Mike Marge
Stanford neuroscientist David Eagleman reminded us this week that “a coherent account of consciousness is impossible in modern science.” That was the first sentence of a New York Times review of Michael Pollan’s latest work, “A World Appears.” In it, Pollan naively asks, “How does the brain create a unified sense of self?”
According to Eagleman, “Pollan cannot provide answers (and no one can yet), but he presents a fascinating exploration that is deeply personal and sensitive.” In this he is not alone. Other fields are engaged in the same pursuit.
First of all, there are epigeneticists. They study “how the environment affects genes by changing the chemicals attached to them.” In the hands of these scientists, genes are not “set in stone or (completely) predetermined.” Recently, these researchers are uncovering how various chemicals acting on and inside cells continually change and adjust the way our genes work. Hence the title, because “epi” means “above, outside, around” in Greek.
Other researchers, such as Eddy Keming Chen, a professor of philosophy at the University of California, San Diego, approach the problem from a different direction. She holds a PhD in Philosophy with a Master’s degree in Mathematical Physics and a Graduate Certificate in Cognitive Science. She teaches the PHIL 130 course on metaphysics.
In her UCSD college syllabus, she asks the question, “Why study metaphysics?” She promises registrants that they will find some magic in exploring difficult questions such as “Do we have free will? Is it compatible with causal determinism? What is the place of mind and consciousness in the physical world?”
In my Jesuit world, these courses were required as part of the core curriculum. Although it no longer serves the same mission at my alma mater, it is still alive and well.
Consider, for example, PHL 365 (a three-credit course at LeMoyne College titled Philosophy of Mind). Once again, there is magic in the air to explore your mind.
Here’s an explanation: “The main focus of the course is the ‘mind-body problem’: Can the existence of minds and mental states be reconciled with a fully materialistic or physical worldview? A second, closely related focus is: Can mental states be implemented in computers?”
Finally, if none of these fields capture your imagination, you can follow the lead of Dr. Marie Duhamel, board member of the French Proteomics Society and a research immunologist at the University of Lille. She published a 2025 issue of Frontiers in Immunology entitled “Self or Non-Self: The End of a Dogma?” It’s an epic exploration of the historical foundations of immunology, and it begins like this: “The question of what constitutes ‘principal‘ And how living organisms maintain their integrity against external threats has fascinated thinkers in diverse fields, including philosophy, biology, and medicine, for centuries.”
Reviewing over 100 years of research that began with the birth of immunology as a discipline, Dr. Duhamel and co-author Professor Michel Salzet cannot help but acknowledge that previous assumptions, while not entirely wrong, only represent part of the truth. In their words, “Conceptually, the whole premise is that the immune system‘Man’s first task is to define what he is so as not to offend. This is contradictory when considering microchimerism and pregnancy tolerance, where truly foreign (paternally derived) tissue persists without causing rejection. Likewise, the fact that the human microbiome may be essential for normal functioning challenges the assumption that heterogeneity necessarily leads to aggression.”
So where is the truth? According to the author, “The role of the immune system is to manage complex ecological relationships by distinguishing beneficial or neutral foreign entities from harmful entities. The presence of ‘harmless foreign elements’ is central to the intestines, skin and oropharynx. Moreover, when a virus integrates into the genome, it sometimes has an evolutionary and developmental advantage, blurring the line between self and foreign entities in a fundamental genomic sense. Endogenous retroviral elements make up a significant portion of human DNA, but no robust immune attack is mounted against these virally deeply embedded sequences. The phenomenon is what the researchers say: “It leads us to think of ‘self’ as containing certain categories of foreign genetic material that have become symbiotic or neutral over evolutionary time.”
Before their work is done, scientists humble themselves by allowing boundaries to blur, moving freely into philosophical uncharted territory. that “magic” It will continue to display in full screen. “This concept is consistent with modern immunological philosophy that integrates ecological and developmental insights, such as the observation that commensal microbes, fetal cells in the maternal circulation, or latent viruses are not automatically rejected. “Rather than being “non-self,” they coexist with their hosts under certain regulatory conditions.
No matter which road you travel, a common destination begins to appear on the horizon. The convergence of disciplines such as metaphysics, immunology, and epigenetics is no longer competitive, but free. The question that remains is, as a species, are we ready for this? Can we handle the truth?
Michael Pollan certainly thinks we do. His website asks readers to “travel to the cutting edge of the field, where scientists are encountering more radical (and less materialistic) theories of consciousness. The world appears.” Introducing the “plant neurobiologist” who finds flickering consciousness in plants for the first time. “There are scientists working to apply emotions to AI, and psychologists and novelists trying to capture the feel of our slippery stream of consciousness.”
Epigeneticists are cautiously optimistic. In their words, “there‘we don’t know much‘I don’t know But it has meaning there‘“There’s still a lot left to discover.” But immunologists are galloping ahead, promising new treatments for cancer and aging. their last words, “If this means accepting the ‘end of the dogma,’ it also signals the beginning of a more integrative immunology.’ “
Mike Magee MD is a medical historian and regular contributor to THCB. He is the author of: Code Blue: Inside America’s Healthcare Industrial Complex. (Grove/2020)
