The Nested Observer Window Model Explained.
What if you are a pixel in a higher-level consciousness navigating through extra dimensions of time? Meet the 'Nested Observer Window Model' of Jonathan Schooler, PhD, who is Distinguished Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of California Santa Barbara, Director of UCSB’s Center for Mindfulness and Human Potential, and Acting Director of the Sage Center for the Study of the Mind. In this video, Hans Busstra interviewed Schooler on his Nested Observer Window Model and how we need to extend physics to account for consciousness.
Key papers related to the interview:
Riddle J., Schooler J.W., 2024. "Hierarchical consciousness: the Nested Observer Windows model. Neuroscience of Consciousness." https://labs.psych.ucsb.edu/schooler/...
Schooler J.W., Riddle J., 2024. "Three dimensions of time: An approach for reconciling the discrepancy between experienced time and modern physics. Possibility Studies and Society." https://labs.psych.ucsb.edu/schooler/...
Jonathan Schooler’s META Lab: https://labs.psych.ucsb.edu/schooler/...
Our previous video with Schooler: • Time & Mind: Was Einstein Wrong About Time?
Schooler’s presentation at The Science of Consciousness Conference in Barcelona: • 2025 TSC C 2 Brain Models - Jonathan Scho...
Part I: Mind wandering and meta awareness
00:00:00 – Intro
00:02:58 – Jonathan on his work at the META Lab
00:04:31 – What is the function of mind wandering?
00:08:39 – The mind is not a single consciousness
00:11:01 – On conscious kidneys and tongues
00:14:07 – How the field of consciousness studies has dramatically shifte
00:16:46 – How mind wandering became a research topic
Part II: On extending physics with extra dimensions of subjective time
00:17:59 – What led Jonathan into physics
00:24:37 – How physicists seem to step over certain questions
00:26:29 – On humbling new physics
00:28:46 – Extending the Einsteinian picture of the block universe
00:31:25 – Introducing a dimension of subjective time
00:33:17 – Why extra dimensions of time may be needed for free will
00:36:29 – Why we are not moving through time, but time is moving through us
Part III: The Nested Observer Window Model
00:37:36 – The Nested Observer Window model
00:40:58 – The metaphysics of the “kite of consciousness” metaphor
00:43:56 – How lower levels of consciousness build up
00:46:33 – Resonance between different levels of consciousness
00:48:43 – Can we switch between higher and lower levels of consciousness?
Part IV: The meaning of it all
00:51:28 – Psychedelic experiences and Jonathan’s work
00:56:16 – Spotlight vs. open awareness and childlike wonder
01:01:09 – On mind “wondering”
01:03:25 – Be open-minded, but not so open that your brain falls out
01:06:56 – Everyday “aha” moments
01:07:39 – How synchronicities fit in
01:10:21 – Finding the flow in life
01:13:35 – The difficulty of verifying parapsychology
01:17:22 – The Telepathy Tapes
01:20:44 – On entertaining without endorsing
01:22:16 – On Alan Watts’ “Hide and Seek” universe
Interviews with Schooler on Closer to Truth: https://closertotruth.com/contributor...
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