Phi: A Voyage from the Brain to the Soul
by Giulio Tononi
Pantheon Books, 2012 ($30)

Tononi, a leading researcher on consciousness and sleep at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, imagines Galileo on a Dantesque journey of exploration to discover the fundamental nature of consciousness. His meditation on the meanderings of Galileo, who is accompanied at times by scientists resembling Francis Crick, Alan Turing and Charles Darwin, serves as a vehicle for explaining his own theory that consciousness can be quantified. The brain, Tononi postulates, consists of billions of neurons: think of them as transistorlike elements that represent bits with a particular value. When tallied, they add up to more than the sum of their parts. That increment above and beyond—Tononi calls it “phi”—represents the degree to which any being, whether human or mule, remains conscious.

1 Comments

1. 1. vinodkumarsehgal 03:23 AM 8/4/12

   ough I have not read the entire book, but excerpts from the book indicates that entire book might have been written in a literary story telling tone. Serious concepts like consciousness, when appearing in Scientific magazine like SA, should appear in language having some semblance of scientific language, tone and tenor.
   
   Nevertheless the above, article has not succeeded to put forth some universally recognized definition of consciousness. It states consciousness lies where integrated information Phi, over and above the sum of parts, converges. If integrated information, phi, is consciousness then is Phi a priori for the existence of consciousness. A little pondering will lead to the revelation that consciousness shall exist even without any Phi. This Phi may be generated from external stimulation Or from internally generated signals from memory and imagination.
   
   Integrated information Phi projects a coherent image of the stimulus before the consciousness but per se it is quite different that consciousness.
   
   Eastern mystical thought of Hindus as enshrined in Upnishadas dwell upon the consciousness to be most fundamental in universe.
   
   One of the most fundamental and essential attribute of consciousness is "isness". When coupled with an element "Ahnkar" in causal body, :"isness" transforms to "amness" i.e. "I am". This feeling of "I am" is common in all human individuals. This essential attribute of "amness" is limited up to "I am" only and does not extends to "I am this" or " I am that" unless acted upon by some integrated information
   
   Brain lying in physical body and mind lying in astral body collectively process the stimulus from external or internal environment, finalizes an integrated information Phi and projects a single and coherent whole image before consciousness -- "I am". It is on the projection that consciousness, which hitherto was in the stage of " amness", extends to the stage of " I see that" or " I here this" or " this is this" or "This is that"
   The words my consciousness or his consciousness are misnomers. The feeling of "I-ness" or "myness" is so deeply ingrained in consciousness that both can be treated as synonymous. But both are different than information - integrated or non-integrated
   

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this