Philosopher David Chalmers argues that some features of human experience, like pain, joy, sadness etc, have no physical explanation or even existence. There are physical correlates, of course, activity in the brain which accompanies, is necessary for, and may be seen by some as the 'cause' of pain. Understanding how these correlates impact on and drive consciousness is the work of neuroscientists and psychologists. It is described by Chalmers as the 'easy' problem of consciousness, though he acknowl;edges it is not easy at all. But, Chalmers argues, the brain activity is not the pain. Nobody 'suffers' brain activity. Pain is an uncomfortable experience, essentially subjective in its nature. Understanding how subjective experience arises in an objective, physical world is what Chalmers describes as the 'hard' problem.

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Material: David Chalmers TED Talk, 2014

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