62. Alex O’Connor on Death, Meaning & Why Our Brains Lie to Us

TommyInnit puts on his big brain thinking cap as Cosmic Skeptic Alex O’Connor joins the Shut Up I’m Talking podcast for a mind-bending deep dive into consciousness, free will, fear of death, religion, and why our brains lie to us.

The boys dig into Alex’s Catholic upbringing, how he got from three U grades to Oxford University via his YouTube channel and how debating Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens shaped him.

Tom admits he’s terrified of death, Jack questions whether meaning is something we create or discover, and Alex explains philosophical zombies, panpsychism, and what it feels like to lose your sense of self on psychedelics.

They explore consciousness, blind sight, ego death, split-brain experiments, why the self might be an illusion, and whether a worm or a bat experiences reality anything like we do. Alex also opens up about burnout, grounding himself, and trying to keep philosophy fun rather than content-driven.