The Innovation Show

To truly profit from disruption, an enterprise must be prepared to manage increasingly short windows of profitability, scaling up rapidly as customers embrace the new all at once, then scaling down nearly as fast when demand declines. Paul Nunes is the global managing director for thought leadership at Accenture Research. He leads the company in developing ground-breaking insights into technology and strategic business change. He is co-author of three books, Big Bang Disruption: Strategy in the Age of Devastating Innovation, Jumping the S-Curve: How to Beat the Growth Cycle, Get on Top, and Stay There, and Mass Affluence: 7 New Rules of Marketing to Today’s Consumers. It has been an absolute pleasure learning from him. 00:00:00.256 Introduction and Overview of the Series Finale 00:11:25.254 Creating a Company that Values Innovators 00:16:20.936 Balancing Wall Street Expectations and Innovation Goals 00:18:31.172 Jeff Bezos' Approach to Investor Relations 00:21:14.030 Managing Wall Street vs Managing to Wall Street 00:22:46.440 Effective Communication and Leadership in Challenging Times 00:32:40.338 Predicting Heart Attacks and Improving Sleep Patterns 00:36:12.004 The Profound Importance of Cell Phones 00:40:47.441 Companies Breaking New Ground through Strategies and Resource Allocation 00:45:35.337 Jio's success in leveraging 4G technology 00:48:06.392 Final thoughts

Pivot to the Future is for leaders who seek to turn the existential threats of today and tomorrow into sustainable growth, with the courage to understand that a wise pivot strategy is not a one-time event but a commitment to a future of perpetual reinvention, where one pivot is followed by the next and the next. Based on Accenture's own experience of reinventing itself in the face of disruption, the company's real-world client work, and a rigorous two-year study of thousands of businesses across 30 industries, Pivot to the Future reveals methodical and bold moves for finding and releasing new sources of trapped value-unlocked by bridging the gap between what is technologically possible and how technologies are being used. The freed value enables companies to reinvent their legacy and current and new businesses simultaneously. 00:00:00.256 Harnessing Disruption: A Strategy for Future Relevance 00:03:08.439 Extending the Horizons: Balancing Old, Now, and New Businesses 00:11:22.493 The importance of a visionary CEO and leadership team 00:15:16.543 Majority of profits go to reinforcing existing businesses 00:19:15.760 Old trees provide shade and protection for the next generation 00:21:06.756 Conventional Wisdom vs New Wisdom: Exiting vs Exploiting Old Businesses 00:28:00.496 The Fallacy of Cash Cows in Rapidly Changing Markets 00:31:49.016 The Challenges of Electric Cars and Hybrid Technology 00:43:01.017 The Trapped Value Gap: Turning Disruption into Opportunity 00:47:41.371 Societal Value: How Society Benefits from Digital Transformation 00:49:00.914 The Evolution of Customer Segments and Channels

In keeping with the metaphor of astronomy’s Big Bang theory, Paul named the four stages of the shark fin after critical events in the creation and predicted the end of our known universe. Let’s get into the four stages: The Singularity, The Big Bang, The Big Crunch and Entropy. Paul unpacks the rules that prop up these four stages. 00:00:00.769 Introduction and Overview of "Four Phases of Big Bang Disruption" 00:03:14.786 Importance of Truth Tellers and Pinpoint Market Entry 00:11:11.771 From Idea to Product: Rapid Sales Success 00:15:34.394 The Importance of Being First in a Competitive Market 00:17:00.996 The concept of bullet time in movies explained 00:19:11.133 The need to anticipate how incumbents will slow time 00:20:34.611 The Strategic Thinking in Chess and Business 00:30:44.407 Recognizing Industry Shifts: The iPod and Toshiba Hard Drive 00:35:05.831 Phillips' Transition to LED Bulbs and Exiting the Lighting Business 00:38:39.902 Profiting from the Wreckage: Escape Your Own Black Hole 00:41:02.475 The challenges of transitioning and maintaining customer commitments 00:44:31.607 Moving on from the past and finding new opportunities

We continue our series with Paul Nunes. This is part 2 of Big Bang Disruption, where we dive into the Shark Fin and look at Nintendo, Regulation, Pinball and more. 00:00:00.000 The birth of a new company in the face of disruption 00:02:42.027 The impact of heavy regulation on industries and innovation 00:10:32.944 The value and promise of smart talent placement 00:14:05.668 The life cycle stages and business strategy adaptation 00:16:26.230 The shift from bell curve to shark fin curve in sales 00:19:26.977 Saturation and the importance of inventory management 00:21:47.284 The Challenge of Optimising Sales and Market Demand 00:24:22.756 Balancing Inventory and Strategic Shortages 00:25:35.386 The Challenge of Competitors in a Powerful Marketplace 00:30:08.325 The Impact of Production and Overproduction on Sales 00:34:41.138 The Challenge of Innovation and Versioning Problem 00:45:20.894 The Importance of Apple's Ecosystem and Interoperability

We have entered a fourth stage of innovation— the era of Big Bang Disruption. The new disrupters attack existing markets not just from the top, bottom, and sides but from all three at once. By tying their products to the exponential growth and falling costs of new technologies, their offerings can be simultaneously better, cheaper, and more customized. Not just for one group of users, but for all (or nearly all) customers. This isn’t disruptive innovation. It’s devastating innovation. 00:00:00.000 The Evolution of Innovation: Addressing Disruption 00:02:36.657 Three Styles of Innovation: Traditional, Cost, and Blue Ocean 00:06:23.894 Simplifying Business Strategies: Differentiation, Cost, and Customer Focus 00:07:20.966 The Challenge of Competing with Better Products 00:17:12.447 Leveraging cameras for innovative bottle tracking technology 00:19:56.153 The cost advantage of digital products and services 00:23:54.145 The phenomenon of better and cheaper innovation in various industries 00:26:44.172 The Impact of Information Spread and Market Realities 00:34:52.300 The Importance of Meeting Customer Breakthrough Points 00:36:20.074 Introduction to the concept of disciplined innovation 00:38:56.498 The power of recombining components in innovation 00:39:26.799 The Rise of Drones: A Phenomenon Explained 00:42:13.962 Rapid Fire Experiments and the Democratization of Customer Insight 00:47:26.683 Information and Access: The Challenges of Finding Information 00:49:04.340 The Power of Low Cost Components 00:49:31.700 Putting Screens on Refrigerators - Why Not? 00:52:04.248 Exponential Technologies Drive Down the Cost of R&D 00:54:40.337 The Challenge of Finding the Threshold for Product Success 00:57:51.377 Broadening Horizons and Taking Time to Think for Workplace Change

Paul Nunes has found that what matters is not just climbing your current S-curve, which is what you do to reach the top of a single successful business. Instead, he emphasises the equal importance of the moves you must make to your next business: making the jump to your future S-curve. His book reveals crucial insights for making such transitions, including: * Why traditional strategic planning won't allow you to find the "big-enough" market insights that are critical to superior performance * Why your top team must be refreshed before performance starts to wane * Why you need much more talent than you think, especially "serious talent" that will find you worthy of their time We welcome back for Par 2, “Jumping the S-Curve: How to Beat the Growth Cycle, Get on Top, and Stay There”, Paul Nunes. 00:00:00.094 Introduction and Importance of Recognizing Stall Points 00:01:51.468 The Real Question: Where Are You in Your Products? 00:09:00.634 Shifting Focus from Cool Phone Features to Reliable Networks 00:12:42.280 Potential Impact of 20% Price Increase on Buyers 00:12:49.050 The Power of Pricing and Competitors 00:15:46.209 The Importance of Scaling and Servicing Demand 00:19:14.833 Strategic Flexibility and Divestment for High Performers 00:23:15.986 The Danger of Fixating on Efficiency and Cost Management 00:25:00.592 Focusing on current success, time to think about next steps 00:29:03.240 The importance of seeing the bigger picture and avoiding tunnel vision 00:32:45.856 Waiting too long for the next big move 00:35:03.439 The Challenge of Technological Obsolescence 00:38:50.137 The Need for Resale Markets and Recycling 00:42:11.000 Letting Go of Stranded Assets in Business 00:46:44.796 Borrowing vs. Profits: Paying off the Mortgage 00:50:47.794 Add-Centric Strategy: Edge of the Organization and Edge of Chaos 00:57:29.565 The Nature of Strategic Transitions and Leadership Selection 01:02:34.211 Changing Management Succession and Ownership of Capabilities 01:05:34.274 Establishing Hotbed Conditions for Talent Development 01:10:28.171 Investing in People and Building Capable Teams

Paul Nunes has found that what matters is not just climbing your current S-curve, which is what you do to reach the top of a single successful business. Instead, he emphasises the equal importance of the moves you must make to your next business: making the jump to your future S-curve. His book reveals crucial insights for making such transitions, including: * Why traditional strategic planning won't allow you to find the "big-enough" market insights that are critical to superior performance * Why your top team must be refreshed before performance starts to wane * Why you need much more talent than you think, especially "serious talent" that will find you worthy of their time We welcome “Jumping the S-Curve: How to Beat the Growth Cycle, Get on Top, and Stay There”, Paul Nunes. In this episode, we discuss 00:00:00.000 Filling the Gap: Repeated Peaks of Business Performance 00:06:38.522 The Origin: Defining High-Performance Business 00:09:34.223 Kroger's Mistake: Not Investing in the Future 00:12:23.282 Creating Sustained Value and Jumping an S-Curve 00:16:49.711 The Nature of S-Curves and Technology's Impact 00:20:07.341 Jumping Three Curves Simultaneously: A Mind-Blowing Challenge 00:23:44.811 The Zenith Example: Jumping S-Curves or Getting Left Behind 00:26:29.471 The Importance of Big Hairy Audacious Goals 00:28:26.303 The Problem with BHAG and Matching Aspirations to Capabilities 00:34:11.000 The Importance of Listening to Insights and Sourcing Strategy 00:38:48.440 Average and low performers rely on their phones too much 00:41:53.306 The missed step of Apple with iTunes and the acquisition of Beats 00:44:59.325 Balancing short-term profits and investing in future waves 00:48:20.841 Balancing streaming profits and investing in new content creation 00:50:59.949 Surprising Price Difference in India 00:51:06.609 Scaling too hastily can lead to problems 00:54:16.844 The importance of understanding what creates value before scaling 01:00:30.502 Designing with shared components in automotive industry 01:03:32.600 Price point and competence before scaling in consumer products 01:06:29.449 Collecting vinyl records and now books

"Priorities are determined by the relative strengths of your needs in relation to the range of opportunities afforded by your current circumstances." - Mark Solms. In his book, "Homo Deus", Yuval Noah Harari explains that lawns offered no practical value - they weren't used for grazing animals or growing food. The size and neatness of the lawn became an undeniable symbol of status, a peacock display of wealth that couldn't be imitated. Devoting precious land or time to a lawn was unthinkable for peasants. For them, a 'lawn', if they had any, was not for relaxation but for survival, used to grow food. This historical nugget came to mind recently as I spoke to Neuropsychologist and author of 'The Hidden Spring', Mark Solms. Mark explains that needs and actions are interconnected and must be prioritized based on urgency. For example, we become aware of the need to go to the bathroom when it becomes urgent, a concept referred to as "latchkey urgency". This concept of prioritising needs also applies to organisations, which must determine critical needs based on their current circumstances. For example, I briefly worked as head of Innovation in a large bureaucratic organisation. I should have done my homework on the organisation and presumed we could foster a culture of innovation. However, I soon realised the reality of this week's Thursday Thought. You must also prioritise in an organisation. You cannot paint #innovation over the rust of a toxic culture. You must first tend to the "cultural lawn" before adding the innovative decor. This is even more pronounced if an organisation is fighting for survival. In "Organisational Fight or Flight Mode", businesses tend to double down on what we already know and become resistant to anything new. Research from former Innovation Show guest Bruce Lipton provides an interesting parallel. His work shows that cells switch between 'protection and' growth modes' based on the surrounding environment and signals from the environment, body, and brain. When a cell perceives a threatening environment, it focuses on protection, thus preventing growth. Conversely, the cell thrives in a non-threatening environment, promoting growth. The same can be applied to humans and their work environments. In a psychological climate of fear, people are less likely to take creative risks or invest in long-term planning. However, when the environment is supportive and non-threatening, individuals are more likely to thrive, plan, and grow. This is where the privilege of having a 'private lawn' comes into play. The 'private lawn' is the ability to have the time and space to plan, think and grow. For some of us, daily survival consumes all our time and energy, leaving no room for strategic thinking or planning. As business leaders, creating an environment where everyone can access their 'private lawn' - a space for growth, planning, and forward-thinking is crucial. However, we must also plan by priority.

It is a pleasure to welcome the author of The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness, Mark Solms. In this episode, we unpack "The Hard Problem" and culminate on Mark's latest challenge: Making a Mind, where he and his team have built a conscious intelligence. 00:00:00.508 The Final Chapter: Exploring the Source of Consciousness 00:06:03.237 Understanding the Underlying Mechanism and the Free Energy Principle 00:12:35.699 Mechanism: Substrate-Independent and Irrelevant to Appearance 00:24:05.372 The cortex and brainstem: the wrong place to look 00:26:57.108 The mechanism of feeling predicts conscious experience 00:34:18.887 Making a Mind: Exploring Consciousness and Mechanisms of Feeling 00:42:00.900 Richard Feynman's Last Words: "If I can't create it, I don't understand it." 00:46:47.955 The Imperative for Artificial Intelligence: Maintaining Homeostatic States 00:47:39.085 The Functioning of the Robot and its Activities 00:52:53.276 The Final Chapter: Artificial Feelings and Ethical Considerations

It is a pleasure to welcome the author of The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness, Mark Solms. In this episode, we talk about the brain's prediction system. 00:00:00.000 Introduction and Overview of the Chapter 00:03:30.388 Establishment of the Meteorology Department 00:11:59.546 The Fundamental Task: Minimizing Free Energy 00:15:43.370 Feelings: Connecting Us to Our Ancestors 00:19:36.790 Neglecting the inter-receptive and extra-receptive in cognitive science 00:22:30.002 The brain's attempt to contain environmental effects on the organism 00:31:32.675 Innate Predictions: Fear and Instinctual Behaviors 00:34:19.723 The Evolution of Responses and Predictive Model Complexification 00:42:59.118 The Brain: Ones and Zeroes, Predictions and Errors 00:54:18.834 The Brain as an Organization 00:59:57.338 Emotional Needs and Scripts

"No structure, even an artificial one, enjoys the process of entropy. It is the ultimate fate of everything, and everything resists it.' - Philip K. Dick Homeostasis refers to the maintenance of relatively constant internal conditions in an organism. For example, we maintain a body temperature of around 98.6°F (37°C). In a cold environment, we shiver to return to this temperature. In a warm climate, we cool ourselves down to restore balance. In our 9-part series on The Innovation Show, Mark Solms explains the relationship between homeostasis and entropy. Entropy is the natural tendency of things to lose order and fall into chaos. It's why ice melts; batteries lose charge, billiard balls stop, and hot water merges with cold. Homeostasis resists entropy. It keeps us in a limited range of ideal states, like a perfect body temperature. Our bodies need a constant energy supply to maintain homeostasis and resist entropy. Energy can be useful or useless, depending on its ability to work. As useful energy depletes, system entropy increases. This explains why our bodies eventually decline. We need to generate effort to counter entropy, like a balance. This includes exercising to prevent muscle loss, learning new skills for job relevance, and innovating to stay competitive. Like organisms, organisations are living entities that constantly need to reinvent and regenerate energy to maintain balance. Organisations can become stagnant, with experienced managers sometimes lacking the initiative to innovate or drive change. This can lead to inefficiencies and bureaucracy, causing the organisation to become less effective over time. If you think of people as molecules of energy, they dissipate and find areas of the business where they can do the least amount possible. Bureaucracy grows like a bacterial plaque throughout the organisation. The lifeblood of the organisation clogs up and becomes less effective. Information flows become inefficient, like varicose veins. In effect, the organisation atrophies. Injecting new energy into an organisation can revitalise it, realign its workforce, and increase efficiency. As discussed in my book "Undisruptable", this continuous revitalisation is essential for an organisation's health, especially during rapid technological change. Resisting entropy is a fundamental function of living things. Similarly, organisations that resist change become victims of entropy, disrupting the balance of their systems and tipping the scales towards entropy. Maintaining homeostasis is not an event. It is a continual process. Maintaining success requires effort, constant renewal and permanent reinvention.

It is a pleasure to welcome the author of The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness, Mark Solms. In this episode, we share some terms like: Markov Blankets, The Free Energy Principle, Homeostasis, Entropy and more. We also look at the neuroscience of innovation. Time Stamps 00:00:00.076 Introduction: Exploring the Free Energy Principle 00:02:48.180 Feeling as an Equation: The Reduction of Homeostasis 00:05:09.567 Reduction of Homeostasis to an Equation by Carl Friston 00:07:40.434 The Link Between Mathematics, Physics, and Feelings: Homeostasis 00:10:06.472 Living Things Resisting the Second Law of Thermodynamics 00:12:31.153 The Imperative of Maintaining Organization and Viability 00:15:08.612 Homeostasis and the Role of Predictability 00:17:41.544 Learning from Experience and Updating Predictive Models 00:20:17.696 The Free Energy Principle and Reducing Predictive Errors 00:22:33.207 Understanding Free Energy as Wasted Informational Energy 00:24:41.590 The Fundamental Law of Psychology and Psychiatry 00:34:02.646 Self-organization in Nature: Ants and Bees 00:40:03.648 The Importance of Boundaries and the Markov Blanket 00:43:30.274 Feeling as the Driving Force of Learning

It is a pleasure to welcome the author of The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness, Mark Solms. In this episode, we will discuss questions such as where does arousal come from anatomically and how does it arise physiologically? And the central question of today is where the seemingly magical shift from automatic reflex to volitional feeling occurs. Today, we will share some terms like synaptic transmission, reuptake, post-synaptic modulation and the role of neurotransmitters and neuromodulators, and we will also explain the role of the PAG, the periaqueductal grey.

The struggle you're in today is developing the strength you need for tomorrow. - Robert Tew In a world of abundance, we take many things for granted. Our morning coffee is one such example. A morning brew helps many of us win the battle to wake up by winning a neurochemical war. However, there is another battle that takes place using chemical warfare. The battlefield? The dense, green foliage of the coffee plantation. Align to the left Align in the middle Resize to full width Align to the right Add a link to the embedded image Add alt text Delete image No alt text provided for this image Created using AI Like any crop, coffee plants are subject to attack by pests. Many plants and trees have developed fascinating defence mechanisms to protect themselves against such attacks. (Like the stinging nettle to the human touch) When insects nibble on the foliage of coffee plants, they release defence compounds. One of the defence mechanisms of coffee plants is the production of caffeine. Caffeine acts as a natural insecticide, deterring and even poisoning certain insects that attempt to feed on the plant. The caffeine content in coffee leaves and beans is toxic to many insects, making them less attractive to pests and reducing the likelihood of severe infestations. In addition to caffeine, coffee plants release an acid called chlorogenic acid. This acid acts as a natural fungicide and insecticide for the plant. When we drink our cup of coffee, we also drink these compounds. Chlorogenic acid is a powerful antioxidant and helps with weight loss, blood sugar control, and heart disease prevention. However, while protecting coffee plants with pesticides and insecticides might seem beneficial, this prevents the release of chlorogenic acid. Without insect attacks, the plant does not undergo stress or produce beneficial acids. Hormesis is a process whereby a beneficial effect (improved health, stress tolerance, growth or longevity) results from exposure to low doses of a toxin or stressor. Hormesis has been studied extensively with ageing. Researchers found that introducing stressors like intermittent fasting, exercise, and cold shower therapy produces resilience and anti-ageing effects. For example, when an optional cold shower activates a mild fight or flight response, it increases our tolerance for the cold and can guard us against catching a cold. Just as we can build up our tolerance for poisons, we can improve our tolerance for adversity. This coffee narrative is a helpful metaphor that resonates in our lives and business. It's about the essentiality of struggle and how it moulds us, adding depth and substance to our existence. Just as the coffee plant needs the insect's bite to release its acid and liberate its flavour, we must struggle to bring out the best in ourselves. This is the paradoxical advantage of adversity. The Adversity Advantage: Nurturing Resilience In our forthcoming series, with former Executive Director of Research for the Accenture Institute for High Performance, Paul Nunes explains how high-performance companies develop a hothouse of talent. Paul tells us, "Talent hothouses are like agricultural greenhouses". A company needs to start with the right seeds to ensure early success for the vast majority. As those seedlings grow, leaders must find ways to prepare high-potential talent for inevitable challenges ahead. That preparation includes steps to increase their hardiness, so managers must regularly expose employees to unfamiliar ideas and ways of thinking." High-performance businesses create environments—often highly challenging—for employees to acquire the skills and experience needed to climb up the corporate ladder quickly. The goal is partly to create what our Accenture colleague Bob Thomas, in his book on the topic, calls “crucible” experiences. These life-changing events, whether on the job or not, hold lifetime lessons that can be mined to help transform someone into a leader." “You learn ten...

In "The Hidden Spring," our guest Mark Solms takes us on the journey of Feelings. Feelings are difficult to research because they are inherently subjective, but If we exclude feelings from our account of the brain, we will never understand how it works. You tell us, to a fantastic degree, neuroscientists searching for an explanation of consciousness have ignored feelings. Mark Solms takes us on an exploration of Feelings and the work of his friend and collaborator, Jaak Panksepp. We cover Seeking, Play and Fear.

In The Hidden Spring, our guest Mark Solms takes us on the journey of Feelings. Feelings are difficult to research because they are inherently subjective, but If we exclude feelings from our account of the brain, we will never understand how it works. You tell us, to a fantastic degree, neuroscientists searching for an explanation of consciousness have ignored feelings. Mark Solms takes us on an exploration of Feelings and te work of his friend and collaborator, Jaak Panksepp.

The first in a new project on The Innovation Show. Hire For Neurosignature, Train for Skill: The Brain is Like a Waterbed "Autists are not just square pegs in the round hole of society. The real problem isn't the challenge of fitting them in, it's that in trying to do so we risk destroying their unique shape." — Paul Collins The parents of an autistic young man approached a local convenience store, hoping to secure a job for their son. The retail chain manager, hesitant due to his team's lack of experience with special needs, said he would give the kid a chance. On his inaugural day, the manager tasked the young man with organizing food items by their expiration dates on a single shelf. He figured it would take him at least the whole day. To the manager's astonishment, the young man had meticulously arranged every shelf in the store in just three hours. This young man, perceived as disabled, viewed sorting produce by date as a delightful puzzle. His neurodiversity brought joy to the task and put him in a flow state. But the story doesn't end there. Harnessing the youngster's unique ability, the retailer employed him to travel between stores, solving his 'puzzles' and sorting food items. This valuable skill saved the retailer a significant amount of wastage and helped them to achieve their sustainability goals. Today, this young man earns so much that his father left his previous job to chauffeur his son (who cannot drive) around the country, solving puzzles for the retail chain. “We all have a calling. Each one of us has a role to play on this planet. When we play the instrument that is meant for us in the orchestra of life, we will be in a constant state of bliss” - Joe Vitale The moral of the story? Everyone has a unique place if the world gives them a chance. Unfortunately, a story like this is scarce. The unfortunate reality was recognised best by one of the great geniuses of our times, Albert Einstein, who said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by Its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid”. Because the work system is set up for efficiency, it caters for the majority. It is a drain on resources to cater to everyone. It is even more challenging to interview "everyone", so we hire for homogeneity. And somewhat understandably, as human resources, people officers and hiring executives are already stretched to the maximum. Companies are dealing with a tumultuous business environment. They are preoccupied with quenching multiple fires: AI, digitalisation, remote work, supply chain volatility, business model shifts, data, GDPR, inflation, housing crises, pandemics and even wars. The modern workplace is structured like a fine-cut diamond—rigid, linear, and sparkling with hierarchy. This construct, drawn from centuries of church and military organisation, may bring a semblance of order, but it simultaneously smothers the potential of those who don't fit the mould. Neurodiverse individuals can struggle in these traditional environments. Executives often overlook them (or ignore them outright) due to their distinctive ways of processing information, unique patterns of thought and behaviour, and distinctive communication styles. To ensure that these square pegs aren't shoehorned into round holes, we need to rethink the design of our workplaces. We must build environments that foster neurodiversity rather than suppress it. The modern workplace is more like a network of networks, teams of teams, nuanced and complex. The brain works similarly; the brain is more about connection than calculation. Understanding this can help executives update the workplace. Imagine a world where everyone got to use their talents and didn't have to shore up their weaknesses and, in many cases, disguise those weaknesses. That is the focus of this week's Thursday Thought. The Brain is like a Waterbed  Imagine the brain as a waterbed. When one area...

In The Hidden Spring, our guest Mark Solms does not dive too deeply into Karl Friston’s mathematics. As you will discover, he summarises its implications, describing Friston’s free energy as a quantifiable measure of how a system models the world and how it behaves. This notion leads to a very different idea of consciousness from Descartes’s reason-centric version that set up the puzzling dualism of “mind” and “matter”, a la Damasio's Descartes Error. Mark explores the “cortical fallacy,” which refers to his view that neuroscientists who have argued that the “seat of consciousness” is in the cortex are wrong. Recent neuroscience has shed light on where this is. As Mark points out, damage to just two cubic millimetres of the upper brainstem will “obliterate all consciousness.” So where does it "Spring" from? 00:00:00 Intro 00:00:12 Teeing Up “The Cortical Fallacy” with hydranencephaly, a rare condition in which the brain's cerebral hemispheres are absent and replaced by sacs filled with cerebrospinal fluid. 00:02:37 “The Cortical Fallacy” 00:18:14 The Report-ability Problem of Consciousness 00:31:00 Chemical and Pharmacological Probes 00:37:00 1949 discovery of the Reticular Activating System 00:55:25 The Reticular Activating System: Salience, Filtering, Gratitude, Law of Attraction 00:58:00 The Mr. W joke and The Global Workspace Theory

Why does it feel like something to be alive? For one of the boldest thinkers in neuroscience, solving this puzzle has been a lifetime's quest. Now, at last, Mark Solms, who discovered the brain mechanism for dreaming, has arrived at his answer. More than just a philosophical argument, the Free Energy theory will profoundly change how you understand your existence. The very idea that a breakthrough is possible may seem outrageous. Isn't consciousness intangible, beyond the reach of empirical methods? Yet Solms shows in forensic detail how misguided assumptions have concealed its nature. Only by sticking closely to the medical facts does a way past our obstacles appear. Join him on an extraordinary voyage into the strange realms beyond and learn what we are. In this episode, we cover this and more: 00:00:00 Intro 00:00:58 Consciousness research was frowned upon in Neuroscience 00:01:17 Mark’s Sleep-Wake Cycle Research, REM Sleep 00:19:11 Oliver Sachs’ Patients and Dopamine Treatments 00:30:31 The Challenge of Dopamine Medication and Loss of Motivation, ADHD, Parkinson’s and More. 00:44:11 Neuro-Psychoanalysis and the case of Mr S and Confabulatory Amnesia 00:54:49 Fredu’s Wishful System 01:01:12 Common Language and the Baggage of Language 01:07:19 Conclusion The open access article authored by Mark Solms and Karl Friston:

Part 1 of a 9-part series with the brilliant Mark Solms. Why does it feel like something to be alive? For one of the boldest thinkers in neuroscience, solving this puzzle has been a lifetime's quest. Now, at last, Mark Solms, who discovered the brain mechanism for dreaming, has arrived at his answer. More than just a philosophical argument, the Free Energy theory will profoundly change how you understand your existence. The very idea that a breakthrough is possible may seem outrageous. Isn't consciousness intangible, beyond the reach of empirical methods? Yet Solms shows in forensic detail how misguided assumptions have concealed its nature. Only by sticking closely to the medical facts does a way past our obstacles appear. Join him on an extraordinary voyage into the strange realms beyond and learn what we are.