Perception is a Predictive Experience The central argument revolves around the concept that human experience is not a direct reflection of reality but rather arises from the interaction between brain predictions and sensory information. It highlights that our understanding of the world and our bodies is mediated through a complex process, where the brain anticipates inputs and these predictions are constantly being adjusted based on incoming sensory data. Furthermore, this interplay is characterized by instability, implying that our perceptions can shift and change, indicating that we can never fully capture the essence of our experiences or existence. Transcript: Andy Clark Thanks so much for having me. Yeah, it took us a while to get the diaries to align, but it’s great to be here. Ricardo Lopes Great. So let me ask you, before we get into more specific or concrete questions, what is the main argument that you present in your book? What is this experience machine you’re talking about? Andy Clark Yeah, I mean, I guess that the core experience machine is a brain, even though I’m really interested in the whole brain-body environment kind of nexus. But the core idea in the book is that we don’t experience the world or our own bodies in what you could think of as a kind of raw way. We never, in that sense, get the world or our bodies exactly right. We don’t even know really what that would mean. Instead, what we experience arises at the meeting point of what our brains are predicting and what the sensory information seems to be saying. But in a way, that’s only half the story. And the other half is that that meeting point is kind of unstable. (Time 0:00:24)