The Feeling of Life Itself: Why Consciousness Is Widespread but Can't Be Computed

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Christof Koch (President and Chief Scientist, Allen Institute for Brain Science)

The Feeling of Life Itself

Why Consciousness Is Widespread but Can't Be Computed

Christof Koch (President and Chief Scientist, Allen Institute for Brain Science)

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English

Massachusetts Inst of Tec
24 September 2019

Drug-induced states; Mathematics & Sciences; Neurosciences

Series: The MIT Press

A thought-provoking 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.

By: Christof Koch (President and Chief Scientist Allen Institute for Brain Science)
Imprint: Massachusetts Inst of Tec
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 24mm
ISBN: 9780262042819
ISBN 10: 0262042819
Series: The MIT Press
Pages: 280
Publication Date: 24 September 2019
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Christof Koch is President and Chief Scientist of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, following twenty-seven years as a Professor at the California Institute of Technology. He is the author of Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist (MIT Press), The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach, and other books.

Reviews for The Feeling of Life Itself: Why Consciousness Is Widespread but Can't Be Computed

Invigorating.... Koch tracks the 'neural footprints' of experience; swims off the wilder shores of integrated information theory; and speculates about the 'feeling of life itself' in ravens, bees and octopuses - along with related ethical concerns. -Nature Koch's mind-stretching book provides a rich feast, leaving me with a desire to understand more about this often difficult theory. -New Scientist