Lectures on Tap - "The Hallucination We Call Reality"
Professors, experts, and storytellers giving thought-provoking lectures in Boston bars.
Welcome to Lectures on Tap
Join us for an engaging evening where professors, experts, and storytellers bring their thought-provoking lectures to your favorite bar in Downtown Boston!
Hosted by the Lectures on Tap team.
🗓️ Date: September 24th, 2025
🕡 Time: 6:30 PM
đź“Ť Location: Downtown Boston (exact address given in confirmation email)
📚 Lecture: “The Hallucination We Call Reality”
🎤 Speaker: Prof. Michael A. Cohen
Your brain lives in darkness, sealed inside your skull and cut off from the world. It never sees light or hears sounds directly; it only receives electrical signals from your senses. How does it figure out what’s “out there”? Your brain makes educated guesses—constantly. Most of the time, it's accurate, but sometimes it can be spectacularly wrong.
In this fascinating talk, Prof. Michael A. Cohen will explore how your brain constructs reality. You'll engage with numerous illusions, examine your own personal blind spots, and learn about how brain damage can alter perceptions of colors, faces, and emotions. The punchline? Your brain doesn’t just record reality; it invents it.
Prof. Cohen is a professor of neuroscience and psychology at Amherst College and a research scientist at MIT. He has a background in philosophy from Tufts and neuroscience from Harvard, focusing on how human consciousness arises from brain activity, particularly in relation to perception and memory.
Get a drink, connect, and learn at Lectures on Tap! 🙌
Agenda
6:30 PM – Doors open: find a seat (open seating!), order food & drinks, and expect a bar line—arriving early is key.
6:55 PM – Host introduction
7:00 PM – Lecture begins
7:45 PM – Audience Q&A
8:00 PM – Have 1:1 time with the speaker, mingle with fellow guests, and order another round
8:30 PM – Wrap up.
Professors, experts, and storytellers giving thought-provoking lectures in Boston bars.
Welcome to Lectures on Tap
Join us for an engaging evening where professors, experts, and storytellers bring their thought-provoking lectures to your favorite bar in Downtown Boston!
Hosted by the Lectures on Tap team.
🗓️ Date: September 24th, 2025
🕡 Time: 6:30 PM
đź“Ť Location: Downtown Boston (exact address given in confirmation email)
📚 Lecture: “The Hallucination We Call Reality”
🎤 Speaker: Prof. Michael A. Cohen
Your brain lives in darkness, sealed inside your skull and cut off from the world. It never sees light or hears sounds directly; it only receives electrical signals from your senses. How does it figure out what’s “out there”? Your brain makes educated guesses—constantly. Most of the time, it's accurate, but sometimes it can be spectacularly wrong.
In this fascinating talk, Prof. Michael A. Cohen will explore how your brain constructs reality. You'll engage with numerous illusions, examine your own personal blind spots, and learn about how brain damage can alter perceptions of colors, faces, and emotions. The punchline? Your brain doesn’t just record reality; it invents it.
Prof. Cohen is a professor of neuroscience and psychology at Amherst College and a research scientist at MIT. He has a background in philosophy from Tufts and neuroscience from Harvard, focusing on how human consciousness arises from brain activity, particularly in relation to perception and memory.
Get a drink, connect, and learn at Lectures on Tap! 🙌
Agenda
6:30 PM – Doors open: find a seat (open seating!), order food & drinks, and expect a bar line—arriving early is key.
6:55 PM – Host introduction
7:00 PM – Lecture begins
7:45 PM – Audience Q&A
8:00 PM – Have 1:1 time with the speaker, mingle with fellow guests, and order another round
8:30 PM – Wrap up.