EAN: 9780262042819

THE FEELING OF LIFE ITSELF - WHY CONSCIOUSNESS ...

An argument that consciousness  more widespread than previously assumed  is the feeling of
being alive  not a type of computation or a clever hack. In The Feeling of Life Itself 
Christof Koch offers a straightforward definition of consciousness as any subjective experience
from the most mundane to the most exalted—the feeling of being alive. Psychologists study which
cognitive operations underpin a given conscious perception. Neuroscientists track the neural
correlates of consciousness in the brain  the organ of the mind. But why the brain and not  say
the liver? How can the brain  three pounds of highly excitable matter  a piece of furniture in
the universe  subject to the same laws of physics as any other piece  give rise to subjective
experience? Koch argues that what is needed to answer these questions is a quantitative theory
that starts with experience and proceeds to the brain. In The Feeling of Life Itself  Koch
outlines such a theory  based on integrated information. Koch describes how the theory explains
many facts about the neurology of consciousness and how it has been used to build a clinically
useful consciousness meter. The theory predicts that many  and perhaps all  animals experience
the sights and sounds of life  consciousness is much more widespread than conventionally
assumed. Contrary to received wisdom  however  Koch argues that programmable computers will not
have consciousness. Even a perfect software model of the brain is not conscious. Its simulation
is fake consciousness. Consciousness is not a special type of computation—it is not a clever
hack. Consciousness is about being.

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