The Oslo Conversations
Mark Solms
Mark Solms is a neuroscientist, psychoanalyst, and Professor at the University of Cape Town. He is widely regarded as one of the world's leading experts on dreams, consciousness, and the emotional foundations of the mind, and is known for bridging the gap between modern neuroscience and the ideas of Sigmund Freud.
His work explores some of the most fundamental questions about the human mind: why we dream, how consciousness arises, and what it means to be human.
Books:
The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness (2021)
The One and Only Cure: Freud's Neuropsychoanalysis and the Future of Psychotherapy (2025).
Love and Relationships
Excerpts From Mark Solms
What Do Feelings Tell Us?
Karen O’Brien
Her work combines science, engagement, and hope, inspiring people around the world to recognize their own capacity to contribute to a more sustainable future.
Books:
You Matter More Than You Think: Quantum Social Change for a Thriving World (2021)
The Adaptive Challenge of Climate Change (2015).
Karen O’Brien is a climate scientist, human geographer, and Professor Emerita at the University of Oslo. Internationally recognized for her work on climate change, social transformation, and sustainability, she has contributed to several reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Why You Matter More Than You Think
Nature of Reality and Reality of Nature
Viggo Johansen
Host of The Oslo Conversations
Viggo Johansen is one of the founders and host of Oslo Conversations – a platform for the exploration of consciousness, psychology, philosophy, science and human experience. He has a background in philosophy, psychology and contemplative traditions, with specialization in both academic philosophy, cognitive behavioral therapy and several years as a Buddhist monk.
His work is characterized by a desire to build bridges between science, philosophy and lived experience – in a way that is both investigative, down-to-earth and practically relevant.
Through Oslo Conversations, he wants to create open and honest conversations about the biggest questions we face – as individuals and as a society.
Why CONOS?