It's an Immaterial World: Introduction (00:58)

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Science journalist Sue Nelson frames the debate on how matter and thought are connected.

Daniel Stoljar: the Pitch (03:27)

Stoljar calls for a new model to explain the link between thought and matter. He outlines the materialist and dualist models that do not adequately capture the notion of consciousness.

Rupert Sheldrake: the Pitch (03:46)

Sheldrake advocates a new model for thinking about material systems. Fields and energy organize matter, including morphogenetic fields underlying biological formation. He argues that the body-mind relationship is temporal; minds are concerned with the future.

John Heil: the Pitch (03:30)

Heil discusses scientific viewpoints that the mind and body are separate entities. He uses a tomato to demonstrate the manifest image—our experiential picture of the world—and the scientific image.

First Theme: Is Thought Physical? (07:44)

Stoljar argues that thought is physical, according to the materialist model, and discusses the zombie argument. Sheldrake says most mental life is unconscious; he understands thoughts as immaterial perception fields.

Second Theme: Mind and Matter (07:03)

Stoljar says thought causes action in traditional materialism. Heil argues that the nervous system prompts action. Sheldrake believes causation occurs through invisible fields from a virtual future realm towards the past. He discusses the empirically testable presentiment phenomena.

Third Theme: New Models of Thought (07:40)

Sheldrake proposes that many parts of nature are motivated by attractors pulling from the future—an idea developed in Ancient Greece. Stoljar advocates answering descriptive questions about thought. Heil argues for clarifying materiality before developing new models.

Credits: It's an Immaterial World (00:20)

Credits: It's an Immaterial World