Metacognition: Where Do Thoughts Come From?

Where did your last thought come from?
Seems like a simple question.

Did you consciously create it? If so, how? And if you didn’t choose it, what did?

This session explores metacognition, our remarkable ability to think about our own thinking, using it as a doorway into much bigger questions about the mind, consciousness, and reality itself.

We’ll begin with our own experience of thought and work outward through psychology, neuroscience, philosophy of mind, and metaphysics.

We’ll consider questions like:

• What actually happens in the brain when a thought forms?
• How much of our thinking happens unconsciously before we become aware of it?
• When you observe your own thoughts, what exactly is doing the observing?
• If thoughts arise before we consciously choose them, what does that mean for agency and free will?

Along the way, we’ll encounter ideas from physicalism, dualism, idealism, panpsychism, psychology, and modern neuroscience, while leaving plenty of room for speculation, disagreement, and alternative ways of understanding the mind.

No background in philosophy or neuroscience is necessary. You don’t need to arrive with answers—or even know what “metacognition” means.
Just bring a curious mind.