The Hard Problem

<i>Above all don't use the word good as though it meant something in evolutionary science.</i><br><br>Hilary, a young psychology researcher at a brain-science institute, is nursing a private sorrow and a troubling question at work, where psychology and biology meet. If there is nothing but matter, what is consciousness?<br><br>This is 'the hard problem' which puts Hilary at odds with her colleagues who include her first mentor Spike, her boss Leo and the billionaire founder of the institute, Jerry.<br><br>Is the day coming when the computer and the fMRI scanner will answer all the questions psychology can ask? Meanwhile Hilary needs a miracle, and she is prepared to pray for one.<br><br><i>The Hard Problem</i> by Tom Stoppard premiered at the National Theatre, London, in January 2015.