Skip to main content

Wishful Thinking About Consciousness

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Complex Networks & Their Applications XII (COMPLEX NETWORKS 2023)

Part of the book series: Studies in Computational Intelligence ((SCI,volume 1142))

Included in the following conference series:

  • 824 Accesses

Abstract

We contrast three distinct mathematical approaches to the hard problem of consciousness: quantum consciousness, integrated information theory, and the very large scale dynamical systems simulation of a network of networks. We highlight their features and their associated hypotheses, and we discuss how they are aligned or in conflict. We suggest some challenges for the future theories, in considering how they might apply to the human brain as it develops both cognitive and conscious sophistication, from infancy to adulthood; and how an evolutionary perspective challenges the distinct approaches to aver performance advantages and physiological surrogates for consciousness.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Chalmers, D.J.: Facing up to the Problem of Consciousness. J. Conscious. Stud. 2, 200–19 (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Chalmers, D.J.: The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory. Oxford University Press, New York (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Penrose, R.: The Emperor’s New Mind. Penguin Books, New York (1989). ISBN 0-14-01-4534-6

    Google Scholar 

  4. Jedlicka, P.: Revisiting the quantum brain hypothesis: toward quantum (Neuro)biology? Front. Mol. Neurosci. 10, 366 (2017). PMID: 29163041; PMCID: PMC5681944. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnmol.2017.00366

  5. Lambert, N., Chen, Y.N., Cheng, Y.C., et al.: Quantum biology. Nat. Phys. 9, 10–18 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2474

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Tegmark, M.: Importance of quantum decoherence in brain processes. Phys. Rev. E 61, 4194–4206 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.61.4194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Seife, C.: Cold numbers unmake the quantum mind. Science 287(5454), 791 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Penrose, R., Hameroff, S.: Consciousness in the universe: neuroscience, quantum space-time geometry and Orch OR theory. J. Cosmol. 14 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Marai, A., et al.: The future of quantum biology. J. R. Soc. Interface 15(148):20180640 (2018). PMID: 30429265; PMCID: PMC6283985 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2018.0640

  10. Chalmers, D.J., McQueen, K.J.: Consciousness and the collapse of the wave function. Consciousness Quant. Mech. 11 (2022)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Kremnizer, K., Ranchin, A.: Integrated information-induced quantum collapse. Found. Phys. 45(8), 889–899 (2015)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  12. Tononi, G.: An information integration theory of consciousness. BMC Neurosci. 5(1), 42 (2004). ISSN 1471–2202. PMC 543470. PMID 15522121. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2202-5-42

  13. Oizumi, M., Albantakis, L., Tononi, G.: From the phenomenology to the mechanisms of consciousness: integrated information theory 3.0. PLoS Comput. Biol. 10(5), e1003588 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Kleiner, J., Tull, S.: The mathematical structure of integrated information theory. Front. Appl. Math. Stat. 6 (2020). https://doi.org/10.3389/fams.2020.602973

  15. Zanardi, P., Tomka, M., Venuti, L.C.: Quantum Integrated Information Theory. arXiv preprint arXiv:1806.01421 (2018). Comparison with Standard Presentation of IIT 3.0

  16. Lau, H.: Open letter to NIH on Neuroethics Roadmap (BRAIN initiative) 2019. In: Consciousness We Trust (2020). https://inconsciousnesswetrust.blogspot.com/2020/05/open-letter-to-nih-on-neuroethics.html

  17. Merker, B.: The integrated information theory of consciousness: a case of mistaken identity. Behav. Brain Sci. 45, e41 (2021)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Grindrod, P., Lee, T.E.: On strongly connected networks with excitable-refractory dynamics and delayed coupling. Roy. Soc. Open Sci. 4(4), 160912 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160912

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  19. Grindrod, P., Lester, C.: Cortex-like complex systems: what occurs within? Front. Appl. Math. Stat. 7, 51 (2021). https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fams.2021.627236

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Grindrod, P., Brennan, M.: Cognition and consciousness entwined. Brain Sci. 13(6), 872 (2023). https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13060872

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Kahneman, D.: Thinking, Fast and Slow, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Furber, S.B., Galluppi, F., Temple, S., Plana, L.A.: The SpiNNaker project. Proc. IEEE 102(5), 652–665 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Eliasmith, C., Trujillo, O.: The use and abuse of large-scale brain models. Curr. Opin. Neurobiol. 25, 1–6 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2013.09.009

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Chen, S., et al.: How big data and high-performance computing drive brain science. Genomics Proteomics Bioinform. 17, 381–92 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gpb.2019.09.003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. DeBole, M.V., et al.: TrueNorth: accelerating from zero to 64 million neurons in 10 years. Computer 52(5), 20–9 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Temple, S., Furber, S.: Neural systems engineering. J. R. Soc. Interf. 4(13), 193–206 (2007). CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2006.0177

  27. Moss, S.: SpiNNaker: Brain Simulation Project Hits One Million Cores on a Single Machine Modeling the Brain Just Got a Bit Easier. Data Center Dynamics (2018). https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/spinnaker-brain-simulation-project-hits-one-million-cores-single-machine/. Accessed 16 Oct 2018

  28. Von Neumann, J.: Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics/Mathematische Grundlagen der Quantenmechanik. Springer (1932)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Wigner, E.P.: Remarks on the mind-body question. In: Mehra, J. (ed.) Philosophical Reflections and Syntheses, pp. 247–260. Springer, Heidelberg (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78374-6_20

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  30. Wikipedia. The Human Brain Project (2020). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Brain_Project(extracted May, 2020)

  31. Mullin, E.: How big science failed to unlock the mysteries of the human brain, MIT Tech Review (2021). https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/08/25/1032133/big-science-human-brain-failure/

  32. Grindrod, P., Brennan, M.: Generalised Kuramoto models with time-delayed phase-resetting for \(k\)-dimensional clock., Brain Multiphys. 4 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brain.2023.100070

  33. Dennett, D.C.: Consciousness Explained, Little, Brown and Co (1991)

    Google Scholar 

  34. Nani, A., Manuello, J., Mancuso, L., Liloia, D., Costa, T., Cauda, F.: The neural correlates of consciousness and attention: two sister processes of the brain. Front. Neurosci. 31(13), 1169 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter Grindrod .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Grindrod, P. (2024). Wishful Thinking About Consciousness. In: Cherifi, H., Rocha, L.M., Cherifi, C., Donduran, M. (eds) Complex Networks & Their Applications XII. COMPLEX NETWORKS 2023. Studies in Computational Intelligence, vol 1142. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-53499-7_40

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-53499-7_40

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-53498-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-53499-7

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics