Then I Am Myself the World
What Consciousness Is and How to Expand It
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- USD 19.99
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- USD 19.99
Descripción editorial
"Deeply personal and infinitely digestible, Then I Am Myself the World is a remarkable must-read for anyone interested in knowing their mind.”―Judson Brewer MD, PhD, New York Times–bestselling author of Unwinding Anxiety
The world’s leading investigator of consciousness argues that by understanding what consciousness does—cause change in the world—we can understand its origins and its future
In Then I Am Myself the World, Christof Koch explores the only thing we directly experience: consciousness. At the book’s heart is integrated-information theory, the idea that the essence of consciousness is the ability to exert causal power over itself, to be an agent of change. Koch investigates the physical origins of consciousness in the brain and how this knowledge can be used to measure consciousness in natural and artificial systems.
Enabled by such tools, Koch reveals when and where consciousness exists, and uses that knowledge to confront major social and scientific questions: When does a fetus first become self-aware? Can psychedelic and mystical experiences transform lives? What happens to consciousness in near-death experiences? Why will generative AI ultimately be able to do the very thing we can do, yet never feel any of it? And do our experiences reveal a single, objective reality?
This is an essential book for anyone who seeks to understand ourselves and the future we are creating.
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In this challenging head-trip, neuroscientist Koch (The Feeling of Life) opines on the nature of consciousness. He makes the case for integrated information theory, which holds that "consciousness is unfolded intrinsic causal power," or "the ability to effect change." Unfortunately, the theory's nuances get lost in the jargon-filled discussion that follows ("What exists for itself is the spatio-temporal grain that maximizes integrated information"). Koch fares better when addressing more tangible issues. For instance, he tackles the question of when consciousness begins by noting that though preterm infants will respond reflexively to certain stimuli, they don't wake up if pricked to draw blood until "well into the third trimester," suggesting that's when consciousness, or at least the conscious experience of pain, begins. Refuting the possibility that digital technology can become sentient, Koch argues that the three or four connections between each transistor in a digital computer are too primitive to compare with the hundreds of thousands of connections between neurons in the mammalian brain. Elsewhere, the author discusses the power of psychedelics to expand the mind and the difficulties of determining if unresponsive hospital patients are conscious. While the theoretical material is frustratingly dense, the more down-to-earth sections intrigue. This will spark conversation, if not always understanding.
