Michael S. A. Graziano

Pretty good book, except the last couple chapters. Most of the book is a brief but good explanation of his theory of consciousness and attention, which I had seen before in a previous book of his, but the explanations here were simplified and easier to understand. But I wasn’t impressed by the last couple chapters — speculation about the possibilities of artificial consciousness and even worse about the possibilities of mind-uploading. These chapters should have been left out of the book. However, don’t skip the appendix! It’s a great brief summary of the way his theory of consciousness and attention (as outlined in the good first 7 chapters) could be used to set up a rudimentary computer prototype of his theory.… (altro)

Liked this book, what I can understand of it, but I had some mixed feelings. Graziano says he will explain how the brain produces consciousness -- a tall order, of course. I don't think he really explained it, at least not in a way I could grasp it. I feel like what he was really explaining was a theory that covers part of consciousness, not the whole thing. But he certainly had some good ideas that I could understand, and he made some points that resonated. One of the points he made early on, that I really liked, is how the traditional diagram showing a brain and a cloudy shape labelled "consciousness" usually features an arrow from the brain towards consciousness -- ie the brain "creates" consciousness. His point is that the diagram is true, but that it is incomplete: there must also be an arrow from consciousness back to the brain. Consciousness doesn't just float out there, because it can't do anything unless it can guide the brain into taking actions like talking or running or eating or reading.

Also I really liked the second-to-last chapter in the book about religion and spirituality.… (altro)