Psychedelics, Consciousness, and Our Place in the Universe | Interview with Adam Barrett, PhD
Also available in podcast format:
Listen to “Psychedelics, Consciousness, and Our Place in the Universe | Interview with Adam Barrett, PhD” on Spreaker.The questions:
00:00 Intro
00:30 How did you start working on psychedelics?
03:13 Are psychedelics like microscopes for the mind?
04:55 What is consciousness?
07:12 Can we understand another being’s consciousness?
08:40 Does the body produce consciousness, or the other way around?
10:43 What is the real problem of consciousness?
13:18 Do big metaphysical questions make sense?
14:01 What is your alternative to naive realism?
15:18 Does controlled hallucination mean reality is not real?
16:57 What do we misunderstand about hallucination?
17:33 Is the self also a controlled hallucination?
19:51 How does this relate to the ego tunnel?
20:34 How does this relate to Buddhist theories of self?
21:09 How do psychedelics affect predictive perception?
24:15 Can consciousness be separated from the body?
25:33 Do psychedelic studies support panpsychism?
26:37 Are psychedelic experiences distortions or higher intelligence?
28:03 How can psychedelics help with mental health?
31:17 Should researchers try psychedelics themselves?
32:02 How do you feel about the psychedelic hype?
33:26 What are the key questions for future research?
Filmed at the Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research (ICPR) 2026 in Haarlem, The Netherlands. Watch Drugreporter’s short documentary about the event and explore more of our articles and videos on psychedelics.
Interview: Péter Sárosi | Rights Reporter Foundation – Drugreporter
Camera and editing: István Gábor Takács | Rights Reporter Foundation – Drugreporter
