The Experience Machine
How Our Minds Predict and Shape Reality
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Narrated by:
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Andy Clark
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By:
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Andy Clark
About this listen
A brilliant new theory of the mind that upends our understanding of how the brain interacts with the world
For as long as we’ve studied human cognition, we’ve believed that our senses give us direct access to the world. What we see is what’s really there—or so the thinking goes. But new discoveries in neuroscience and psychology have turned this assumption on its head. What if rather than perceiving reality passively, your mind actively predicts it?
“This thoroughly readable book will convince you that the brain and the world are partners in constructing our understanding.”—Sean Carroll, New York Times bestselling author of The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time, and Motion
Widely acclaimed philosopher and cognitive scientist Andy Clark unpacks this provocative new theory that the brain is a powerful, dynamic prediction engine, mediating our experience of both body and world. From the most mundane experiences to the most sublime, reality as we know it is the complex synthesis of sensory information and expectation. Exploring its fascinating mechanics and remarkable implications for our lives, mental health, and society, Clark nimbly illustrates how the predictive brain sculpts all human experience. Chronic pain and mental illness are shown to involve subtle malfunctions of our unconscious predictions, pointing the way towards more effective, targeted treatments. Under renewed scrutiny, the very boundary between ourselves and the outside world dissolves, showing that we are as entangled with our environments as we are with our onboard memories, thoughts, and feelings. And perception itself is revealed to be something of a controlled hallucination.
Unveiling the extraordinary explanatory power of the predictive brain, The Experience Machine is a mesmerizing window onto one of the most significant developments in our understanding of the mind.
* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF of supporting figures with evidence and claims to follow along with.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2023 Andy Clark (P)2023 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“It’s tempting to think that our eyes and ears passively record the world like cameras and microphones, but our perceptions are much more interesting than that. Andy Clark is a leading figure in understanding the brain as a prediction machine—we don't passively take in the world, we're constantly anticipating it and interpreting it accordingly. This thoroughly readable book will convince you that the brain and the world are partners in constructing our understanding.” —Sean Carroll, New York Times bestselling author of The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time, and Motion
“Is the universe a simulation? Yes! But the simulation takes place in your brain. In this engaging and fascinating book, Andy Clark explains how our expectations dominate the input of our senses to construct our individual perceptions of reality. After reading it, you’ll look at human experience in a new way.” —Leonard Mlodinow, bestselling author of Emotional and Subliminal
“There are many metaphors for how your brain works: a magician, an architect, a fortune-teller, a scientist. Andy Clark’s marvelous book The Experience Machine unpacks these metaphors to reveal your brain’s mind-bending (and mind-making) predictive powers that construct the reality you see, hear, and feel. Without them, there is only buzzing, blooming confusion. Strap on your seatbelt and prepare to be amazed!” —Lisa Feldman Barrett, author of How Emotions Are Made and Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain
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- Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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We're used to thinking about the self as an independent entity, something that we either have or are. In The Ego Tunnel, philosopher Thomas Metzinger claims otherwise: No such thing as a self exists. The conscious self is the content of a model created by our brain - an internal image, but one we cannot experience as an image. Everything we experience is "a virtual self in a virtual reality." But if the self is not "real," why and how did it evolve? How does the brain construct it?
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non-specialist literature at its best
- By Esmeralda on 03-17-10
By: Thomas Metzinger
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Your Brain, Explained
- What Neuroscience Reveals About Your Brain and its Quirks
- By: Marc Dingman
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Sleep. Memory. Pleasure. Fear. Language. We experience these things every day, but how do our brains create them? Your Brain, Explained is a personal tour around your gray matter. Neuroscientist Marc Dingman gives you a crash course in how your brain works and explains the latest research on the brain functions that affect you on a daily basis. You'll also discover what happens when the brain doesn't work the way it should, causing problems such as insomnia, ADHD, depression, or addiction.
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Loved it!!
- By Amazon Customer on 05-04-22
By: Marc Dingman
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A User's Guide to the Brain
- Perception, Attention, and the Four Theaters of the Brain
- By: John J. Ratey
- Narrated by: Eric Martin
- Length: 16 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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John Ratey, best-selling author and clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, lucidly explains the human brain's workings, and paves the way for a better understanding of how the brain affects who we are. Ratey provides insight into the basic structure and chemistry of the brain, and demonstrates how its systems shape our perceptions, emotions, and behavior. By giving us a greater understanding of how the brain responds to the guidance of its user, he provides us with knowledge that can enable us to improve our lives.
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Great book, mediocre narration
- By Dr. B on 09-25-18
By: John J. Ratey
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Autopilot
- The Art & Science of Doing Nothing
- By: Andrew Smart
- Narrated by: Kevin Free
- Length: 3 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Andrew Smart wants you to sit and do nothing much more often - and he has the science to explain why. At every turn we’re pushed to do more, faster, and more efficiently: That drumbeat resounds throughout our wage-slave society. Multitasking is not only a virtue, it’s a necessity. But Andrew Smart argues that slackers may have the last laugh. The latest neuroscience shows that the “culture of effectiveness” is not only ineffective, it can be harmful to your well-being.
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Not worth it.
- By B Lee on 04-30-14
By: Andrew Smart
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The Emotional Life of Your Brain
- How Its Unique Patterns Affect the Way You Think, Feel, and Live - and How You Can Change Them
- By: Richard J. Davidson Ph.D., Sharon Begley
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Why are some people so quick to recover from a setback while others wallow in despair? Why are some people so highly attuned to others that they seem psychic, while other people put both feet in it over and over again? Why are some people always up and others always down? In this hotly anticipated book, award-winning, pioneering neuroscientist Richard J. Davidson answers these questions by offering an entirely new model of our emotions - their origins, their power, and their malleability.
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Looks Like I Will Be The First Reviewer...
- By Douglas on 11-03-13
By: Richard J. Davidson Ph.D., and others
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The Leading Brain
- Powerful Science-Based Strategies for Achieving Peak Performance
- By: Friederike Fabritius, Hans W. Hagemann
- Narrated by: Karen Saltus
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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There's a revolution taking place that most businesses are still unaware of. The understanding of how our brains work has radically shifted, exploding long-held myths about our everyday cognitive performance and fundamentally changing the way we engage and succeed in the workplace. Combining their expertise in both neuropsychology and management consulting, neuropsychologist Friederike Fabritius and leadership expert Dr. Hans W. Hagemann present simple yet powerful strategies.
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Understand your brain for a better life!
- By Khalid Sul on 02-23-18
By: Friederike Fabritius, and others
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Wired to Create
- Unraveling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind
- By: Carolyn Gregoire, Scott Barry Kaufman PhD
- Narrated by: Nick Podehl
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Based on the authors' wildly popular Huffington Post article "18 Things That Creative People Do Differently" (which generated five million views and 500,000 Facebook shares in one week), this well-researched and engaging audiobook uncovers what we know about creativity, and what anyone can do to enhance this essential aspect of their lives and work.
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Solitude, Showers and Awe, Oh My!
- By Gillian on 01-05-16
By: Carolyn Gregoire, and others
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Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain
- By: Lisa Feldman Barrett
- Narrated by: Lisa Feldman Barrett
- Length: 3 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Have you ever wondered why you have a brain? Let renowned neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett demystify that big gray blob between your ears. In seven short essays (plus a bite-sized story about how brains evolved), this slim, entertaining, and accessible collection reveals mind-expanding lessons from the front lines of neuroscience research. You'll learn where brains came from, how they're structured (and why it matters), and how yours works in tandem with other brains to create everything you experience.
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slow reader & little bit of a Wokie
- By darren on 06-01-21
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Why God Won't Go Away
- Brain Science and the Biology of Belief
- By: Andrew Newberg, Eugene d'Aquili, Vince Rause
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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In this groundbreaking new book, researchers Andrew Newberg and Eugene d'Aquili offer an explanation that is at once profoundly simple and scientifically precise: The religious impulse is rooted in the biology of the brain. In Why God Won't Go Away, Newberg and d'Aquili document their pioneering explorations in the field of neurotheology, an emerging discipline dedicated to understanding the complex relationship between spirituality and the brain.
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My opinion
- By David Berry on 09-06-18
By: Andrew Newberg, and others
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The Expectation Effect
- How Your Mindset Can Change Your World
- By: David Robson
- Narrated by: John Sackville
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Melding neuroscience with narrative, science journalist David Robson takes lstenersi on a deep dive into the many life zones the expectation effect permeates. We see how people who believe stress is beneficial become more creative when placed under strain. We see how associating aging with wisdom can add seven plus years to your life. People say seeing is believing but, over and over, Robson proves that the converse is truer: Believing is seeing.
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Every leader and teacher must read!
- By Myron Golden on 09-18-22
By: David Robson
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Mind Wide Open
- Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life
- By: Steven Johnson
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Brilliantly exploring today's cutting edge brain research, Mind Wide Open allows readers to understand themselves and the people in their lives as never before. Using a mix of experiential reportage, personal storytelling, and fresh scientific discovery, Steven Johnson describes how the brain works and how its systems connect to the day-to-day realities of individual lives.
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A totally new perspective on life
- By Jonathan on 09-16-04
By: Steven Johnson
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Life Unlocked
- 7 Revolutionary Lessons to Overcome Fear
- By: Srinivasan S. Pillay MD
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Both our conscious and more deeply embedded fears act as saboteurs in our lives, influencing us to make "safe" choices and limiting our ability to live happy, fulfilling lives. But imagine if you could learn how to take control of your brain’s instinctive response to danger. In Life Unlocked, Harvard-trained psychiatrist Dr. Srinivasan Pillay draws from cutting-edge research in neuroscience to show you how to do just this: to move past fear and unlock the potential of your life.
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Fascinating science in brain biology
- By Lesley Quick on 09-23-15
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The Neurogeneration
- The New Era in Brain Enhancement That Is Revolutionizing the Way We Think, Work, and Heal
- By: Tan Le
- Narrated by: Tan Le
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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The human brain is perhaps the most powerful and mysterious arrangement of matter in the known universe. New discoveries that unravel this mystery and let us tap into this power offer almost limitless potential - the ability to reshape ourselves and our thought processes, to improve our health and extend our lives, and to enhance and augment the ways we interact with the world around us. In The NeuroGeneration, award-winning inventor Tan Le explores exciting advancements in brain science and neurotechnology that are revolutionizing the way we think, work, and heal.
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Chock full of eye opening information!
- By pondo on 02-29-20
By: Tan Le
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Not engaging, nothing new
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We feel, therefore we are. Conscious sensations ground our sense of self. They are crucial to our idea of ourselves as psychic beings: present, existent, and mattering. But is it only humans who feel this way? Do other animals? Will future machines? Weaving together intellectual adventure and cutting-edge science, Nicholas Humphrey describes in Sentience his quest for answers: from his discovery of blindsight in monkeys and his pioneering work on social intelligence to breakthroughs in the philosophy of mind.
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Audible, please re-record this!
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The Romance of Reality
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According to the prevailing scientific paradigm, the universe tends toward randomness; it functions according to laws without purpose, and life is an accident devoid of meaning. Thanks to a new understanding of evolution, as well as recent advances in our understanding of the phenomenon known as emergence, a new cosmic narrative is taking shape: Nature’s simplest “parts” come together to form ever-greater “wholes” in a process that has no end in sight. Bobby Azarian explains the science behind this new view of reality and explores what it means for all of us.
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Brilliant book, except for the author’s examination of free will.
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Not a Casual Read, Substantial
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A new edition of a classic work that originated the "embodied cognition" movement and was one of the first to link science and Buddhist practices.
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Unfortunate narration.
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Free Agents
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Scientists are learning more and more about how brain activity controls behavior and how neural circuits weigh alternatives and initiate actions. As we probe ever deeper into the mechanics of decision making, many conclude that agency—or free will—is an illusion. In Free Agents, leading neuroscientist Kevin Mitchell presents a wealth of evidence to the contrary, arguing that we are not mere machines responding to physical forces but agents acting with purpose.
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Adding Clarity to Agency
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Not engaging, nothing new
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We feel, therefore we are. Conscious sensations ground our sense of self. They are crucial to our idea of ourselves as psychic beings: present, existent, and mattering. But is it only humans who feel this way? Do other animals? Will future machines? Weaving together intellectual adventure and cutting-edge science, Nicholas Humphrey describes in Sentience his quest for answers: from his discovery of blindsight in monkeys and his pioneering work on social intelligence to breakthroughs in the philosophy of mind.
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Audible, please re-record this!
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The Romance of Reality
- How the Universe Organizes Itself to Create Life, Consciousness, and Cosmic Complexity
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According to the prevailing scientific paradigm, the universe tends toward randomness; it functions according to laws without purpose, and life is an accident devoid of meaning. Thanks to a new understanding of evolution, as well as recent advances in our understanding of the phenomenon known as emergence, a new cosmic narrative is taking shape: Nature’s simplest “parts” come together to form ever-greater “wholes” in a process that has no end in sight. Bobby Azarian explains the science behind this new view of reality and explores what it means for all of us.
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Combining ideas from philosophy, artificial intelligence, and neurobiology, Daniel Dennett leads the listener on a fascinating journey of inquiry, exploring such intriguing possibilities as: Can any of us really know what is going on in someone else's mind? What distinguishes the human mind from the minds of animals, especially those capable of complex behavior? If such animals, for instance, were magically given the power of language, would their communities evolve an intelligence as subtly discriminating as ours?
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A book that could have been an email
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Alva Noë is one of a new breed - part philosopher, part cognitive scientist, part neuroscientist - who are radically altering the study of consciousness by asking difficult questions and pointing out obvious flaws in the current science. In Out of Our Heads, he restates and reexamines the problem of consciousness, and then proposes a startling solution: Do away with the 200-year-old paradigm that places consciousness within the confines of the brain.
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A bold, yet ultimately unsupported, hypothesis
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The Conscious Mind
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What is consciousness? How do physical processes in the brain give rise to the self-aware mind and to feelings as profoundly varied as love or hate, aesthetic pleasure or spiritual yearning? These questions today are among the most hotly debated issues among scientists and philosophers. Philosopher David J. Chalmers offers a cogent analysis of this heated debate as he unveils a major new theory of consciousness, one that rejects the prevailing reductionist trend of science, while offering provocative insights into the relationship between mind and brain.
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Chalmers' search for Consciousness
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The Edge of Knowledge
- Unsolved Mysteries of the Cosmos
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Three of the most important words in science are I don't know. Not knowing implies a universe of opportunities—the possibility of discovery and surprise. Our understanding of science has advanced immeasurably over the last 500 years, yet many fundamental mysteries of existence persist: How did our universe begin? How big is the universe? Is time travel possible? What’s at the center of a black hole? How did life on Earth arise? Are we alone? What is consciousness, and can we create it?
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he lacks knowledge about his topics
- By Anonymous User on 05-28-23
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Notes on Complexity
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- Unabridged
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Nothing in the universe is more complex than life. Throughout the skies, in oceans, and across lands, life is endlessly on the move. In its myriad forms—from cells to human beings, social structures, and ecosystems—life is open-ended, evolving, unpredictable, yet adaptive and self-sustaining. Complexity theory addresses the mysteries that animate science, philosophy, and metaphysics: how this teeming array of existence, from the infinitesimal to the infinite, is in fact a seamless living whole and what our place, as conscious beings, is within it.
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Only the first couple chapters are about complexity
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The Invisible Gorilla
- And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us
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Reading this book will make you less sure of yourself - and thats a good thing. In The Invisible Gorilla, Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons, creators of one of psychology's most famous experiments, use remarkable stories and counterintuitive scientific findings to demonstrate an important truth: Our minds dont work the way we think they do. We think we see ourselves and the world as they really are, but were actually missing a whole lot.
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What Gorillas Are We Missing?
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By: Christopher Chabris, and others
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Consciousness Explained
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The national bestseller chosen by The New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 1991 is now available as an audiobook. The author of Brainstorms, Daniel C. Dennett replaces our traditional vision of consciousness with a new model based on a wealth of fact and theory from the latest scientific research.
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Confuses Consciousness with Ego
- By Rahul Yadav on 07-11-19
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Nobody's Fool
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From phishing scams to Ponzi schemes, fraudulent science to fake art, and marketers to magicians, our world brims with deception. In Nobody’s Fool, psychologists Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris show us how to avoid being taken in. They describe the key habits of thinking and reasoning that serve us well most of the time but make us vulnerable—like our tendency to accept what we see, stick to our commitments, and value precision and consistency.
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limited information, read other books, political leaning hard left
- By Johanjohanhaha on 08-06-24
By: Daniel Simons, and others
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The Demon in the Machine
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What is life? In this penetrating and wide-ranging book, world-renowned physicist and science communicator Paul Davies searches for answers in a field so new and fast-moving that it lacks a name; it is a domain where biology, computing, logic, chemistry, quantum physics, and nanotechnology intersect.
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Thought provoking and rich with insight
- By quantumbikemechanic on 11-13-24
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The Ego Tunnel
- The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self
- By: Thomas Metzinger
- Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
We're used to thinking about the self as an independent entity, something that we either have or are. In The Ego Tunnel, philosopher Thomas Metzinger claims otherwise: No such thing as a self exists. The conscious self is the content of a model created by our brain - an internal image, but one we cannot experience as an image. Everything we experience is "a virtual self in a virtual reality." But if the self is not "real," why and how did it evolve? How does the brain construct it?
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non-specialist literature at its best
- By Esmeralda on 03-17-10
By: Thomas Metzinger
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I Am a Strange Loop
- By: Douglas R. Hofstadter
- Narrated by: Greg Baglia
- Length: 16 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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One of our greatest philosophers and scientists of the mind asks where the self comes from - and how our selves can exist in the minds of others. I Am a Strange Loop argues that the key to understanding selves and consciousness is the "strange loop" - a special kind of abstract feedback loop inhabiting our brains. The most central and complex symbol in your brain is the one called "I". The "I" is the nexus in our brain, one of many symbols seeming to have free will and to have gained the paradoxical ability to push particles around, rather than the reverse.
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The Self That Wasn't There
- By SelfishWizard on 01-09-19
What listeners say about The Experience Machine
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-29-24
Thought provoking
Excellent, thought provoking book that provides a wholly different way to think about experience. The basic idea of predictions shaping experience is familiar if you've followed modern cognitive science. But the explanation and some of the implications were really well spelled out along with a coherent philosophical framework. Highly recommended!
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- Happy Marshmallow Pies
- 06-03-24
Some great insights
Insights like perception being attenuated d by down flow of information as much as u flow of perceived information. However, a decent bit of bias regarding human values, regarding differences in faculties, and ignoring there is weight to objective reality, that while brought imperfectly to us through our own imperfect faculties, has objective consequence beyond our subjective imperfect filtration of same. Also dodges question of consciousness u til appendix and has a a bad stab at what it is, pointing out effects of it rather than what it is. For those that never thought about the topic, it’s a fine starting point.
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- Anonymous User
- 07-26-23
My 3 stars for Overall is because…
There is some audio playback issues. Maybe recording issues. Who knows. It’ll cut out randomly in the middle of a word or sentence. It doesn’t create a section of silence but instead stitches together. Unless you are paying attention it is hard to notice. Reminds me of a CD skipping “back in the day.”
Great book otherwise.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Christopher Rodriguez
- 07-17-23
Refreshing. Especially after reading untethered soul.
I’m still bitter I paid money for that other book. I’d pay to listen to this book every single time if I had too.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Mathew Mayes
- 06-05-23
welcome to the new understanding
this book is written in such a way that complicated concepts are easily grasped. the text is read in a way that is not distracting. come to understand the way our brains not only think, but predict. these predictions shape our thinking and perceptions of the world. it chronicles extensively the way that the processes interact all for the benefit of you. excellent material, well researched, and accompanied by references.
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- G. Rivas
- 07-06-23
An excellent explanation of the predictive model
This is an excellent explanation of the predictive model of the brain working on sentient beings.
Listening to it will expand your understanding of who we are as a species, how and why we got here.
The most impactful paradigm shift for me was how the model explains mental illness. Highly recommend it.
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- George Wilson
- 07-01-23
Highly informative and helpful
I heard Andy Clark speak to Sam Harris on the “ Waking Up” podcast and was intrigued by his thoughts and theories. This book was discussed and I decided to give it a listen. I’m glad I did.
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- Hiram Miranda Morales
- 04-12-24
poor narration
hard to follow the narrative. I'd need to buy the book and read it. I can't review the content
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- Anonymous User
- 08-03-23
great read
really a great read, if your into things like psycho cybernetics it just makes a lot of sense and i love how actionable the information is and how you can really do things to hack your brain and way of thinking.
my only critic is that the sevond part of the book could have been an entire book on its own (and i hope it will be) on the extended brain, so i got thrown off a little bit but it was good none the less.
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- Bojan
- 01-21-24
A nice presentation of a philosophical theory
Predictive brain is fairly well presented in the audiobook. I would have liked it to be more substantial, but I guess that this is just the result of current research.
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