Download or read book Biophysics Of Consciousness A Foundational Approach written by Roman R Poznanski and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2016-08-25 with total page 665 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The problem of how the brain produces consciousness, subjectivity and 'something it is like to be' remains one of the greatest challenges to a complete science of the natural world. While various scientists and philosophers approach the problem from their own unique perspectives and in the terms of their own respective fields, Biophysics of Consciousness: A Foundational Approach attempts a consilience across disparate disciplines to explain how it is possible that an objective brain produces subjective experience.This volume unites the crème de la crème of physicists, neuroscientists, and psychiatrists in the attempt to understand consciousness through a foundational approach encompassing ontological, evolutionary, neurobiological, and Freudian interpretations with the focus on conscious phenomena occurring in the brain. By integrating the perspectives of these diverse disciplines with the latest research and theories on the biophysics of the brain, the book tries to explain how consciousness can be an adaptive and causal element in the natural world.

Download or read book The Emerging Physics of Consciousness written by Jack A. Tuszynski and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2006-09-05 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seeks answers to these questions using the underlying assumption that consciousness can be understood using the intellectual potential of modern physics and other sciences. There are a number of theories of consciousness, some based on classical physics while others require the use of quantum concepts. The latter ones have drawn criticism from the parts of the scientific establishment while simultaneously claiming that classical approaches are doomed to failure. The contributing authors presents a spectrum of opinions from both sides of this on-going scientific debate, allowing readers to decide for themselves which of the approaches are most likely to succeed.

Download or read book The Ancient Origins of Consciousness written by Todd E. Feinberg and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2016-03-25 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How consciousness appeared much earlier in evolutionary history than is commonly assumed, and why all vertebrates and perhaps even some invertebrates are conscious. How is consciousness created? When did it first appear on Earth, and how did it evolve? What constitutes consciousness, and which animals can be said to be sentient? In this book, Todd Feinberg and Jon Mallatt draw on recent scientific findings to answer these questions—and to tackle the most fundamental question about the nature of consciousness: how does the material brain create subjective experience? After assembling a list of the biological and neurobiological features that seem responsible for consciousness, and considering the fossil record of evolution, Feinberg and Mallatt argue that consciousness appeared much earlier in evolutionary history than is commonly assumed. About 520 to 560 million years ago, they explain, the great “Cambrian explosion” of animal diversity produced the first complex brains, which were accompanied by the first appearance of consciousness; simple reflexive behaviors evolved into a unified inner world of subjective experiences. From this they deduce that all vertebrates are and have always been conscious—not just humans and other mammals, but also every fish, reptile, amphibian, and bird. Considering invertebrates, they find that arthropods (including insects and probably crustaceans) and cephalopods (including the octopus) meet many of the criteria for consciousness. The obvious and conventional wisdom–shattering implication is that consciousness evolved simultaneously but independently in the first vertebrates and possibly arthropods more than half a billion years ago. Combining evolutionary, neurobiological, and philosophical approaches allows Feinberg and Mallatt to offer an original solution to the “hard problem” of consciousness.

Download or read book The Hidden Spring A Journey to the Source of Consciousness written by Mark Solms and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2021-02-16 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A revelatory new theory of consciousness that returns emotions to the center of mental life. For Mark Solms, one of the boldest thinkers in contemporary neuroscience, discovering how consciousness comes about has been a lifetime’s quest. Scientists consider it the "hard problem" because it seems an impossible task to understand why we feel a subjective sense of self and how it arises in the brain. Venturing into the elementary physics of life, Solms has now arrived at an astonishing answer. In The Hidden Spring, he brings forward his discovery in accessible language and graspable analogies. Solms is a frank and fearless guide on an extraordinary voyage from the dawn of neuropsychology and psychoanalysis to the cutting edge of contemporary neuroscience, adhering to the medically provable. But he goes beyond other neuroscientists by paying close attention to the subjective experiences of hundreds of neurological patients, many of whom he treated, whose uncanny conversations expose much about the brain’s obscure reaches. Most importantly, you will be able to recognize the workings of your own mind for what they really are, including every stray thought, pulse of emotion, and shift of attention. The Hidden Spring will profoundly alter your understanding of your own subjective experience.

Download or read book ECIAIR 2019 European Conference on the Impact of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics written by Dr Paul Griffiths and published by Academic Conferences and publishing limited. This book was released on 2019-10-31 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Consciousness Demystified written by Todd E. Feinberg and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2018-09-25 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Demystifying consciousness: how subjective experience can be explained by natural brain and evolutionary processes. Consciousness is often considered a mystery. How can the seemingly immaterial experience of consciousness be explained by the material neurons of the brain? There seems to be an unbridgeable gap between understanding the brain as an objectively observed biological organ and accounting for the subjective experiences that come from the brain (and life processes). In this book, Todd Feinberg and Jon Mallatt attempt to demystify consciousness—to naturalize it, by explaining that the subjective, experiencing aspects of consciousness are created by natural brain processes that evolved in natural ways. Although subjective experience is unique in nature, they argue, it is not necessarily mysterious. We need not invoke the unknown or unknowable to explain its creation. Feinberg and Mallatt flesh out their theory of neurobiological naturalism (after John Searle's biological naturalism) that recognizes the many features that brains share with other living things, lists the neural features unique to conscious brains, and explains the subjective–objective barrier naturally. They investigate common neural features among the diverse groups of animals that have primary consciousness—the type of consciousness that experiences both sensations received from the world and affects such as emotions. They map the evolutionary development of consciousness and find an uninterrupted progression over time, without inserting any mysterious forces or exotic physics. Finally, bridging the previously unbridgeable, they show how subjective experience, although different from objective observation, can be naturally explained.

Download or read book Electromagnetic Field Theories of Consciousness Opportunities and Obstacles written by Tam Hunt and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2024-03-27 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This new Research Topic is, in part, a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the game-changing “neural correlates of consciousness” concept, first proposed as part of Crick and Koch’s 1990 “neurobiological theory of consciousness.” After thirty years of research and theory-building, scholars in the science of consciousness are perhaps not much closer to a widely-accepted theory of consciousness.

Download or read book Consciousness and Quantum Mechanics written by Shan Gao and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022-09-24 with total page 532 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Consciousness and quantum mechanics are two great mysteries of our time--and recently scholars have postulated a deeper connection between them. Exploring this possible connection can be fruitful: an analysis of the conscious mind and psychophysical connection can be indispensable in understanding quantum mechanics and solving the notorious measurement problem, and there is also likely some kind of intimate connection between quantum mechanics--the most fundamental theory of the physical world--and our efforts to explain, naturalistically, the phenomenon of consciousness. The seventeen newly written chapters in this volume are divided into three sections: Consciousness and the Wave Function Collapse, Consciousness in Quantum Theories, and Quantum Approaches to Consciousness. This is the first volume to provide a comprehensive review and thorough analysis of intriguing conjectures about the connection between consciousness and quantum mechanics. Written by leading experts in physics, philosophy, and cognitive science, Consciousness and Quantum Mechanics will be of value to students and researchers working on the foundations of quantum mechanics and the philosophy of mind.

Download or read book Quantum Boundaries of Life written by and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2020-11-19 with total page 398 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Quantum Boundaries of Life, Volume 82 in the Advances in Quantum Chemistry series, presents current topics in this rapidly developing field that have emerged at the cross section of mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology. Topics covered include Quantum Considerations of Neural Memory, Functional Neural Electron Transport, Plasmon-polariton mechanism of the saltatory conduction in myelinated axons, Quantum Field Theory Formulation of Brain Dynamics: Nonequilibrium, Multi Field Theory Formulation of Brain Dynamics, Quantum Protein Folding, Classical-Quantum Interplay in Living Neural Tissue Function, Quantum Effects in Life Dynamics, Quantum transport and utilization of free energy in protein a-helices, and much more. The book’s message is simple. Mystics prefer to put consciousness in the cosmos to avoid Darwinism. If the seat of consciousness is found to evolve within all animals, then we have a Darwinian understanding not only of the origin of life and species according to natural selection but also concerning consciousness and, in particular, life being quantum Darwinian. Presents surveys of current topics in this rapidly-developing field that has emerged at the cross section of the historically established areas of mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology Features detailed reviews written by leading international researchers

Download or read book Sources of Consciousness written by H. S. Green and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 1997 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The phenomenon of consciousness has long been one of the great mysteries of life, perhaps because it is inexplicable in terms of the deterministic theories of classical science. Today there is some consensus that the key to the understanding of the workings of the mind should be sought in the area of indeterministic quantum mechanics, but until recently there has been little substantial progress in unravelling the mystery. This book is the culmination of several decades of research by the authors in the physical sciences, neurosciences and computer sciences, with comprehensive summaries and references to related work by many other scientists, and presents important advances toward solving the problem. Written for the most part in plain language but supported by appropriate symbolism, the book is truly interdisciplinary, designed for the needs of a wide variety of students and scholars.

Download or read book Untying Things Together written by Eric L. Santner and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2022-04-05 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In 1905, Freud published his Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, the book that established the core psychoanalytic thesis that sexuality is central to formations of the unconscious. Inverting Freud's title, Eric Santner here takes up the sexuality of theory-or, more exactly, its sex-appeal, the modes of enjoyment to be found in the kinds of critical thinking that, since the 1960s, have laid claim to that ancient word, "theory." Untying Things Together is both an intellectual history of major theoretical paradigms and a call for their reexamination and renewal in light of the "postcritical turn" away from them. Santner organizes this intellectual history autobiographically as the story of his own encounters and involvements with key theorists and theoretical projects. He thereby shows that to reduce these theoretical projects to so many exercises in a "hermeneutics of suspicion" (a move associated with certain "post-critique" authors) is to miss what is most vital, most alive, indeed life-changing about them. It is to miss the "gay science" they elaborate. Santner's explorations yield new ways of accounting for the "sublime object" of theory, the libidinal charge it carries for those susceptible to its charms"--

Download or read book Experiential Consciousness and the Nature of Human Identity written by Vitor Jose F. Rodrigues and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2022-12-13 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Consciousness is hard to bring to the laboratory as it confronts us with a classic dilemma: can a mind observe itself? However, who, then, is observing the observer? Without experiential awareness, culture, the arts, science, and philosophy would not make sense. Would it make sense if refrigerators were to produce a “refrigerator culture” without the experience of freezing food? Virtually all human culture is destined to provide conscious experiences. This volume provides a rich array of views on human nature and the way it shows up in the strange land of human identity.

Download or read book Reductive Model of the Conscious Mind written by Galus, Wieslaw and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2020-08-21 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Research on natural and artificial brains is proceeding at a rapid pace. However, the understanding of the essence of consciousness has changed slightly over the millennia, and only the last decade has brought some progress to the area. Scientific ideas emerged that the soul could be a product of the material body and that calculating machines could imitate brain processes. However, the authors of this book reject the previously common dualism—the view that the material and spiritual-psychic processes are separate and require a completely different substance as their foundation. Reductive Model of the Conscious Mind is a forward-thinking book wherein the authors identify processes that are the essence of conscious thinking and place them in the imagined, simplified structure of cells able to memorize and transmit information in the form of impulses, which they call neurons. The purpose of the study is to explain the essence of consciousness to the degree of development of natural sciences, because only the latter can find a way to embed the concept of the conscious mind in material brains. The book is divided into three parts. Part 1 works to convince readers that the emergence of consciousness does not require detailed knowledge of the structure and morphology of the brain, with the exception of some specific properties of the neural network structure that the authors attempt to point out. Part 2 proves that the biological structure of many natural brains fulfills the necessary conditions for consciousness and intelligent thinking. Similarly, Part 3 shows the ways in which artificial creatures imitating natural brains can meet these conditions, which gives great hopes for building artificially intelligent beings endowed with consciousness. Covering topics that include cognitive architecture, the embodied mind, and machine learning, this book is ideal for cognitive scientists, philosophers of mind, neuroscientists, psychologists, researchers, academicians, and advanced-level students. The book can also help to focus the research of linguists, neurologists, and biophysicists on the biophysical basis of postulated information processing into knowledge structures.

Download or read book Neurobiological Models of Psychotherapy How Psychotherapy Changes the Brain written by Arash Javanbakht and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2019-09-25 with total page 95 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Free Energy in Psychoanalysis and Neuroscience written by Mark L. Solms and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2020-09-11 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This eBook is a collection of articles from a Frontiers Research Topic. Frontiers Research Topics are very popular trademarks of the Frontiers Journals Series: they are collections of at least ten articles, all centered on a particular subject. With their unique mix of varied contributions from Original Research to Review Articles, Frontiers Research Topics unify the most influential researchers, the latest key findings and historical advances in a hot research area! Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author by contacting the Frontiers Editorial Office: frontiersin.org/about/contact.

Download or read book Putting Ourselves Back in the Equation written by George Musser and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2023-11-09 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Distant galaxies, dark matter, black holes – elusive, incomprehensible and inhospitable – these are the building blocks of modern physics. But where do we fit in this picture? For centuries, we have separated mind from matter. While physicists have pursued a theory of ‘everything’ with single-minded purpose, the matter of the mind, of human consciousness, has been conveniently sidestepped and ignored – consigned to priests, philosophers and poets. With the ambition of Stephen Hawking, Carlo Rovelli and Brian Cox, Putting Ourselves Back in the Equation sets out a bold new vision for theoretical physics, unrestricted by sleek equations and neat formulations. Combining cutting-edge neuroscience with the latest in quantum mechanics, acclaimed writer Musser offers a new interpretation of human consciousness. From bizarre cognitive phenomena, like lucid dreaming and self-taught synaesthesia, to the latest technological developments in AI, Musser asks: what can physics teach us about what it means to be human?

Download or read book The Spirit of the Drive in Neuropsychoanalysis written by Mark Kinet and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-11-17 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Spirit of the Drive in Neuropsychoanalysis gives a concise introduction to the basics of neuropsychoanalysis, both theoretically and clinically. Kinet uses a colloquial approach to discuss topics such as the dynamic and descriptive unconscious, dream theory, homeostasis, affect and awareness, pleasure and jouissance, the signifier and the drive. Throughout the volume, Kinet is informed by the field-defining work of Mark Solms and Ariane Bazan and their respective Freudian or Lacanian origins. Asking questions on the relevance of neuropsychoanalysis in a clinical setting, this book offers vital insight into how analysts can bring this field into their day-to-day work with clients. Clinical and other interludes illustrate and illuminate the matter from the perspective of the psychoanalyst at work. Written in an accessible style and part of The Routledge Neuropsychoanalysis Series, this volume will interest both those experienced with neuropsychoanalysis and those approaching the topic for the first time.