Neuroscientist's Radical Theory of How Networks Become Consc

Discussion of Julian Jaynes's first hypothesis - that consciousness (as he carefully defines it) is based on language, and related topics.
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ETSubmariner
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Neuroscientist's Radical Theory of How Networks Become Consc

Post by ETSubmariner »

Just saw this on Wired: A Neuroscientist's Radical Theory of How Networks Become Conscious.

"It's a question that's perplexed philosophers for centuries and scientists for decades: Where does consciousness come from? We know it exists, at least in ourselves. But how it arises from chemistry and electricity in our brains is an unsolved mystery.

Neuroscientist Christof Koch, chief scientific officer at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, thinks he might know the answer. According to Koch, consciousness arises within any sufficiently complex, information-processing system. All animals, from humans on down to earthworms, are conscious; even the internet could be. That's just the way the universe works."

Check the link for the remainder of the article.
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Re: Neuroscientist's Radical Theory of How Networks Become

Post by Moderator »

Thank you for sharing this.

Unfortunately Koch tends to define consciousness more along the lines of sensory perception or reactivity to stimuli, rather than introspection.

Koch had for a long time worked with Francis Crick, whose book on "consciousness," The Astonishing Hypothesis, was really more of a book on visual perception.
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