Consciousness is a property intrinsic to organized matter. It’s a property like charge and spin. We find ourselves in a universe that has space and time, and mass and energy, but we also find ourselves in a universe where organized systems that have [a value of] phi different from zero have experiences. It’s just the way it is.

The Integrated Information Theory of Consciousness (2014)

Portrait of Christof Koch

Christof Koch

Neuroscientist
Born: November 13, 1956

Christof Koch is a German-American neuroscientist best known for his work on the neural bases of consciousness. He is the president and chief scientist of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle. From 1986 until 2013, he was a professor at the California Institute of Technology.
WIKIPEDIA ➦

1 Document

Filter

Sort

Alphabetic

Date

Duration

Word Count

Popularity

Mentioned in 2 documents

Ruben Laukkonen and Shamil Chandaria

A Beautiful Loop

Laukkonen and Chandaria propose that consciousness arises from a recursive brain process involving three key elements: a reality model, competitive inferences reducing uncertainty, and a self-aware feedback loop. This framework explains various states of awareness, including meditation, psychedelic experiences, and minimal consciousness. It also offers insights into artificial intelligence by connecting awareness to self-reinforcing predictions. The authors’ theory suggests that consciousness emerges when the brain’s reality model becomes self-referential, creating a “knowing itself” phenomenon. This recursive process underlies different levels of conscious experience and potentially informs AI development.

Christian List

What is it Like to be a Group Agent?

The existence of group agents is relatively widely accepted. Examples are corporations, courts, NGOs, and even entire states. But should we also accept that there is such a thing as group consciousness? I give an overview of some of the key issues in this debate and sketch a tentative argument for the view that group agents lack phenomenal consciousness. In developing my argument, I draw on integrated information theory, a much-discussed theory of consciousness. I conclude by pointing out an implication of my argument for the normative status of group agents.