Philosophy and Psychology book club

This month we will be reading:
The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self
by Thomas Metzinger

“There is no such thing as a self. Your ‘self’ is a biological hallucination." - Ready to dissolve into the tunnel?

Quotes

• “Consciousness is the appearance of a world.”
• “You are not a thing — you are a process of self-creation that is also a process of self-annihilation.”
• “The greatest existential danger for our species is our inability to understand our own minds.”
• “Your brain is a reality engine— it evolved not to show you the truth, but to keep you alive.”

About book

• The “self” is a transparent mental model—a simulation your brain runs to navigate life. No CEO in your head, no soul at the core.
• The book explores consciousness in robots, VR, and AI. What happens when machines enter their own ego tunnels?
• If the self is an illusion, what happens to free will, guilt, or moral responsibility?

Discussion topics

• “The Transparency Trap”:

Metzinger says we experience the self-model as reality, not as a construct. How would life change if we could “see through” the illusion?

• “The God Question”:

If consciousness is a tunnel, is there a “light at the end”—or just more tunnel? What does this mean for spirituality?

• “Love in the Tunnel”:

If your loved ones are just “phenomenal self-models” in your tunnel, is connection an act of mutual hallucination?

• “AI Rights”:

If a robot develops a self-model, does it deserve personhood? Should we engineer conscious machines at all?

Connections to previos book:

• Why Buddhism Is True: Compare Metzinger’s “no-self” with Buddhist anatta.
• The Case Against Reality: Both argue perception is a pragmatic interface, but Hoffman focuses on reality, Metzinger on the self.
• Notes from Underground: Dostoevsky’s existential angst meets neuroscience’s ego dissolution.

The Rubber Hand Illusion | Horizon | BBC Studios
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsmkgi7FgEo

For those not having time to read books, pls find video links below :)

1. The Ego Tunnel: Prof. Dr. Thomas Metzinger at TEDxRheinMain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFjY1fAcESs
17 min quicky
2. Is The Self An Illusion? Minimal Phenomenal Selfhood & Epistemic Agent Model | Thomas Metzinger (2 hours interview)
https://youtu.be/lmcYvayadIE