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Perspectives on Neuroscience
Published on: July 31, 2007
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Entropy and Cross-Level Orderliness in Light of the Interconnection between the Neural System and Consciousness
1Department of Philosophy, Sun Yat-sen University, 135 Xingang Xi Rd, Guangzhou 510275, China.
Entropy (Basel, Switzerland)
|March 29, 2023
Summary
Consciousness may have evolved from simple organisms to complex societies, driven by the need for world-brain alignment. This evolutionary process, focusing on anticipation and adaptation, shapes subjective experience and reduces system entropy.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Evolutionary Biology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- The origin and function of consciousness are debated despite scientific progress.
- An evolutionary perspective offers insights into consciousness's development.
- The temporospatial theory of consciousness highlights world-brain alignment for adaptation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the evolutionary origins of consciousness.
- To elaborate on the temporospatial theory of consciousness.
- To explore the role of world-brain alignment in behavioral control and adaptation.
Main Methods:
- Literature review focusing on evolutionary theory and consciousness.
- Analysis of the temporospatial theory of consciousness.
- Conceptual exploration of world-brain interaction and its evolutionary implications.
Main Results:
- World-brain alignment is a critical evolutionary predisposition for controlling behavior.
- Intrinsic activity, modified by stimulation, enables system cohesion.
- Organisms' subjective states arise from world-brain interaction, facilitating environmental anticipation.
- Anticipatory systems evolve in regular environments, guided by natural selection and entropy reduction.
Conclusions:
- Consciousness evolved through complex, layered structures from simple organisms to human society.
- Entropy can be viewed as a subject of natural evolution, not solely an individual entity.
- The temporospatial theory provides a framework for understanding consciousness as an adaptive, evolutionary phenomenon.
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