TagChristof Koch
Neuroscientist Christof Koch proposes a bold brain experiment…
… worthy of science fiction — that he and his debate opponent, neurosurgeon Michael Egnor, could share a brain via Neuralink. And what would happen then?
Neuroscientist: Brain Surgery Can Create “Two Conscious Entities”
Dr. Egnor, who has done split-brain surgery himself, dismisses neuroscientist Christof Koch's claim
Mind: Neurosurgeon Michael Egnor vs. Neuroscientist Christof Koch
Released yesterday evening, the debate, hosted by science writer and broadcaster Michael Shermer, was cordial, and quite relatable
Philosopher Asks at Nautilus, Is Matter Conscious?
To say that consciousness is real is to say that the immaterial world is, in principle, real. That is a very big admission for neuroscience to make. But the alternative is the void.The Skeptic, the Neuroscientist and the Neurosurgeon Walk Into a…
… most interesting discussion by all accounts. Skeptical science writer Michael Shermer hosted sometimes-controversial neuroscientist Christof Koch and Christian neurosurgeon Michael Egnor
Science Writer: No Way To Tell If AI Is Conscious
Absent a definition of consciousness, it might not be possible to prove extravagant claims wrong
Fine-Tuning of Universe Makes a Top Neuroscientist “Very Hopeful”
Allen Institute’s Christof Koch talks about the assumptions underlying his consciousness theory — which led many other neuroscientists to try to Cancel him
Philosopher: Non-Materialism Is Fashionable Orthodoxy Now
Non-reductionism, which means that the mind is not simply reducible to the brain, is now well accepted, she argues
Consciousness Wars Still Simmer, Despite Peacekeeping Efforts
Attack on Top Consciousness Theory Springs From Abortion Politics
If that sounds surprising and unscientific, read on. Pro and con, they make it clear
Leading Consciousness Theory Slammed as “Pseudoscience.” Huh?
Integrated Information Theory’s panpsychist leanings are the 124 neuroscientist critics’ real target
Neuroscientist vows post-wager: We’ll nail consciousness yet!
Anil Seth, proponent of the “hallucination” theory of consciousness, vows that researchers will find that consciousness spot or circuit in the brain
It’s Becoming Clearer That the Mind Is Not the Brain
The “science of consciousness” not only has no workable materialist theory but it’s unclear what such a theory should look like or explainNot surprisingly, given that philosopher David Chalmers won the famous wager with neuroscientist Christof Koch last month, the topic of consciousness has been in the news a lot. In 25 years of research, no one has found a specific consciousness circuit, spot, wave, or whatever in the brain. Consciousness is still the “Hard Problem of Consciousness.” At Vox, Oshan Jarow, a writer who knows the field, tells us that the bet has been renewed for another 25 years and offers an interpretation of why scientists haven’t “cracked” consciousness so far: “we still lack a definitive, falsifiable explanation. We even lack consensus on whether one may ever exist.” Eventually, in this view, the field might coalesce around a unified theory and Read More ›
The Philosopher Wins: There’s No Consciousness Spot in the Brain
After a 25-year search, dualist philosopher David Chalmers won the bet with neuroscientist Christof KochBack in 1998, premier neuroscientist Christof Koch had wagered philosopher of mind David Chalmers a case of fine wine that within the next twenty-five years, a specific “signature of consciousness” would be found in the brain. In 2018, Swedish journalist Per Snaprud reminded the world of that fact at New Scientist. With five years to run, a countdown of sorts began. Snaprud’s article was titled “Consciousness: How we’re solving a mystery bigger than our minds,” telling readers that “we’re uncovering clues.” The five years are up and who won? Mariana Lenharo reports at Nature, “Both scientists agreed publicly on 23 June, at the annual meeting of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (ASSC) in New York City, that Read More ›
Can Panpsychism Save Naturalism From Itself?
Panpsychism can be seen as an effort to save naturalism by acknowledging the reality of the mind while insisting that the mind is wholly naturalThis article is an excerpt of one that originally appeared in Salvo 61 (Summer 2022), under the title “Everything is Conscious? Panpsychism goes mainstream.” Panpsychism — the view that all of the universe participates in consciousness, which is most fully developed in humans — has been gaining popularity in science in recent years. Does that sound unbelievable? Is not science committed wholly to materialism and nothing but materialism? Will consciousness not soon be “explained” by an accidental glitch in brain wiring that natural selection retained? Science doesn’t seem nearly as committed to that view just now. A 2018 article at Quartz by Olivia Goldhill was titled “The idea that everything from spoons to stones is conscious is gaining academic credibility.” Read More ›
Did Minimal Consciousness Drive the Cambrian Explosion?
Eva Jablonka’s team makes the daring case, repurposing Hungarian chemist Tibor Gánti’s origin of life studiesEva Jablonka is “one of the world’s foremost experts in epigenetic inheritance and evolution” but she has also had a longstanding interest in consciousness studies. She was author, with Marion J. Lamb, of Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic Variation in the History of Life (MIT Press 2006/rev. 2014). She and neurobiologist Simona Ginsburg, along with illustrator Anna Zeligowski, offer a new approach to the origin of consciousness in an essay at IAI.TV — one with an interesting departure from many approaches to consciousness: Taking their inspiration from Hungarian chemist Tibor Gánti (1933–2009), who posited a chemoton — the minimal life form or protocell — as the origin of life, they first attempt to define minimal consciousness, Read More ›
Do Any Dogs Go To Heaven? If So, Why?
Neuroscientist Christof Koch was troubled as a child by the Catholic tradition that dogs like his beloved Purzel did not go to heaven
Panpsychism Is, in Angus Menuge’s View, a Desperate Move
But he thinks it is worth keeping an eye on as an understandable reaction to materialism
Quick Facts on IIT (the Leading Theory of Consciousness)
IIT may be part of a trend in science in which emergence and panpsychist theories are slowly replacing materialist and physicalist onesConsciousness, as a concept, is so easy to experience and so hard to define. Or explain. The most popular current theory of consciousness is Integrated Information Theory (IIT), pioneered by neuroscientist Giulio Tononi and championed by Allen Institute neuroscientist Christof Koch. For the purpose of discussing IIT, science writer Mike Hogan works with this definition: Consciousness for purposes of this theory is defined as ‘self-awareness’ or the Central-Identity; the inner-voice that allows your brain to talk to itself, an awareness that ‘you’ exist, the rationalization of your own relevance to that existence, and an awareness of the cause and effect of your actions in regard to yourself and your environment. Mike Hogan, “The Best Available Story of Human Consciousness” at Read More ›