Shimon Edelman

Research Focus

I hold degrees in electrical engineering and in computer science and am interested in all aspects of mind, brain, behavior, and the human condition. At Cornell, I have worked on behavioral, neural, evolutionary, and computational aspects of language, vision, and happiness. My present research focus is on consciousness, in all of its manifestations. My monographs include Computing the Mind, a textbook (2008); The Happiness of Pursuit, not a self-help book (2012); Beginnings, a psychological-philosophical science fiction, or psy-phi sci-fi, anabasis (2014); and, most recently, Life, Death, and Other Inconvenient Truths, an abecedary take on the human condition in 38 short chapters (2020). My next book, The Consciousness Revolutions, will be published by Springer Nature in 2023.

In the news

• Book catalogues consciousness from amoeba to human and beyond
• Center for Social Sciences awards fall ’21 grants
• Psychology professor offers alphabetical guide to human nature
• Psychologist explores happiness, memory and identity