The nature of consciousness is hotly debated among philosophers, scientists and artists. We have thoughts, we feel, we remember the past and we anticipate the future. We think that is what it means to be conscious, but nobody can explain just exactly what that is or how it comes into being. Host Frank Stasio explores consciousness with Bill Lycan, a philosophy professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Cathy Davidson, a professor of interdisciplinary studies at Duke University and the author of “Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn” (Viking/2011); Eric Wilson, a professor of English at Wake Forest University and author of the book “My Business Is to Create: Blake's Infinite Writing” (University of Iowa Press/2011); and John Supko, a composer and assistant professor of music at Duke.
Alex Granados joined The State of Things in July 2010. He got his start in radio as an intern for the show in 2005 and loved it so much that after trying his hand as a government reporter, reader liaison, features, copy and editorial page editor at a small newspaper in Manassas, Virginia, he returned to WUNC. Born in Baltimore but raised in Morgantown, West Virginia, Alex moved to Raleigh in time to do third grade twice and adjust to public school after having spent years in the sheltered confines of a Christian elementary education. Alex received a degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also has a minor in philosophy, which basically means that he used to think he was really smart but realized he wasn’t in time to switch majors. Fishing, reading science fiction, watching crazy movies, writing bad short stories, and shooting pool are some of his favorite things to do. Alex still doesn’t know what he wants to be when he grows up, but he is holding out for astronaut.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.