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Phi : a voyage from the brain to the soul
- Author / Creator
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- Summary
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"From a neurologist whose work offers one of the most promising paths to unraveling the mystery of consciousness, an exploration of consciousness unlike any other. Somehow our soul, our consciousne...
"From a neurologist whose work offers one of the most promising paths to unraveling the mystery of consciousness, an exploration of consciousness unlike any other. Somehow our soul, our consciousness, our world, all is generated by what's inside our skull. This is the essential question of neurology. Consciousness cannot just rest inside the shroud of science, because consciousness is more than an object of science: it is its subject, too. In PHI, we follow an old scientist, Galileo, on a journey in search of consciousness. Galileo once wrote "concerning sensation and the things that pertain to it, I claim to understand but little"--so he chose to remove the observer from nature, and now his investigation requires its return. Galileo's journey has three parts, each with a different guide: in the first, accompanied by a scientist who resembles Francis Crick, he learns why certain parts of the brain are important and not others and why consciousness fades with sleep. In the second part, when his companion seems to be Alturi (Galileo is hard of hearing, so doesn't properly hear his companion's name--Turing), he sees how the facts we have might be unified into a theory of consciousness. In the third part, accompanied by another master of scientific observation, he muses on how consciousness is an evolving, developing, ever deepening awareness of ourselves in history, culture"--
Details
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- Creator
- Giulio Tononi
- Format
- Books
- Language
- English
- Publication
-
- First edition
- New York : Pantheon, [2012]
- ©2012
- Physical Details
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- xii, 364 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cm
- ISBNs
- 9780307907219, 030790721X
- OCLC
- ocn755697723
- Includes bibliographical references.
- The dream of Galileo -- Evidence : experiments of nature -- Introduction : displacements -- Cerebrum : in which it is shown that the corticothalamic system generates consciousness -- Cerebellum : in which it is shown that the cerebellum, while having more neurons than the cerebrum, does not generate consciousness -- Two blind painters : in which it is shown that sensory inputs and pathways are not necessary for consciousness -- A brain locked in : in which it is shown that motor inputs and pathways are not necessary for consciousness, nor are they sufficient -- Empress without memory : in which it is shown that many brain circuits that help us see, hear, remember, speak, and act are not necessary for consciousness -- A brain split : in which it is shown that consciousness is divided if the brain is split -- A brain conflicted : in which it is shown that consciousness can split if different regions of the brain refuse to talk to each other -- A brain possessed : in which it is shown that when cortical neurons fire strongly and synchronously, as during certain seizures, consciousness fades -- A brain asleep : in which it is shown that when cortical neurons can be on and off only together, as during dreamless sleep, consciousness fades -- Theory : experiments of thought -- Introduction : the enigma of consciousness -- Galileo and the photodiode : in which it is shown that the humble photodiode can tell light from dark as well as Galileo -- Information : the manifold repertoire : in which it is shown that the repertoire of possible experiences is as large as one can imagine -- Galileo and the camera : in which it is shown that the sensor of a digital camera has a large repertoire of possible states, perhaps larger than Galileo's -- Integrated information : the many and the one : in which it is shown that consciousness lives where information is integrated by a single entity above and beyond its parts -- Galileo and the bat : in which it is shown that the quality of experience cannot be derived from matter -- Seeing dark (deconstructing darkness) : in which it is shown that darkness does not exist is a void but requires a context -- The meaning of ark (constructing darkness) : in which it is shown that darkness is built of many nested mechanisms that specify what it is not -- The Palace of Light : in which it is shown that an experience is a shape made of integrated information -- The Garden of Qualia : in which it is said that the universe is mostly dark, but the largest stars are closer than one thinks, if they are looked at with the proper instrument -- Implications : a universe of consciousness -- Introduction : sparks and flames -- Nightfall I : death : in which it is said that, if consciousness is integrated information, is dissolves with death -- Nightfall II : dementia : in which it is said that consciousness disintegrates with dementia -- Nightfall III : dolor : in which it is said that, if the quality of consciousness is a shape made of integrated information, it can be turned into the only real and eternal Hell -- Twilight I : consciousness diminished : in which it is said that consciousness can be present in the absence of language and reflection -- Twilight II : consciousness evolving : in which it is said that animals are conscious, too -- Twilight III : consciousness developing : in which it is said that consciousness must be present, to some degree, even before birth -- Daylight I : consciousness exploring : in which it is said that, by investigating nature, new qualia are discovered -- Daylight II : consciousness imagining : in which it is said that are and imagination invent new shapes within the mind -- Daylight III : consciousness growing : in which it is said that, by growing consciousness, the universe comes more into being, the synthesis of one and many -- Epilogue : three late dreams -- Afterthoughts : study questions
Subjects
- Consciousness -- Physiological aspects.
- Brain -- Physiology.
- Mind and body.
- Consciousness -- physiology.
Medical Subject Heading
- Brain -- physiology.
Medical Subject Heading
- Thinking -- physiology.
Medical Subject Heading
- Psychophysiology.
Medical Subject Heading