Consciousness: here, there and everywhere?

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience and Philosophy of Mind
• Investigating the fundamental nature of consciousness and its physical basis.

Background:

• Current understanding of consciousness relies heavily on behavioral and neuronal correlates.
• These correlates are insufficient to explain why certain complex systems (e.g., cerebellum) lack consciousness while others (e.g., cerebral cortex) possess it.
• Assessing consciousness is challenging in various conditions, including patients with limited brain function, infants, non-human species, and advanced AI.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a comprehensive theory of consciousness that defines experience and identifies the physical systems capable of having it.
• To address the limitations of correlate-based approaches in understanding consciousness.
• To provide a framework for evaluating consciousness in diverse systems.

Main Methods:

• Developed Integrated Information Theory (IIT) based on five phenomenological axioms: intrinsic existence, composition, information, integration, and exclusion.
• Derived five postulates on the physical properties required for consciousness.
• Established a calculus to quantify the level and quality of consciousness (a quale) in physical systems.

Main Results:

• IIT offers a principled account of the quantity and quality of experience.
• The theory explains clinical and laboratory findings and makes testable predictions.
• It posits consciousness as a fundamental property of systems with specific causal powers.

Conclusions:

• Consciousness is graded and common in biological organisms, potentially existing in simple systems.
• Feed-forward networks and aggregates (e.g., groups, heaps) are predicted to be non-conscious.
• Digital computers, even if functionally equivalent or simulating the brain, would have minimal to no experience according to IIT.