How Many People Are There in My Head? And in Hers?: An Exploration of Single Cell Consciousness

This book proposes that the only possible solution to the 'mind-brain' problem is that each nerve cell is conscious separately and that we have no other 'global' consciousness. We are colonies of sentient micro-organisms, each, unaware of the sentience of the others, led to believe that it is 'me'. Despite being counterintuitive and disquieting this idea may resolve several paradoxes hidden in the closets of brain research laboratories. The idea is explored in an accessible, matter of fact, and sometime irreverent manner, but nevertheless attempt to address fundamental issues of cell membrane biology and the nature of the observer, which may run deeper than the quantum/classical divide.

Jonathan C. W. Edwards is a professor of medicine at University College London.