Philosophical musings on Quanta & Qualia;  Materialism & Spiritualism; Science & Religion; Pragmatism & Idealism, etc.

The feeling of self-conscousness

   Post 104.  October 28, 2019

  The Feeling of Consciousness

   To Know With and to Know What

 Like most neuroscientists, Christof Koch studied the Mind/Body Problem — the “hard problem” — by looking for the “neural correlates of consciousness”. But unlike most others, he has concluded that simple correlation between entities is not proof of causation. So he has looked for a more direct causal connection, and has found it in Information Theory. Yet, it wasn’t suggested by Shannon’s digital code theory, but in Giulio Tononi’s Integrated Information Theory1. The significant differ-ence is in looking at the whole system rather than a collection of parts. That’s why his subtitle asserts that Consciousness cannot be calculated by computing isolated 1s and 0s, but must be experienced as self-relevance to the communal system.

The modern Mind/Body problem dates back at least to Descartes, with his dualistic solution. Koch notes that “your subjective experience appears radically different from the physical stuff that makes up your brain”. But there’s obviously some relationship; so what’s the medium-of-exchange from Matter to Mind, and vice-versa? Integrated Information Theory (IIT) proposes that the dynamic (living) process of enforming is the causal agency for creating new knowledge (meaningful forms) in a receptive brain. Likewise, the Enformationism Theory postulates that the immaterial power to Enform, serves as both medium and message. Like causal Energy, immaterial EnFormAction, can transform into material forms (things) [E=MC2]. It’s both Spinoza’s Universal Substance2 and the specific matter of which things are made.

Neuroscientists have discovered that the neural “mechanism goes hand in hand with experience”, but so far they can’t say “what it is about the biophysics of the brain, but not, say the liver . . . that evokes the ephemeral feelings of life”. They have also noted that brain processes and computer information processing have some features in common. But Koch stands apart from the majority in claiming that “experience does not arise out of computation. . . . Because [the computer] lacks the intrinsic causal powers”. However, to ward-off any supernatural-soul notions, he goes-on to assert that, “consciousness belongs to the natural realm. Just like mass and charge, it has causal powers”. And the only similar natural force we know of is Energy. So EnFormAction can be envisioned as a form of physical energy (causal power), but with the additional ability to cause metaphysical phenomena : knowing.

Koch notes that, “much ink has been spilled over arguments that quantum mechanics is the secret to consciousness”. However, after years of research,   he saw “no need to invoke exotic physics to understand consciousness”. Instead, he found his link between physical and mental aspects of reality in a new formulation of Information Theory : IIT, which postulates a “mechanism” for the phenomenon of subjective experience. We experience Consciousness with five essential properties : self-oriented, structured, specified, singular, and bounded. These, he further defines as, Intrinsic, Composition, Information, Integration, and Exclusion. Together, these constitute the Feeling of Being.

                   Post 104 continued . . . click Next

How does it feel to be Christoph Koch?

1. Integrated Information :
A modern update of ancient Panpsychism – all is mind – based on Information Theory.
“ Tononi's Integrated Information Theory (IIT) of consciousness differs from classical panpsychism in that it only ascribes consciousness to things with some degree of irreducible cause-effect power, which does not include "a bunch of disconnected neurons in a dish, a heap of sand, a galaxy of stars or a black hole,"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christof_Koch

2. Universal Substance :
Originally, God is Nature. Later, God is the Cause of Nature. In my terms : The Enformer.
“God is now described not so much as the underlying substance of all things, but as the universal, immanent and sustaining cause of all that exists . . .”
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/spinoza/

The Feeling of
Life Itself

Why Consciousness Is Widespread but Can’t Be Computed

Christof Koch

Neuro-scientist

“Conscousness is the experience of living”