The consciousness wars: can scientists ever agree on how the mind works?
An experiment seven years in the making has uncovered new insights into the nature of consciousness and challenges two prominent, competing scientific theories: Integrated Information Theory (IIT) and Global Neuronal Workspace Theory (GNWT).
- IIT suggests that consciousness emerges when information inside a system (like the brain) is highly connected
Just a moment...
It’s absurd! Scientists have yet to explain the nature of consciousness. They have no means of objectively detecting it. They have not identified its necessary and sufficient causes. And yet, they ask us to wager everything on their belief that consciousness is solely a product of the brain.4 —B. Allan Wallace, Buddhist philosopher
Mark Gober • An End to Upside Down Thinking: Dispelling the Myth That the Brain Produces Consciousness, and the Implications for Everyday Life
Physicists since the time of Isaac Newton have studied the mysterious operation of gravity. They have described its laws and characteristics. Consciousness is like gravity, a central part of existence that can also be described, whose laws can be known, whose power, range, and function can be studied. But unfortunately, Western psychology has almos
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