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Phi A Voyage from the Brain to the Soul

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ISBN-10: 030790721X

ISBN-13: 9780307907219

Edition: 2012

Authors: Giulio Tononi

List price: $54.00
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Description:

"From a neurologist whose work offers one of the most promising paths to unraveling the mystery of consciousness, an exploration of consciousness unlike any other. Somehow our soul, our consciousness, our world, all is generated by what's inside our skull. This is the essential question of neurology. Consciousness cannot just rest inside the shroud of science, because consciousness is more than an object of science: it is its subject, too. In PHI, we follow an old scientist, Galileo, on a journey in search of consciousness. Galileo once wrote "concerning sensation and the things that pertain to it, I claim to understand but little"--so he chose to remove the observer from nature, and now…    
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Book details

List price: $54.00
Copyright year: 2012
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date: 8/7/2012
Binding: Hardcover
Pages: 384
Size: 6.54" wide x 9.52" long x 1.18" tall
Weight: 2.750
Language: English

Preface
Prologue
The Dream of Galileo
Evidence: Experiments of Nature
Introduction: Displacements
Cerebrum: In which is shown that the corticothalamic system generates consciousness
Cerebellum: In which is shown that the cerebellum, while having more neurons than the cerebrum, does not generate consciousness
Two Blind Painters: In which is shown that sensory inputs and pathways are not necessary for consciousness
A Brain Locked In: In which is shown that motor outputs and pathways are not necessary for consciousness, nor are they sufficient
Empress Without Memory: In which is shown that many brain circuits that help us see, hear, remember, speak, and act are not necessary for consciousness
A Brain Split: In which is shown that consciousness is divided if the brain is split
A Brain Conflicted: In which is said that consciousness can split if different regions of the brain refuse to talk to each other
A Brain Possessed: In which is shown that when cortical neurons fire strongly and synchronously, as during certain seizures, consciousness fades
A Brain Asleep: In which is shown that when cortical neurons can be on and off only together, as during dreamless sleep, consciousness fades
Theory: Experiments of Thought
Introduction: The Enigma of Consciousness
Galileo and the Photodiode: In which is shown that the humble photodiode can tell light from dark as well as Galileo
Information: The Manifold Repertoire: In Which is shown that the repertoire of possible experiences is as large as one can imagine
Galileo and the Camera: In which is shown that the sensor of a digital camera has a large repertoire of possible states, perhaps larger than Galileo's
Integrated Information: The Many and the One: In which is shown that consciousness lives where information is integrated by a single entity above and beyond its parts
Galileo and the Bat: In which is feared that the quality of experience cannot be derived from matter
Seeing Dark (Deconstructing Darkness): In which is said that darkness does not exist in a void but requires a context
The Meaning of Dark (Constructing Darkness): In which is shown that darkness is built of many nested mechanisms that specify what it is not
The Place of Light: In which is shown that an experience is a shape made of integrated information
The Garden of Qualia: In which is said that the universe is mostly dark, but the largest stars are closer than one thinks, if they are looked at with the proper instrument
Implications: A Universe of Consciousness
Introduction: Sparks and Flames
Nightfall I: Death: In Which is said that, if consciousness is integrated information, it dissolves with death
Nightfall II: Dementia: In which is said that consciousness disintegrates with dementia
Nightfall III: Dolor: In which is said that, if the quality of consciousness is a shape made of integrated information, it can be turned into the only real and eternal Hell
Twilight I: Consciousness Diminished: In which is said that consciousness can be present in the absence of language and reflection
Twilight II: Consciousness Evolving: In which is said that animals are conscious, too
Twilight III: Consciousness Developing: In which is said that consciousness must be present, to some degree, even before birth
Daylight I: Consciousness Exploring: In which is said that, by investigating nature, new qualia are discovered
Daylight II: Consciousness Imagining: In which is said that art and imagination invent new shapes within the mind
Daylight III: Consciousness Growing: In which is said that, by growing consciousness, the universe comes more into being, the synthesis of one and many
Epilogue: Three Late Dreams
Afterthoughts: Study Questions
Acknowledgments
Illustration Credits