Toward a Science of Consciousness: The First Tucson Discussions and Debates (Complex Adaptive Systems)

Scientists and philosophers are focusing more intensely than ever on the nature of our human experience, resulting in a newly coalescing field of Consciousness Studies that has become a worldwide and highly interdisciplinary phenomenon. Toward a Science of Consciousness marks the first major gathering -- a landmark event -- devoted entirely to unlocking the mysteries of consciousness. It explores the whole spectrum of approaches from philosophy of mind and dream research, to neuropsychology, pharmacology, and molecular dynamics, to neural networks, phenomenological accounts, and even the physics of reality. The aim is to lay a sound scientific foundation for future research while also reaching consensus on many scattered areas of inquiry. Following an overview, fifty-five chapters are divided into ten sections: philosophy, cognitive science, medicine/pathology, neurology, neural networks, subneural biology, quantum theory, non-locality in space and time, hierarchical organization, and phenomenology. In addition to the editors, who are, respectively, an anesthesiologist, a psychologist, and an applied mathematician, contributors include such luminaries as David Chalmers, Michael Conrad, Avshalom Elitzur, Owen Flanagan, David Galin, John Kihlstrom, Christof Koch, Benjamin Libet, Roger Penrose, Karl Pribram, Gary Schwartz, Petra Stoerig, John Taylor, Andrew Weil, Fred Wolf, and many others. Preface I Philosophy of Mind 1 Facing Up to the Problem of Consciousness 2 Consciousness and the Introspective Link Principle 3: The Place of Qualia in the World of Science 4: The Binding Problem and Neurobiological Oscillations 5: Deconstructing Dreams: The Spandrels of Sleep II: Cognitive Science 6: Unconscious Processes in Social Interaction 7: Efference and the Extension of Consciousness 8: Edelman’s Biological Theory of Consciousness 9 The Structure of Subjective Experience: Sharpen the Concepts and Terminology 10: The Varieties of Conscious Experience: Biological Roots and Social Usages III: Medicine 11: Induction of Consciousness in the Ischemic Brain 12: Conflicting Communicative Behavior in a Split-Brain Patient: Support for Dual Consciousness 13: Left Brain Says Yes, Right Brain Says No: Normative Duality in the Split Brain 14: Inkblot Testing of Commissurotomy Subjects: Contrasting Modes of Organizing Reality 15: Evidence for Language Comprehension in a Severe “Sensory Aphasic” 16: Self-Awareness of Deficit in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease IV: Experimental Neuroscience 17: Toward the Neuronal Substrate of Visual Consciousness 18: Visual Perception and Phenomenal Consciousness 19 Levels of Awareness and "Awareness Without Awareness": From Data to Theory 20: Implicit Memory During Anesthesia 21: Experimental Evidence for a Synchronization of Sensory Information to Conscious Experience 22: Positron Emission Tomography, Emotion, and Consciousness 23: Dimensional Complexity of Human EEG and Level of Consciousness 24: Collapse of a Quantum Field May Affect Brain Function 25: Neural time Factors in Conscious and Unconscious Mental Functions V: Neural Networks 26: Modeling What It Is Like To Be 27: Artificial “Attention” in an Oscillatory Neural Network 28: The Emergence of Memory Categorization Far From Equilibrium VI: Subneural Biology 29: Water Clusters: Pixels of Life 30: Microtubular Self-Organization and Information Processing Capabilities 31: Quantum Computation in the Neural Membrane: Implications for the Evolution of Consciousness 32: Computer Simulation of Anethetic Binding in Protein Hydrophobic Pockets VII: Quantum Theory 33: Consciousness and Bose-Einstein Condensates 34: On the Quantum Mechanics of Dreams and the Emergence of Self-Awareness 35: Percolation and Collapse of Quantum Parallelism: A Model of Qualia and Choice 36: Subcellular Quantum Optical Coherence: Implications for Consciousness 37: Orchestrated Reduction of Quantum Coherence in Brain Microtubules: A Model of Consciousness VIII Nonlocal Space and Time 38: Time and Consciousness: The Uneasy Bearing of Relativity Theory on the Mind-Body Problem 39: New Insights from Quantum Theory on Time, Consciousness, and Reality 40: Consciousness: A New Computational Paradigm 41: A Mathematical Strategy for a Theory of Consciousness 42: Nonlocality on a Human Scale: Psi and Consciousness Research 43: Synchronicity and Emergent Nonlocal Information in Quantum Systems IX: Hierarchical Organization 44: Self-Referent Mechanisms as the Neuronal Basis of Consciousness 45: A Framework of Higher-Order Cognition and Consciousness 46: Bioenergetic Foundations of Consciousness 47: The Hierarchical Emergence of Consciousness X: Phenomenology 48: Pharmacology of Consciousness: A Narrative of Subjective Experience 49: What Can Music Tell Us about the Nature of Mind? A Platonic Model 50 Intention, Self, and Spiritual Experience: A Functional Model of Consciousness 51: Enhanced Vigilance in Guided Meditation: Implications of Altered Consciousness 52: The Stream Revisited: A Process Model of Phenomenological Consciousness XI: Overview 53: Three Kinds of Thinking 54: The Possibility of Empirical test of Hypotheses About Consciousness 55: Toward a Science of Consciousness: Addressing Two Central Questions Postscript Contributors Index Annotation What Is Consciousness? Recent Attempts To Answer This Question Have Motivated Twointerdisciplinary Conferences Sponsored By The University Of Arizona In Tucson. The First Volume Oftoward A Science Of Consciousness Is Now Considered A Resource Book For The Emerging Field. Thisvolume Presents A Selection Of Invited Papers From The Second Conference, Held In April 1996. Thebook's Fifteen Sections Demonstrate The Broad Range Of Fields Now Focusing On Consciousness. Thesections Include Philosophy, Cognitive Science, Medicine, Neurobiology, Neural Correlates, Vision, Sleep And Dreaming, Anesthesia, Molecular Biology And Evolution, Quantum Theory, Spacetime, Hierarchial Organization, And Experiential Approaches. Each Section Is Preceded By An Overview Andcommentary. The Participants Include Bernard Baars, Ned Block, David J. Chalmers, Patricia S. Churchland, Daniel C. Dennett, Jeffrey Gray, Daniel Hillis, J. Allan Hobson, Stephen Laberge, Jaronlanier, Daniel S. Levine, Nikos K. Logothetis, Gary E. Schwartz, John R. Searle, Roger N. Shepard, Henry P. Stapp, Petra Stoerig, Charles T. Tart, John Taylor, Francisco J. Varela, Max Velmans, Rogerwalsh, And Lawrence Weiskantz.