To understand consciousness within the framework of natural science we must acknowledge the role of energy in the brain. Many contemporary neuroscientists regard the brain as an information processor. However, evidence from brain imaging experiments demonstrates that the brain is actually a voracious consumer of energy, and that functionality is intimately tied to metabolism. Maintaining a critical level of energy in the brain is required to sustain consciousness, and URLanisation of this energy distinguishes conscious from unconscious states. Meanwhile, contemporary physicists often regard energy as an abstract mathematical property. But this view neglects energy's causal efficacy and actuality, as identified by Aristotle and later appreciated by many important biologists, psychologists and physicists. By reconsidering the nature of energy and recasting its role in neural activity, we arrive at a theory of consciousness that is consistent with the laws of physics, chemistry and biology. The argument draws on the integrated information theory (IIT) developed by Tononi et al. but reinterprets their findings from the perspective of energy exchange. In IIT, the conscious state in a system, such as a brain , is defined by the quantity of integrated differences, or information, it contains . According to the approach outlined here, it is in the nature of energy to manifest differences of motion and tension. The level of complexity of the energy differences in a systemdetermines its conscious state . Consciousness occurs because , in Nagel's terminology, there is ' something it is like ' to be a sufficiently complex state of energy differences .
To explain consciousness as a physical process we must acknowledge the role of energy in the brain. Energetic activity is fundamental to all physical processes and causally drives biological behaviour. Recent neuroscientific evidence can be interpreted in a way that sug-gests consciousness is a product of URLanization of energetic activity in the brain . The nature of energy itself, though, remains largely mysterious, and we do not fully under-stand how it contributes to brain function or consciousness . According to the principle outlined here, energy, along with forces and work, can be described in terms of actualized differences of motion and tension. By observing physical systems, we can infer there is something it is like to undergo actualized difference from the intrinsic perspective of the system . Consciousness occurs because there is something it is like , intrinsically, to under-go a URLanization of actualized differences in the brain .
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understand consciousness within the framework of natural science
explain consciousness as a physical process
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Many contemporary neuroscientists regard the brain as an information processor. However, evidence from brain imaging experiments demonstrates that the brain is actually a voracious consumer of energy, and that functionality is intimately tied to metabolism. Maintaining a critical level of energy
Energetic activity is fundamental to all physical processes and causally drives biological behaviour. Recent neuroscientific evidence can be interpreted in a way that sug-gests consciousness is a product of URLanization of energetic activity
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is required to sustain consciousness, and URLanisation of this energy distinguishes conscious from unconscious states. Meanwhile, contemporary physicists often regard energy as an abstract mathematical property. But this view neglects energy's causal efficacy and actuality, as identified by Aristotle and later appreciated by many important biologists, psychologists and physicists. By reconsidering the
. The
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and recasting its role in neural activity, we arrive at a theory of consciousness that is consistent with the laws of physics, chemistry and biology. The argument draws on the integrated information theory (IIT) developed by Tononi et al. but reinterprets their findings from the perspective of energy exchange. In IIT, the conscious state in a system, such as a brain , is defined by the quantity of integrated differences, or information, it contains
itself, though, remains largely mysterious, and we do not fully under-stand how it contributes to brain function or consciousness
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approach
principle
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it is in the nature of energy to manifest
energy, along with forces and work, can be described in terms of actualized
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The level of complexity of the energy differences in a systemdetermines its conscious state
By observing physical systems, we can infer there is something it is like to undergo actualized difference from the intrinsic perspective of the system
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, in Nagel's terminology, there is '
there is
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' to be a sufficiently complex state of energy differences
, intrinsically, to under-go a URLanization of actualized differences in the brain