The idea that consciousness isn’t real has always struck me as absurd, but smart people espouse it. One of the smartest is philosopher Daniel Dennett, who has been questioning consciousness for decades, notably in his 1991 bestseller Consciousness Explained.

What is philosophy about,” he asked. “What has it discovered?” My fumbling attempts to suggest that the practice of science carries with it a number of unexamined philosophical assumptions — about the nature of causal inference,

Along with Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett was one of the “four horsemen” of the New Atheism movement. Like them, he enjoyed a good academic scrap. And like them,