Humans, Consciousness, and Everything in Between


Book Description

Somewhere in Manhattan, tucked away in a little alleyway, is a couch. "Humans, Consciousness, and Everything in Between" romps about in the mire of this curious and unassuming creature's thoughts. From factory to mental asylum, hospital to studio apartment, the couch's interaction with unknowing humans greatly informs its transformation, one which begins to take on a striking semblance to a counter-Gregor Samsa awakening. Who better to lend a hand in explaining the paradoxical and convoluted tangle of World Wars and gender-based stigma than an inanimate, threadbare object that's been idling in heaps of trash?




The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind


Book Description

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




Human and Machine Consciousness


Book Description

Consciousness is widely perceived as one of the most fundamental, interesting and difficult problems of our time. However, we still know next to nothing about the relationship between consciousness and the brain and we can only speculate about the consciousness of animals and machines. Human and Machine Consciousness presents a new foundation for the scientific study of consciousness. It sets out a bold interpretation of consciousness that neutralizes the philosophical problems and explains how we can make scientific predictions about the consciousness of animals, brain-damaged patients and machines. Gamez interprets the scientific study of consciousness as a search for mathematical theories that map between measurements of consciousness and measurements of the physical world. We can use artificial intelligence to discover these theories and they could make accurate predictions about the consciousness of humans, animals and artificial systems. Human and Machine Consciousness also provides original insights into unusual conscious experiences, such as hallucinations, religious experiences and out-of-body states, and demonstrates how ‘designer’ states of consciousness could be created in the future. Gamez explains difficult concepts in a clear way that closely engages with scientific research. His punchy, concise prose is packed with vivid examples, making it suitable for the educated general reader as well as philosophers and scientists. Problems are brought to life in colourful illustrations and a helpful summary is given at the end of each chapter. The endnotes provide detailed discussions of individual points and full references to the scientific and philosophical literature.




THE Interview That Solves The Human Condition And Saves The World!


Book Description

The best introduction to biologist Jeremy Griffith’s world-saving explanation of the human condition! The transcript of acclaimed British actor and broadcaster Craig Conway’s astonishing, world-changing and world-saving 2020 interview with Australian biologist Jeremy Griffith about his book FREEDOM: The End Of The Human Condition which presents the completely redeeming, uplifting and healing understanding of the core mystery and problem about human behaviour of our so-called good and evil -stricken human condition thus ending all the conflict and suffering in human life at its source, and providing the now urgently needed road map for the complete rehabilitation and transformation of our lives and world! In fact, a former President of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, Professor Harry Prosen, has described it as the most important interview of all time! This world-saving interview was broadcast across the UK in 2020 and is being replayed on radio & TV stations around the world. This book is supported by a very informative website at www.humancondition.com, where you can watch the video of the interview.




Consciousness and the Brain


Book Description

WINNER OF THE 2014 BRAIN PRIZE From the acclaimed author of Reading in the Brain and How We Learn, a breathtaking look at the new science that can track consciousness deep in the brain How does our brain generate a conscious thought? And why does so much of our knowledge remain unconscious? Thanks to clever psychological and brain-imaging experiments, scientists are closer to cracking this mystery than ever before. In this lively book, Stanislas Dehaene describes the pioneering work his lab and the labs of other cognitive neuroscientists worldwide have accomplished in defining, testing, and explaining the brain events behind a conscious state. We can now pin down the neurons that fire when a person reports becoming aware of a piece of information and understand the crucial role unconscious computations play in how we make decisions. The emerging theory enables a test of consciousness in animals, babies, and those with severe brain injuries. A joyous exploration of the mind and its thrilling complexities, Consciousness and the Brain will excite anyone interested in cutting-edge science and technology and the vast philosophical, personal, and ethical implications of finally quantifying consciousness.




The Mysterious Flame


Book Description

In recent years the nature of consciousness—our immediately known experiences—has taken its place as the most profound problem that science faces. Now in this brilliant and thoroughly accessible new book Colin McGinn takes a provocative position on this perplexing problem. Arguing that we can never truly "know" consciousness—that the human intellect is simply not equipped to unravel this mystery—he demonstrates that accepting this limitation in fact opens up a whole new field of investigation. In elegant prose, McGinn explores the implications of this Mysterian position—such as the new value it gives to the power of dreams and introspection—and challenges the reader with intriguing questions about the very nature of our minds and brains.




Understanding the Human Mind


Book Description

Unlock the ultimate secret of human life--the knowledge to change the world lies within you... Have you ever wondered what makes us, humans, such complex creatures, and why of all living things, we're the only ones who are self-aware? Have you wanted to explore the hidden secrets of your mind, striving to understand the endless potential your brain has to offer? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to unlock the full power of your brain and achieve a better understanding and a sense of unity with yourself and everything around you? The answer to your questions lies in one fascinating concept--human consciousness. Ever since humans acquired the ability to think and understand, we have been looking for answers to the meaning of our existence--we knew that we could make sense of what's around us, but we never managed to fully grasp how and why that was possible. Despite great progress in that direction in recent studies of neuroscience where researchers were able to associate various higher mental functions to different parts of the brain, the question of whether consciousness is actually in the brain, or if it's an experience outside our body, remains as elusive as ever. The quest to understand consciousness has, and always will, remain one of the biggest mysteries of our existence. Some have contended with accepting the limitations of the brain to fully comprehend it, while others have turned to spirituality to find meaning in the vastness of human experience. Wherever you may be on that scale, armed with an inner sense of insatiable curiosity and a true desire to fully grasp everything that humanity knows about its own consciousness, you'll get all the knowledge you need to better understand yourself, as well as the reality that surrounds you. In Understanding the Human Mind, you will discover: The power we've been entitled to through evolution, and what you can do with it to better understand your own mind A plethora of fascinating philosophies that try to make sense of the human mind and understand how it experiences the world How psychology built further on those theories to attempt to heal the world from mental ailments What an altered state of consciousness is, and how it can unlock the hidden secrets of your mind The one science that got so close to understanding what consciousness is and the implications of that on the understanding of our existence How the esoteric Eastern spirituality influenced philosophies of the West, and how it transformed the understanding of higher states of consciousness and enlightenment And much more. Understanding the fundamental functions of what makes us human is the ultimate power we can achieve. With such deep knowledge of ourselves and our surroundings, we can alter our perception of the world to our advantage and become the version of ourselves we've always wanted to be. We'll finally manage to understand the responsibility that comes with being highly aware, and hold within us the strength to make the world a better place for ourselves and the people around us. If you want to explore the endless labyrinth of your mind and find your way to a higher state of awareness, then scroll up and click the "Add to Cart" button right now.




Being You


Book Description

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER A Best Book of 2021—Bloomberg Businessweek; A Best Science Book of 2021—The Guardian; A Best Science Book of 2021—Financial Times; A Best Philosophy Book of 2021—Five Books; A Best Book of 2021—The Economist Anil Seth's quest to understand the biological basis of conscious experience is one of the most exciting contributions to twenty-first-century science. What does it mean to “be you”—that is, to have a specific, conscious experience of the world around you and yourself within it? There may be no more elusive or fascinating question. Historically, humanity has considered the nature of consciousness to be a primarily spiritual or philosophical inquiry, but scientific research is now mapping out compelling biological theories and explanations for consciousness and selfhood. Now, internationally renowned neuroscience professor, researcher, and author Anil Seth is offers a window into our consciousness in BEING YOU: A New Science of Consciousness. Anil Seth is both a leading expert on the neuroscience of consciousness and one of most prominent spokespeople for this relatively new field of science. His radical argument is that we do not perceive the world as it objectively is, but rather that we are prediction machines, constantly inventing our world and correcting our mistakes by the microsecond, and that we can now observe the biological mechanisms in the brain that accomplish this process of consciousness. Seth has been interviewed for documentaries aired on the BBC, Netflix, and Amazon and podcasts by Sam Harris, Russell Brand, and Chris Anderson, and his 2017 TED Talk on the topic has been viewed over 11 million times, a testament to his uncanny ability to make unimaginably complex science accessible and entertaining.




Human and Animal Minds


Book Description

Claims about consciousness in animals are often made in support of their moral standing. Peter Carruthers argues that there is no fact of the matter about animal consciousness and it is of no scientific or ethical significance. Sympathy for an animal can be grounded in its mental states, but should not rely on assumptions about its consciousness.




A New Kind of Science


Book Description

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.