Reddit reviews I of the Vortex: From Neurons to Self

I just finished reading a book on just this--consequently I agree with the author on what consciousness is (as opposed to Penrose and his quantum-coherence theory).

Logically, only entities that move (animals) purposefully require a tool to predict exactly where they're going. Evolutionarily speaking, this tool will need to make the most useful predictions possible in order to conserve the entity's energy, and maximize its reproductive success. Unsucessful animals will make odd movements, and possibly get themselves killed with mispredictions.

Essentially, consciousness is the "centralization of prediction", a single, unified, holographic construct which allows us to make informed decisions about the world around us.

The Thalamus...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalamus

... is both the area where sensory information from the body is routed to the proper area of the Cortex, and the area where different parts of the cortex send connections to be routed to other areas. The "seat" of consciousness is the part of the Thalamus (the Vestibular Nucleus) where these sensory fragments are bound together in the time domain. The Thalamus also has its own "pacemaker" cells in it, which express themselves with a rhythm of about 40Hz--different Cortical areas of the brain seem to resonate at that same 40Hz frequency (implying Thalamic routing) when those areas pertain to actual conscious attention. These different sections of the brain bind themselves into temporary working groups (and are unbound as needed) as one's focus shifts.

The actual pathway of information in the brain forms a complete loop, from the Thalamus to the Cortex, the Cortex to the Basal Ganglia, and then back to the Thalamus.

We are an infinite loop of binding/unbinding brain areas, forever modulating information we take in from our periphery with the intrinsic activity of our own brains, using this emergent tool to predict and understand the world we live in. It's nothing more than a dream.



The book I read was "I of the Vortex" by Rodolfo Llinas.

Rodolfo R. Llinás (b. Bogotá, Colombia in 1934) is the Thomas and Suzanne Murphy Professor of Neuroscience and Chairman of the department of Physiology & Neuroscience at the NYU School of Medicine. He went to the Gimnasio Moderno school and received his MD from the Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá in 1959 and his PhD in 1965 from the Australian National University working under Sir John Eccles. Llinás has published over 500 scientific articles.

He is especially known for his work on the physiology of the cerebellum, the thalamus, Thalamocortical dysrhythmia as well as for his pioneering work on the inferior olive, on the squid giant synapse and on human magnetoencephalography (MEG).

http://www.amazon.com/Vortex-Neurons-Rodolfo-R-Llinas/dp/0262621630

Daniel Wolpert sums it up pretty nicely. If you prefer to read, I of the Vortex has answers as well.