Dr. Susan Blackmore
Dr Susan Blackmore is a psychologist, writer, and lecturer known for her contributions to the study of consciousness, memes, and extraordinary human experiences. Born in 1951, she studied psychology and physiology at the University of Oxford, earned an MSc and PhD at the University of Surrey, and began her career researching telepathy and out‑of‑body experiences. Her failure to find convincing evidence for the paranormal meant she left parapsychology and turned to studying the philosophy and neuroscience of consciousness.
Best known for her books The Meme Machine (1999), the textbook Consciousness: An Introduction (4th Ed, 2024, with daughter Emily Troscianko) and Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction (2017). Her books have been translated into twenty other languages. She is a Visiting Professor at the University of Plymouth, UK.
She continues to challenge dualistic assumptions about mind and matter, and proposes that consciousness is not something the brain has but simply what it is like to be the brain’s own predictive processing models. She has practised Zen for more than 40 years, loves painting and gardening, and plays in a samba band. She has two children and lives in south Devon with her husband Adam Hart-Davis.
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