Consciousness Wars Still Simmer, Despite Peacekeeping Efforts
The field of consciousness studies has been in turmoil since over 100 researchers signed a letter last September, attacking neuroscientist Christof Koch’s leading Integrated Information Theory (IIT) theory of consciousness. Among other things, the theory’s panpsychist leanings could lead to a perception that unborn children have some sort of consciousness, which, to put it mildly, is an unpopular point of view in that field. In June of that year, Koch had also famously lost a 25-year wager (1998–2023) with philosopher of mind David Chalmers that a signature of consciousness would be found in the human brain. It wasn’t. A bit of background An article by Mariana Lenharo at Nature earlier this week provides some background and assesses the damage. In Read More ›