INTEGRATED INFORMATION THEORY | IIT | DETAILED | TONONI & KOCH ➤➤

INTEGRATED INFORMATION THEORY | IIT | PROMINENT CRITIQUES & RESPONSES

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN | CROSSCHECK | 12.01.2015

|| CAN INTEGRATED INFORMATION THEORY EXPLAIN CONSCIOUSNESS ? | JOHN HORGAN ||

How does matter make mind ? More specifically , how does a physical object generate subjective experiences like those you are immersed in as you read this sentence ? How does stuff become conscious ? This is called the mind-body problem , or , by philosopher David Chalmers , the " hard problem " .

I expressed doubt that the hard problem can be solved — a position called mysterianism — in The End of Science . I argue in a new edition that my pessimism has been justified by the recent popularity of panpsychism . This ancient doctrine holds that consciousness is a property not just of brains but of all matter , like my table and coffee mug .

Panpsychism strikes me as self-evidently foolish , but non-foolish people— notably Chalmers and neuroscientist Christof Koch — are taking it seriously . How can that be ? What is compelling their interest ? Have I dismissed panpsychism too hastily ?

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SHTETL-OPTIMIZED | SCOTT AARONSON | MAY 2014

|| WHY I AM NOT AN INTEGRATED INFORMATION THEORIST ( OR , THE UNCONSCIOUS EXPANDER ) ||

Recently , lots of people have been asking me what I think about IIT — no , not the Indian Institutes of Technology , but Integrated Information Theory , a widely-discussed " Mathematical theory of consciousness " developed over the past decade by the neuroscientist Giulio Tononi .

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INTEGRATEDINFORMATIONTHEORY.ORG | THE CONSCIOUS GRID

|| WHY SCOTT SHOULD STARE AT A BLANK WALL AND RECONSIDER ( OR , THE CONSCIOUS GRID ) ||

Scott Aaronson has taken up to show that integrated information theory ( IIT ) of consciousness is wrong . As an honorable mention , Aaronson concedes that IIT is at least wrong precisely .

Because Scott's post is lucid , clearly argued , and constructive in spirit , it calls for a direct response .

Moreover , many of the comments on the blog indicate that Scott's challenge should be taken as an opportunity to clarify some aspects of IIT that may not be so easy to grasp .

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