Download or read book The Mystery of Consciousness written by John R. Searle and published by New York Review of Books. This book was released on 1990-01-01 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It has long been one of the most fundamental problems of philosophy, and it is now, John Searle writes, "the most important problem in the biological sciences": What is consciousness? Is my inner awareness of myself something separate from my body? In what began as a series of essays in The New York Review of Books, John Searle evaluates the positions on consciousness of such well-known scientists and philosophers as Francis Crick, Gerald Edelman, Roger Penrose, Daniel Dennett, David Chalmers, and Israel Rosenfield. He challenges claims that the mind works like a computer, and that brain functions can be reproduced by computer programs. With a sharp eye for confusion and contradiction, he points out which avenues of current research are most likely to come up with a biological examination of how conscious states are caused by the brain. Only when we understand how the brain works will we solve the mystery of consciousness, and only then will we begin to understand issues ranging from artificial intelligence to our very nature as human beings.
Download or read book Solutions to the Mystery of Consciousness written by Tapan Das and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2018-07-12 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ask someone to define consciousness, and youll get a myriad of similar-sounding answers, including the awareness of ones own existence, sensations, thoughts, surroundings, and so on. But what is it really? That question has stumped philosophers of every religion and culture since the beginning of mankind, but Tapan Das, Ph.D., reveals the answer in this groundbreaking book on the nature of consciousness. He begins by examining the two scientific views of consciousness: monistic and dualistic. The monistic view says that the brain does all the functions, and as such, there is nothing called consciousness. The dualistic view says that the brain and consciousness are two separate things. Through extensive research and analysis, Das has found that the frequency of brain waves depends on the alertness of the mindthat is, the level of consciousness. Therefore, consciousness is a function of brain wave frequency. Whether youre a cognitive scientist, psychologist, neuropsychologist, neuroscientist, philosopher, or just someone interested in knowing more about humanity, youll enjoy discovering Solutions to the Mystery of Consciousness.
Download or read book Nineteen Ways of Looking at Consciousness written by Patrick House and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2022-10-11 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A concise, elegant, and thought-provoking exploration of the mystery of consciousness and the functioning of the brain. Despite decades of research, remarkable imagery, and insights from a range of scientific and medical disciplines, the human brain remains largely unexplored. Consciousness has eluded explanation. Nineteen Ways of Looking at Consciousness offers a brilliant overview of the state of modern consciousness research in twenty brief, revealing chapters. Neuroscientist and author Patrick House describes complex concepts in accessible terms, weaving brain science, technology, gaming, analogy, and philosophy into a tapestry that illuminates how the brain works and what enables consciousness. This remarkable book fosters a sense of mystery and wonder about the strangeness of the relationship between our inner selves and our environment.
Download or read book Science and the Riddle of Consciousness written by Jeffrey E. Foss and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-09 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Consciousness has become a major topic of scientific interest, and dozens of books have been written in recent years to explain it, yet it still remains a mystery. Science and the Riddle of Consciousness explains why consciousness is a riddle for science, and demonstrates how this riddle can be solved. The questions examined in the book speak directly to neuroscientists, computer scientists, psychologists, and philosophers.
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 The Consciousness Instinct written by Michael S. Gazzaniga and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2018-04-03 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The father of cognitive neuroscience” illuminates the past, present, and future of the mind-brain problem How do neurons turn into minds? How does physical “stuff”—atoms, molecules, chemicals, and cells—create the vivid and various worlds inside our heads? The problem of consciousness has gnawed at us for millennia. In the last century there have been massive breakthroughs that have rewritten the science of the brain, and yet the puzzles faced by the ancient Greeks are still present. In The Consciousness Instinct, the neuroscience pioneer Michael S. Gazzaniga puts the latest research in conversation with the history of human thinking about the mind, giving a big-picture view of what science has revealed about consciousness. The idea of the brain as a machine, first proposed centuries ago, has led to assumptions about the relationship between mind and brain that dog scientists and philosophers to this day. Gazzaniga asserts that this model has it backward—brains make machines, but they cannot be reduced to one. New research suggests the brain is actually a confederation of independent modules working together. Understanding how consciousness could emanate from such an organization will help define the future of brain science and artificial intelligence, and close the gap between brain and mind. Captivating and accessible, with insights drawn from a lifetime at the forefront of the field, The Consciousness Instinct sets the course for the neuroscience of tomorrow.
Download or read book Feeling Knowing written by Antonio Damasio and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2021-10-26 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From one of the world’s leading neuroscientists: a succinct, illuminating, wholly engaging investigation of how biology, neuroscience, psychology, and artificial intelligence have given us the tools to unlock the mysteries of human consciousness “One thrilling insight after another ... Damasio has succeeded brilliantly in narrowing the gap between body and mind.” —The New York Times Book Review In recent decades, many philosophers and cognitive scientists have declared the problem of consciousness unsolvable, but Antonio Damasio is convinced that recent findings across multiple scientific disciplines have given us a way to understand consciousness and its significance for human life. In the forty-eight brief chapters of Feeling & Knowing, and in writing that remains faithful to our intuitive sense of what feeling and experiencing are about, Damasio helps us understand why being conscious is not the same as sensing, why nervous systems are essential for the development of feelings, and why feeling opens the way to consciousness writ large. He combines the latest discoveries in various sciences with philosophy and discusses his original research, which has transformed our understanding of the brain and human behavior. Here is an indispensable guide to understanding how we experience the world within and around us and find our place in the universe.
Download or read book From Science to God written by Peter Russell and published by New World Library. This book was released on 2010-02-08 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Science to God offers a crash course in the nature of reality. It is the story of Peter Russell's lifelong exploration into the nature of consciousness — how he went from being a strict atheist, studying mathematics and physics at Cambridge University, to realizing a profound personal synthesis of the mystical and scientific. Using his own tale of curiosity and exploration as the book’s backbone, Russell blends physics, psychology, and philosophy to reach a new worldview in which consciousness is a fundamental quality of creation. He shows how all the ingredients for this worldview are in place; nothing new needs to be discovered. We have only to put the pieces together and explore the new picture of reality that emerges. From Science to God is as much a personal story of an open-minded skeptic as it is a tour de force of scientific and religious paradigm shifts. Russell takes us from Galileo’s den to the lecture halls of Cambridge where he studied with Stephen Hawking. “If you had asked me then if there was a God,” says the best-selling author of his scientific beginnings, “I would have pointed to mathematics.” But no matter what empirical truths science offered Russell, one thorny question remained: How can something as immaterial as consciousness, ever arise from something as unconscious as matter?
Download or read book Solving the Profound Mysteries written by Mark Fennell and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2023-03-10 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, we will answer the most profound questions of our existence. We can indeed answer the Great Mysteries which have intrigued man since the beginning of time. We can explain Consciousness and Soul, as very physical reality. We can indeed show what these are, as a type of physical science. We also ask questions such as what does it really mean to be Alive? And how should we best live this existence on earth? We will also show what exists beyond our visible reality. We now have the true answers. In this book, we provide the best of all wisdom regarding the Profound Mysteries of the Universe. Some of the topics explored in this book include the following: 1. Physical Structures of the Soul and Consciousness 2. Creation and Transformation of the Soul 3. Physical Science of Consciousness 4. Self-Awareness and Perception as Physical Science 5. Intelligence and Emotions as Physical Processes 6. Fundamental Categories of Being Alive 7. Purpose of Life: Universal and Personal 8. Your Inner Light 9. Mastering Your Existence 10. The Spiritual Realms and Greater Universe 11. The Hidden Beings Living Among Us 12. Future of Humanity: Our True Destiny The Three Layers of the Book Notice that his book has three layers of goals. These three goals are: 1. Intellectual Curiosity 2. Mastering Your Existence 3. Transforming Our World. Intellectual Curiosity We begin our approach to the Soul and Consciousness as satisfying our Intellectual Curiosity. What is the Soul? What is Consciousness? How do these actually operate, in the physical reality? These are your questions, and we provide the answers. We also explain the truths of the unseen realities, all of those physical realities beyond our traditional senses. These truths allow us to truly understand the Greater Reality. Mastering Your Existence When we fully understand all the details of the Soul and the Consciousness Energies, we can then Master Our Existence. This becomes a very practical application of our understanding. Therefore, we can take all of our deep understanding, and apply this directly to our own journey. We are taking our knowledge beyond mere intellectual curiosity, and using it for very practical applications. We are using this knowledge to become Masters of Ourselves. Knowing Your Purpose and Mastering Your Mind This book will also guide you to the Purpose of Life. We explain the Universal Purpose, which applies to all humans. We then show how to discover your own Specific Purpose. We will further discuss how we should operate here on earth. This includes the practical methods for claiming the Inner Light, and developing our Soul Powers. These are just a few examples. Throughout the book we provide practical applications of this knowledge. We can then combine this knowledge to fully Master our Existence. Transforming our World: Begins with This Book The ultimate goal of the book, and indeed the entire book series, is to bring humanity to a New Level of Existence. This is our destiny. Transforming our world to the new era must begin with the deep understanding of Soul, Consciousness, and the Hidden Realities. We must understand all of these details as the foundation for all other actions. Of course, there are many practical steps to take; yet we must first understand the metaphysical realities, to enact all other practical transformations. The entire series of books will describe these topics in extensive detail. It is in this first book, that we provide the summaries of all concepts, and the answers to your questions. The first book in the series is a Grand Summary. Thus: this book is the abridged version of the series. It is the collection of the best wisdom.
Download or read book One unbounded ocean of consciousness written by Dr. Tony Nader and published by AGUILAR. This book was released on 2021-04-01 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: World renowned leader at the core of the Maharishi Foundations, a Harvard graduate neuroscientist, renowned Vedic scholar and world reference in Transcendental Meditation, Dr.Tony Nader formulates in this book a series of fundamental existential questions (what is our purpose in life, do we have true control over our destinies?) and, through the study of Consciousness, brings us answers with practical benefits that aim to give us enlightenment, peace and fulfillment. «In this landmark book, Dr. Tony Nader presents ideas that can change the world. He proposes profound solutions to questions that have long fascinated and intrigued philosophers and scientists. What is Consciousness, do we have freedom? How to get the best out of life, fulfill wishes and create peace and harmony among peoples and nations? He offers these solutions, based on a simple underlying paradigm, that unifies mind, body, and environment into an ocean of pure Being, Pure Consciousness. A must read for any seeker of answers to the mysteries of life, the absolute and ultimate truth». David Lynch «I want everyone to know what Consciousness is and how to develop it to enjoy the full potential of individual and social life». Dr. Tony Nader Is there some hidden purpose in life, a secret design, a meaningful logic, a goal to be achieved? Where do we come from and where do we go after we leave? Why should we be fighting? Can we choose? Are we free or slaves of destiny, of the laws of nature or of God? As sentient beings who wish to take control of their lives, these questions are fundamental, and everyone ends up making assumptions or strongly subscribing to beliefs about many of them. Those convictions become our underlying "cosmovision" that influences everything we do. I turned to the study of medicine, psychiatry, and neurology to understand why, although we are so similar, we can be so different in our opinions, mentality, and points of view. But the answers to my fundamental questions were too complex and abstract for scientific investigation. It was Transcendental Meditation TM that allowed me to explore them through direct experience, rather than analysis and deduction. This book is dedicated to all seekers of knowledge, scientists, philosophers, teachers, wise leaders, and guides who investigate the secrets of how nature works and the effort to improve life on Earth.
Download or read book Mystery of the Mind written by Wilder Penfield and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-03-08 with total page 157 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the past fifty years scientists have begun to discover how the human brain functions. In this book Wilder Penfield, whose work has been at the forefront of such research, describes the current state of knowledge about the brain and asks to what extent recent findings explain the action of the mind. He offers the general reader a glimpse of exciting discoveries usually accessible to only a few scientists. He writes: "Throughout my own scientific career I, like other scientists, have struggled to prove that the brain accounts for the mind. But perhaps the time has come when we may profitably consider the evidence as it stands, and ask the question...Can the mind be explained by what is now known about the brain?" The central question, he points out, is whether man's being is determined by his body alone or by mind and body as separate elements. Before suggesting an answer, he gives a fascinating account of his experience as a neurosurgeon and scientist observing the brain in conscious patients. Originally published in 1975. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Download or read book Human Consciousness written by Alastair Hannay and published by Routledge. This book was released on 1990-01-01 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A New Kind of Science written by Stephen Wolfram and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 1197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work presents a series of dramatic discoveries never before made public. Starting from a collection of simple computer experiments---illustrated in the book by striking computer graphics---Wolfram shows how their unexpected results force a whole new way of looking at the operation of our universe. Wolfram uses his approach to tackle a remarkable array of fundamental problems in science: from the origin of the Second Law of thermodynamics, to the development of complexity in biology, the computational limitations of mathematics, the possibility of a truly fundamental theory of physics, and the interplay between free will and determinism.
Download or read book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind written by Julian Jaynes and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2000-08-15 with total page 580 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: National Book Award Finalist: “This man’s ideas may be the most influential, not to say controversial, of the second half of the twentieth century.”—Columbus Dispatch At the heart of this classic, seminal book is Julian Jaynes's still-controversial thesis that human consciousness did not begin far back in animal evolution but instead is a learned process that came about only three thousand years ago and is still developing. The implications of this revolutionary scientific paradigm extend into virtually every aspect of our psychology, our history and culture, our religion—and indeed our future. “Don’t be put off by the academic title of Julian Jaynes’s The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. Its prose is always lucid and often lyrical…he unfolds his case with the utmost intellectual rigor.”—The New York Times “When Julian Jaynes . . . speculates that until late in the twentieth millennium BC men had no consciousness but were automatically obeying the voices of the gods, we are astounded but compelled to follow this remarkable thesis.”—John Updike, The New Yorker “He is as startling as Freud was in The Interpretation of Dreams, and Jaynes is equally as adept at forcing a new view of known human behavior.”—American Journal of Psychiatry
Download or read book Conscious written by Annaka Harris and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2019-06-04 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "If you’ve ever wondered how you have the capacity to wonder, some fascinating insights await you in these pages.” --Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Originals As concise and enlightening as Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, this mind-expanding dive into the mystery of consciousness is an illuminating meditation on the self, free will, and felt experience. What is consciousness? How does it arise? And why does it exist? We take our experience of being in the world for granted. But the very existence of consciousness raises profound questions: Why would any collection of matter in the universe be conscious? How are we able to think about this? And why should we? In this wonderfully accessible book, Annaka Harris guides us through the evolving definitions, philosophies, and scientific findings that probe our limited understanding of consciousness. Where does it reside, and what gives rise to it? Could it be an illusion, or a universal property of all matter? As we try to understand consciousness, we must grapple with how to define it and, in the age of artificial intelligence, who or what might possess it. Conscious offers lively and challenging arguments that alter our ideas about consciousness—allowing us to think freely about it for ourselves, if indeed we can.
Download or read book The Solution System Mastering Consciousness and Creativity written by David Ira Rottenberg and published by . This book was released on 2022-09-23 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Mysteries of Consciousness written by David D. Weisher and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2005-02-02 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Man is by nature a philosophical being. Wars are fought over philosophical differences of social-economics, religion, geopolitics and racial arrogance. Arguably, the greatest philosophical quest of mankind has been the overwhelming desire to know Self; to understand the nature of being. Who are we? Where did we come from? Where are we going? Are we just a roll of the dice in the universe or is there orchestration in our existence? Socrates, Plato, Phathagoras, Nietzsche all had philosophies of human consciousness and the nature of being. This book brings a message from the beyond to help answere these questions. I think, therefore I am does not answer the question. What is the I am? Are you the sum aggregate of an epiphenomenon of random firing neurons that simply no longer exist after the complex system dies or are you a spirit that temporarily resides in this brain machine that is liberated upon the death of this complex neurological system? These two philosophies are not only basic, they are opposite and opposing. Both can not be true. Either Life is a kaos between two nothings or it is a complex and dynamic co-existence between the physical and spiritual worlds. This book examines this question like no other because of the unique background of the author. Not only is he a Neurologist, giving him a position of some authority on this subject, but he is also an engineer, which contribute a degree of logic to the equation. His past profession as a mixed gas deep sea diver gives a bold practical presentation to the subject of near death experience. At one time during the authors youth, he was firmly convinced that human consciousness was machine in nature only and ceased to exist with death of the brain-machine. He no longer holds this view because of his personal experiences as a neruologist and has thus been willing to be open minded. This book is the result of (and an explanation for) this change of view. It present the argument for Dualism (Co-existence of spirit and brain) in personal, scientific and intellectual terms. This book challenges the reader; to open his or her eyes, think outside the narrow western religious box, and perhaps move a little closer to God. Chapter one tells the authors personal story and how his experience of simply listening to patients helped him think outside the box. Chapter two presents the argument for dualistic philosophy on purely scientific and neurological terms. Chapter three reviews selected cases in current literature and examines them from a neurological perspective. Chapter four reviews selected cases in current literature supporting reincarnation. Chapter five helps integrate this knowledge with western Judeo-Christian philosophy and helps us understand the origins of the western view. The Book is meant to be small so that it will be read. As an engineer, the author is inclined to straight talk as opposed to bull verbiage. I think you will find this little yellow book fascinating, provocative and thought provoking.
