Phi A Voyage from the Brain to the Soul

From one of the most original and influential neuroscientists at work today, an exploration of consciousness unlike any other: the latest science framed in a dazzlingly imaginative, lavishly illustrated narrative. We would have to go back to GÖdel, Escher, Bachto find even the hint of a precedent for this innovative, genre-bending book in which we accompany an elderly scientist, Galileo, on a journey in search of consciousness. His journey has three parts, each with a different guide. In the first part, accompanied by a scientist who resembles Francis Crick, he learns why certain parts of the brain are important and not others, and why consciousness fades with sleep. In the second part, when his companion seems to be named Alturi (Galileo is hard of heÅ his companion's name is actually Alan Turing), he sees how what we know about consciousness might coalesce into a theory of consciousness. In the third part, accompanied by an bearded man who can only be Charles Darwin, he meditates on how consciousness is an evolving, developing, ever-deepening awareness of ourselves in history and culture.

Giulio Tononi is a professor of psychiatry, the David P. White Professor of Sleep Medicine, and the Distinguished Chair in Consciousness Science at the University of Wisconsin. In addition to the major scientific journals, his work has appeared in New Scientist, Science Daily, and Scientific American. His research has been the subject of articles in The New York Times and The Economist. He is the coauthor, with Nobel laureate Gerald Edelman, of A Universe of Consciousness.

Preface	p. xi
Prologue	p. 1
The Dream of Galileo	p. 3
Evidence: Experiments of Nature	p. 15
Introduction: Displacements	p. 17
Cerebrum: In which is shown that the corticothalamic system generates consciousness	p. 25
Cerebellum: In which is shown that the cerebellum, while having more neurons than the cerebrum, does not generate consciousness	p. 37
Two Blind Painters: In which is shown that sensory inputs and pathways are not necessary for consciousness	p. 47
A Brain Locked In: In which is shown that motor outputs and pathways are not necessary for consciousness, nor are they sufficient	p. 57
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	p. 69
A Brain Split: In which is shown that consciousness is divided if the brain is split	p. 77
A Brain Conflicted: In which is said that consciousness can split if different regions of the brain refuse to talk to each other	p. 87
A Brain Possessed: In which is shown that when cortical neurons fire strongly and synchronously, as during certain seizures, consciousness fades	p. 97
A Brain Asleep: In which is shown that when cortical neurons can be on and off only together, as during dreamless sleep, consciousness fades	p. 104
Theory: Experiments of Thought	p. 115
Introduction: The Enigma of Consciousness	p. 117
Galileo and the Photodiode: In which is shown that the humble photodiode can tell light from dark as well as Galileo	p. 124
Information: The Manifold Repertoire: In Which is shown that the repertoire of possible experiences is as large as one can imagine	p. 136
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	p. 147
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	p. 157
Galileo and the Bat: In which is feared that the quality of experience cannot be derived from matter	p. 173
Seeing Dark (Deconstructing Darkness): In which is said that darkness does not exist in a void but requires a context	p. 182
The Meaning of Dark (Constructing Darkness): In which is shown that darkness is built of many nested mechanisms that specify what it is not	p. 194
The Place of Light: In which is shown that an experience is a shape made of integrated information	p. 205
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	p. 219
Implications: A Universe of Consciousness	p. 227
Introduction: Sparks and Flames	p. 229
Nightfall I: Death: In Which is said that, if consciousness is integrated information, it dissolves with death	p. 233
Nightfall II: Dementia: In which is said that consciousness disintegrates with dementia	p. 242
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	p. 252
Twilight I: Consciousness Diminished: In which is said that consciousness can be present in the absence of language and reflection	p. 263
Twilight II: Consciousness Evolving: In which is said that animals are conscious, too	p. 270
Twilight III: Consciousness Developing: In which is said that consciousness must be present, to some degree, even before birth	p. 277
Daylight I: Consciousness Exploring: In which is said that, by investigating nature, new qualia are discovered	p. 285
Daylight II: Consciousness Imagining: In which is said that art and imagination invent new shapes within the mind	p. 297
Daylight III: Consciousness Growing: In which is said that, by growing consciousness, the universe comes more into being, the synthesis of one and many	p. 311
Epilogue: Three Late Dreams	p. 321
Afterthoughts: Study Questions	p. 343
Acknowledgments	p. 351
Illustration Credits	p. 353
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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Phi A Voyage from the Brain to the Soul

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Table of Contents

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