ,Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24 (5), 977 View PDF
Blackmore,S.J. 2001 Consciousness – Bridging the explanatory gap. The Psychologist, 14, 522-525
Blackmore, S. 2001 What is consciousness? In the series ‘Big Science Questions’. Times Higher Educational Supplement, 14.9.01 p 18-19
Blackmore,S.J. 2001 What can the paranormal teach us about consciousness. Skeptical Inquirer, 25:2, 22-27 (cover story)
Blackmore,S.J., Brelstaff,G., Nelson, K. and Troscianko,T. 1995 Is the richness of our visual world an illusion? Transsaccadic memory for complex scenes. Perception, 24, 1075-1081c (NB – this was the first ever published experiment on ‘change blindness’)
Blackmore,S.J. 1995 Paying attention. New Ch’an Forum, No12. 9-15
Videos and podcasts
Also see complete, updated list of videos and podcasts
Interviews with Consciousness experts
Dan Dennett and Susan Blackmore in ‘Conversation’ about his new book, Bristol Festival of Ideas. February 2017
In summer 2015 Sue grilled some of the world’s experts about the mysteries of consciousness (David Chalmers, Pat Churchland, Andy Clark, Michael Gazzaniga and Thomas Metzinger) for Swedish TV (Axess).
David Chalmers
Patricia Churchland
Andy Clark
Michael Gazzaniga
Thomas Metzinger
Closer to Truth Podcasts – Sue is interviewed by Robert Lawrence Kuhn
How brain makes mind?
Why is Consciousness so Mysterious?
‘How is personal identity maintained’
Toward a Science of Consciousness
Does consciousness lead to God?
Is Consciousness an illusion?
Other podcasts
Boundless Body Podcast – “Insight into the power of the mind” with Dr. Brian Tierney.(July 2024)
From Psychedelics to Samadhi. Podcast with Deepak Chopra on ‘Chopra Well’ July 2024
“For the sake of argument” – podcast with Jake Newfield, July 2024
Sue Blackmore and Emily Troscianko interviewed at TSC2024 (Arizona). Sue and Emily talk about their new book, the 4th edition of the textbook Consciousness: An Introduction, and about The Science of Consciousness conference in Tucson where the signing was taking place. The video was created by our interviewer, Nick Day.
Four Simple Questions Podcast with Jim Newman, October 2023
Atheist Alliance International Podcast. Sue is interviewed by Jason Sylvester, they discuss how recent advances in neurobiology are unlocking the biochemistry of the ‘god spot’ phenomenon in human brains (August 2023)
Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal – Susan Blackmore and Bernardo Kastrup discuss consciousness (June 2023)
Indiangenes Podcast – on Consciousness and Neuroscience June 2023
Illusionism and the psychedelic experience presentation at Breaking Convention, Exeter, UK, 20-22 April 2023
Sue talks to Freddy Drabble about Free Will, on his Chasing Consciousness Podcast. Oct 2022
Watch Tucson 2022 Concurrent Session “Studying and measuring consciousness” (with Emily Troscianko and Susan Blackmore)
Nick Day of Consciousness Central, interviews me about my experience at Tucson 2022, and includes flashbacks to the previous events with Deepak in 2012
TSC 2022 – Susan Blackmore and Deepak Chopra, Tucson, Arizona 2022. The Mystery of Existence. Why is there sentience? A dialogue between Sue Blackmore and Deepak Chopra. Watch the full dialogue on You tube 19-04-2022. Read a report of the debate between Sue and Deepak published in Skeptical Inquirer Vol 47-2 pp 52-55.
Chasing Consciousness Podcast. Episode 1 – Subjective or Objective? Introducing one of the oldest and most talked about problems in philosophy, the problem of consciousness. 01.04.2021
The Science of Consciousness Conference, Tucson 2020. Read about Tucson 2020, including a link to a 5 minute video I made to launch the discussion about Psychedelics at the conference. 16-9-2020
‘HowTheLightGetsIn’, part of the Hay Festival. The consciousness debate, ‘Miracle of Mind’ April 2020
10 Things you most need to know about consciousness. A short video of me explaining the 10 things, to accompany my VSI Consciousness Book by OUP. (And I hope the ten problems make your head hurt). 29 May 2019.
Watch video – Consciousness on the grill or in the spit? Interview for Cosmoetica with Susan Blackmore and Jonathan Schooler for Dan Schneider – Interview #245: Stream(s) Of Consciousness(?) 10 August 2018
Four interviews with Mel van Dusen, August 2017
Self, free will and consciousness
Genes, memes and tremes
Out-of-body experiences
Near-death experiences
Could the Internet be conscious? ‘ColLaboratoire’ summer school, University of Plymouth, August 2016
The new science of out-of-body experiences. Lecture for CogNovo, University of Plymouth, December 2015
Interview with me on Consciousness Central, at Towards a Science of Consciousness, Helsinki, June 2015. I am interviewed about the talk I gave on “Out-of-body experiences and what they tell us about ourselves”.
Michael Persinger and the God Helmet – interview with Susan Blackmore (published 2014 for Web of Stories). Watch on YouTube
The mystery of consciousness, lecture in Sofia, Bulgaria, April 2013
Debate with Deepak Chopra at Towards a Science of Consciousness, TSC Tucson April 2012. Watch My lecture – panel discussion with Deepak.
Lecture on the Illusion of Consciousness at the Skeptics conference 2005