The character arc of Anil Seth
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 11 June 1972 in Oxford and raised in Letcombe Regis, a village in rural South Oxfordshire, to a father who had come from India to study engineering and a mother from Yorkshire. Between then and now sit a village school, a degree in natural science at King's College, Cambridge, a doctorate in computer science at Sussex, over a hundred scientific papers and book chapters, a professorship in cognitive and computational neuroscience, the editorship of a journal on the neuroscience of consciousness, and a place among the most cited scholars in his field globally. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Drag along the line to move, pinch or use the buttons to look closer. Tap the line to pluck it, or any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Anil Seth?
Two degrees in two subjects, to get at a third one.
His father came from India to the United Kingdom, having taken a degree at Allahabad in 1945, to study engineering at Cardiff. He went on to a doctorate in mechanical engineering at Sheffield, worked as a research scientist at a research centre in Abingdon, and in 1976 won the veterans' world doubles title in badminton, which is the sort of detail that tells you the household had more than one kind of seriousness in it. His mother came from Yorkshire. He was born in Oxford and grew up in a village in rural South Oxfordshire.
He read natural science at King's College, Cambridge, taking the degree that in that university's tradition is later promoted to a master's. Then he did something unusual: for the doctorate he switched to computer science, at Sussex. Neither subject on its own can answer the question he wanted, which is how a physical brain produces the experience of being somebody, and taking both was the only way at it.
He is now professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at Sussex. He is a proponent of materialist explanations of consciousness, which means he holds that the experience of being you is something brains do rather than something added on top, and he is among the most cited scholars on neuroscience and cognitive science anywhere in the world.
He has published over a hundred scientific papers and book chapters and is editor in chief of a journal on the neuroscience of consciousness, which barely existed as a field when he started. He writes regularly for a science magazine, a national newspaper and the broadcaster, and keeps a blog of his own, which is how a difficult subject gets into ordinary conversation.
The moments
Anil Seth's timeline.
The 1970s
His father wins the world title
Milestone, and it changed everything. A father with an engineering doctorate and a world badminton title.
The 1980s
A village in Oxfordshire
Everyday. A rural village, and a state school in the next town.
The 1990s
Natural science at Cambridge
Milestone, and it changed everything. Natural sciences at Cambridge, which keeps every door open at once.
Stay in natural science
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: do the doctorate in computing, taken, or carry on as a natural scientist. He became professor of cognitive and computational neuroscience, which needs both.
He changes subject
Milestone, and it changed everything. Natural sciences for the degree, computer science for the doctorate.
The 2000s
The hardest question
Milestone, and it changed everything. He picked the question most scientists consider unanswerable.
The 2010s
A hundred papers
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A hundred papers, on a subject that had to be argued into existence.
A journal of his own field
Milestone, and it changed everything. He edits the journal of a field that barely existed when he started.
Among the most cited
Milestone, and it changed his direction. One of the most cited people in the world, in two fields at once.
The 2020s
Out into the newspapers
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A magazine, a newspaper, the broadcaster and a blog, all at once.
The laboratory at Sussex is still working on the hardest problem anybody has, and he is still writing about it for newspapers. What he set moving is a field that had to be argued into existence, led by a boy from an Oxfordshire village who needed two subjects to ask one question.
Your turn
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His needed two different degrees before the real question would open. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
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Sources
- Anil Seth, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
- University of Cambridge and University of Sussex records for his degrees.
- Neuroscience of Consciousness, the journal he edits, and global citation rankings.