What do you think?
Rate this book
Phi: A Voyage from the Brain to the Soul
From one of the most original and influential neuroscientists at work today, here is an exploration of consciousness unlike any other—as told by Galileo, who opened the way for the objectivity of science and is now intent on making subjective experience a part of science as well.
Galileo’s journey has three parts, each with a different guide. In the first, accompanied by a scientist who resembles Francis Crick, he learns why certain parts of the brain are important and not others, and why consciousness fades with sleep. In the second part, when his companion seems to be named Alturi (Galileo is hard of hearing; his companion’s name is actually Alan Turing), he sees how the facts assembled in the first part can be unified and understood through a scientific theory—a theory that links consciousness to the notion of integrated information (also known as phi). In the third part, accompanied by a bearded man who can only be Charles Darwin, he meditates on how consciousness is an evolving, developing, ever-deepening awareness of ourselves in history and culture—that it is everything we have and everything we are.
Not since Gödel, Escher, Bach has there been a book that interweaves science, art, and the imagination with such originality. This beautiful and arresting narrative will transform the way we think of ourselves and the world.
Galileo’s journey has three parts, each with a different guide. In the first, accompanied by a scientist who resembles Francis Crick, he learns why certain parts of the brain are important and not others, and why consciousness fades with sleep. In the second part, when his companion seems to be named Alturi (Galileo is hard of hearing; his companion’s name is actually Alan Turing), he sees how the facts assembled in the first part can be unified and understood through a scientific theory—a theory that links consciousness to the notion of integrated information (also known as phi). In the third part, accompanied by a bearded man who can only be Charles Darwin, he meditates on how consciousness is an evolving, developing, ever-deepening awareness of ourselves in history and culture—that it is everything we have and everything we are.
Not since Gödel, Escher, Bach has there been a book that interweaves science, art, and the imagination with such originality. This beautiful and arresting narrative will transform the way we think of ourselves and the world.
386 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2012
About the author
Giulio Tononi
12 books75 followersGiulio Tononi is a professor of psychiatry, the David P. White Professor of Sleep Medicine, and the Distinguished Chair in Consciousness Science at the University of Wisconsin. In addition to the major scientific journals, his work has appeared in New Scientist, Science Daily, and Scientific American. His research has been the subject of articles in The New York Times and The Economist. He is the coauthor, with Nobel laureate Gerald Edelman, of A Universe of Consciousness.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews
April 11, 2014
The idea behind this book is wonderfully original; Francis Crick, Alan Turing, and Charles Darwin take Galileo on a trip to view a wide range of metaphorical scenarios. Each scenario explores a different aspect of the brain, or of consciousness. This approach is reminiscent of Dante's Inferno, but with a scientific attitude superimposed onto artistic and religious themes. Why Galileo? He was one of the first people to use the scientific method, upending the then-prevalent Aristotelian mentality.
The first part of the book dealt with various subcomponents of consciousness. But why Francis Crick? I had not previously realized that after working out the structure of DNA, he moved to California, and worked in the field of neuroscience and consciousness. In this part, Crick takes Galileo to see a variety of people with brain limitations or damage, to understand how various parts of our brain contribute to consciousness.
In the second part of the book, Alan Turing helps Galileo explore various information aspects of consciousness. Starting with the simple example of a photo-diode, they boost up the complexity and come up with the idea that information integration--symbolized by the symbol PHI--is at the heart of consciousness. In the third part of the book, Charles Darwin leads Galileo to explore the evolution of consciousness.
Besides the originality of the "voyage" aspect through the brain and consciousness, the heavy "feel" of the book is amazing. There is a photograph or artistic image on at least every other page. There are no captions below the images, but at the end of each short chapter there are notes that explain them. In addition, the notes serve as commentary on the chapter, explaining the actions of the characters and their significance. Even the commentary is unusual, in that the notes sometimes include opinions about the behavior of the characters, as if the body of each chapter were a historical text, and the commentary were the writings of a scholar from a later generation.
The first two parts of the book were excellent, but the last part seemed to fall apart for me. I could not understand where the journey was going. All in all, this is one of the most original, imaginative books I have ever read; it ranks up there with Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid. But this book requires attention in order unravel the tapestry of scientific, metaphorical, artistic, and literary themes.
The first part of the book dealt with various subcomponents of consciousness. But why Francis Crick? I had not previously realized that after working out the structure of DNA, he moved to California, and worked in the field of neuroscience and consciousness. In this part, Crick takes Galileo to see a variety of people with brain limitations or damage, to understand how various parts of our brain contribute to consciousness.
In the second part of the book, Alan Turing helps Galileo explore various information aspects of consciousness. Starting with the simple example of a photo-diode, they boost up the complexity and come up with the idea that information integration--symbolized by the symbol PHI--is at the heart of consciousness. In the third part of the book, Charles Darwin leads Galileo to explore the evolution of consciousness.
Besides the originality of the "voyage" aspect through the brain and consciousness, the heavy "feel" of the book is amazing. There is a photograph or artistic image on at least every other page. There are no captions below the images, but at the end of each short chapter there are notes that explain them. In addition, the notes serve as commentary on the chapter, explaining the actions of the characters and their significance. Even the commentary is unusual, in that the notes sometimes include opinions about the behavior of the characters, as if the body of each chapter were a historical text, and the commentary were the writings of a scholar from a later generation.
The first two parts of the book were excellent, but the last part seemed to fall apart for me. I could not understand where the journey was going. All in all, this is one of the most original, imaginative books I have ever read; it ranks up there with Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid. But this book requires attention in order unravel the tapestry of scientific, metaphorical, artistic, and literary themes.
September 15, 2020
I continue my voyage into the different theories of consciousness. This was quite a pleasant part. Guile Tononi is a neuroscientist and the founder of the Integrated Information Theory of consciousness (IIT), the one of the most advanced modern hypotheses about the nature of it. But this book is much more playful than I expected it to be. In fact, it is hard to believe it is written by a scientist. It resembles more a kind of fiction with the hint of post-modern.
Evidently it is modelled on Dante’s The Divine Comedy. Here, we do not have Dante - Galileo replaces him instead. The book has structured into three parts like the Comedy. The first part “Evidence: Experiments of nature”. Here, Galileo is lead by Frick (in real life Francis Crick, the Nobel Prize Winner for DNA discovery, but successful neuroscientist in the later life). In this part they they meet different people including famous scientists, artists and writers who happen to be in various conscious and unconscious states. Loosely, this part is focused on the different neurological phenomena related to subjective experiences. For example, the one chapter is talking about two blind painters, the one so-called retinal and another - cortical. They are based on Gian Paolo Lomazzo and Solonisba Anguissola of 16th century. Lomazzo became blind early due to methanol poisoning and become famous theoretician of painting. Sononisba in contrast has become blind in the age of 96. Here, her blindness is presented as cortical (the rare condition when the patient does not know that she is blind). “They may fall over the objects, do not recognise relatives, and instead describe people and objects which are not there at all.” This is just one chapter. But there are 11 chapters in this part covering many other matters. By the way, this book is lavishly illustrated with paintings by different artists from Bruegel and Titian to less famous but very striking ones like aforementioned Soninisba. Each chapter tells a little story through a dialogue between Galileo, Frick and the others. There are a lot of pictures as well. Then, it is followed by the set of slightly more technical notes. But again, not too technical.
The next part is called “Theory: Experiments of thought”. Here, Galileo is accompanied by someone called Alturi, which is obviously stands for Allan Turing. The structure is the same: 11 chapters of travelling around and meeting different historical figures, illustrations and the notes. But the discussion is focused on information theory and its connection with the ITT. We meet Shannon, Decartes, Spinoza, Leibniz and many others.
It is the place were Tononi touches upon his theory (ITT). Namely, what he imagines consciousness is, or more accurately how it arises. He does not attempt to fully explain so called “hard problem of consciousness” - how the physical brain produces mental subjective experience. But he is trying to explain what this experience (or more accurately a huge set of different experiences) comes down to. In his view, the consciousness arrises where there is a system with a relatively big number of states (our individual experiences in this case) and where the states are well integrated with each other. I do not want anyone loosing me on this. So i give the word to Galileo:
“And then it dawned on Galileo. Perhaps the essential difference between the photodiode and himself was this—every time he, Galileo, had a vivid experience, even the simplest one, such as pure darkness, his brain was not merely distinguishing one possibility from another, his brain was not just telling dark from light (though Alturi had set him up like that). No, his brain and its complicated mechanisms were distinguishing between pure darkness and countless other situations, which would have led to trillions of different experiences. Because to Galileo, dark was not just different from light, it also meant it was not red, or blue, or any color in the rainbow, any face, any place, any sound and smell and flavor, any feeling and any thought, and any of their combinations. But to the photodiode, dark must have meant much less. With its simple mechanism, the photodiode had no way of knowing that dark was not a color, not a face and not a place, not a sound or smell or flavor, not a feeling and not a thought—to a photodiode, dark was not dark, but merely one out of two. To a photodiode, the whole universe merely was: this or not this. Maybe the essential difference between the photodiode and himself, indeed, was information.
So Galileo came to a simple thought: perhaps it was due to the immense repertoire of alternatives that his brain could distinguish that he was conscious and the photodiode not, or infinitely less so. Consciousness makes up in number for what it lacks in weight, he thought.”
So, according to this view, consciousness arises due to the differences between many individual states. It reminded me the linguistics theory by Ferdinand de Saussure, the founder of semiotics, who claimed the meaning arises due to the difference between the words... In any case, Tononi claims this phenomena of consciousness then can be measured mathematically:
“Integrated information measures how much can be distinguished by the whole above and beyond its parts, and Φ is its symbol. A complex is where Φ reaches its maximum, and therein lives one consciousness—a single entity of experience.”
There is no formula in the book. This part looks quite technical in my summary. But it does not in the book. Tononi, Galileo and Alturi manage to balance the accessibility with the theory through all these examples, illustrations and cameo appearances. And it is quite entertaining in its own way.
The third and the final part is “Implications: The Universe of Consciousness.” It explains what implications this theory, if true, would have for our creativity, beliefs and some philosophical or theological questions. We meet Proust, Borges, Freud and many others.
I do not think i’ve presented the book very well, but it was a delight to read. Having seen the recent inclusion of Love and Other Thought Experiments into the Booker longlist, I was thinking that this book has definitely deserved a nomination as well. I am not very serious about it actually and the book is a few years old. But it could definitely compete for the prize even on the ground of a literary merit. I would recommend it to my friends who are interested in the topic, but more literary inclined. At least you would meet a lot of familiar faces and appreciate Tononi’s taste in the selection of paintings. But you might learn a few things about the neuroscience on the way as well without too much effort as I did.
For those who are interested in more technical take on the ITT and measuring consciousness, I suggest to read this article https://www.wired.com/story/tricky-bu... and the book by Koch The Feeling of Life Itself: Why Consciousness Is Widespread But Can't Be Computed
Evidently it is modelled on Dante’s The Divine Comedy. Here, we do not have Dante - Galileo replaces him instead. The book has structured into three parts like the Comedy. The first part “Evidence: Experiments of nature”. Here, Galileo is lead by Frick (in real life Francis Crick, the Nobel Prize Winner for DNA discovery, but successful neuroscientist in the later life). In this part they they meet different people including famous scientists, artists and writers who happen to be in various conscious and unconscious states. Loosely, this part is focused on the different neurological phenomena related to subjective experiences. For example, the one chapter is talking about two blind painters, the one so-called retinal and another - cortical. They are based on Gian Paolo Lomazzo and Solonisba Anguissola of 16th century. Lomazzo became blind early due to methanol poisoning and become famous theoretician of painting. Sononisba in contrast has become blind in the age of 96. Here, her blindness is presented as cortical (the rare condition when the patient does not know that she is blind). “They may fall over the objects, do not recognise relatives, and instead describe people and objects which are not there at all.” This is just one chapter. But there are 11 chapters in this part covering many other matters. By the way, this book is lavishly illustrated with paintings by different artists from Bruegel and Titian to less famous but very striking ones like aforementioned Soninisba. Each chapter tells a little story through a dialogue between Galileo, Frick and the others. There are a lot of pictures as well. Then, it is followed by the set of slightly more technical notes. But again, not too technical.
The next part is called “Theory: Experiments of thought”. Here, Galileo is accompanied by someone called Alturi, which is obviously stands for Allan Turing. The structure is the same: 11 chapters of travelling around and meeting different historical figures, illustrations and the notes. But the discussion is focused on information theory and its connection with the ITT. We meet Shannon, Decartes, Spinoza, Leibniz and many others.
It is the place were Tononi touches upon his theory (ITT). Namely, what he imagines consciousness is, or more accurately how it arises. He does not attempt to fully explain so called “hard problem of consciousness” - how the physical brain produces mental subjective experience. But he is trying to explain what this experience (or more accurately a huge set of different experiences) comes down to. In his view, the consciousness arrises where there is a system with a relatively big number of states (our individual experiences in this case) and where the states are well integrated with each other. I do not want anyone loosing me on this. So i give the word to Galileo:
“And then it dawned on Galileo. Perhaps the essential difference between the photodiode and himself was this—every time he, Galileo, had a vivid experience, even the simplest one, such as pure darkness, his brain was not merely distinguishing one possibility from another, his brain was not just telling dark from light (though Alturi had set him up like that). No, his brain and its complicated mechanisms were distinguishing between pure darkness and countless other situations, which would have led to trillions of different experiences. Because to Galileo, dark was not just different from light, it also meant it was not red, or blue, or any color in the rainbow, any face, any place, any sound and smell and flavor, any feeling and any thought, and any of their combinations. But to the photodiode, dark must have meant much less. With its simple mechanism, the photodiode had no way of knowing that dark was not a color, not a face and not a place, not a sound or smell or flavor, not a feeling and not a thought—to a photodiode, dark was not dark, but merely one out of two. To a photodiode, the whole universe merely was: this or not this. Maybe the essential difference between the photodiode and himself, indeed, was information.
So Galileo came to a simple thought: perhaps it was due to the immense repertoire of alternatives that his brain could distinguish that he was conscious and the photodiode not, or infinitely less so. Consciousness makes up in number for what it lacks in weight, he thought.”
So, according to this view, consciousness arises due to the differences between many individual states. It reminded me the linguistics theory by Ferdinand de Saussure, the founder of semiotics, who claimed the meaning arises due to the difference between the words... In any case, Tononi claims this phenomena of consciousness then can be measured mathematically:
“Integrated information measures how much can be distinguished by the whole above and beyond its parts, and Φ is its symbol. A complex is where Φ reaches its maximum, and therein lives one consciousness—a single entity of experience.”
There is no formula in the book. This part looks quite technical in my summary. But it does not in the book. Tononi, Galileo and Alturi manage to balance the accessibility with the theory through all these examples, illustrations and cameo appearances. And it is quite entertaining in its own way.
The third and the final part is “Implications: The Universe of Consciousness.” It explains what implications this theory, if true, would have for our creativity, beliefs and some philosophical or theological questions. We meet Proust, Borges, Freud and many others.
I do not think i’ve presented the book very well, but it was a delight to read. Having seen the recent inclusion of Love and Other Thought Experiments into the Booker longlist, I was thinking that this book has definitely deserved a nomination as well. I am not very serious about it actually and the book is a few years old. But it could definitely compete for the prize even on the ground of a literary merit. I would recommend it to my friends who are interested in the topic, but more literary inclined. At least you would meet a lot of familiar faces and appreciate Tononi’s taste in the selection of paintings. But you might learn a few things about the neuroscience on the way as well without too much effort as I did.
For those who are interested in more technical take on the ITT and measuring consciousness, I suggest to read this article https://www.wired.com/story/tricky-bu... and the book by Koch The Feeling of Life Itself: Why Consciousness Is Widespread But Can't Be Computed
December 2, 2022
Phi, die goldene Zahl, Zahl des Lebens, ganz banal Φ, etwa ~1.618033988749895 ist schon eine erstaunliche Zahl. Sie findet sich in der Geometrie von Kristallen, Blüten und Gehäusen, im Verhältnis weiblicher zu männlichen Bienen, in Körpermaßen, in Tönen und Harmonien, in den Spiralen von Galaxien, und nicht umsonst wird mit dem goldenen Schnitt in Kunst und Architektur perfekte Harmonie angestrebt.
Phi ist auch Maß für Integrierte Information. Die vom Autor und Neurowissenschaftler Giulio Tononi entwickelte Integrated Information Theory (IIT) ist mittlerweile eines der heißesten Modelle zur Erforschung des Bewusstseins. Tononi hat versucht, das sperrige Thema in einer für ein Wissenschaftsbuch völlig unerwarteten und erstaunlichen Weise aufzubereiten und so für jeden Interessierten zugänglich zu machen.
Idee und Form des Buchs hat Tononi bei seinem Landsmann Dante Alighieri und dessen göttlicher Komödie entliehen. Die in drei Teilen erzählte Wanderung führt jedoch nicht in die Bereiche des Jenseits, sondern in die des Innenlebens. Wir begleiten nicht Dante, sondern Galileo auf einer phantastischen Reise durch das Reich des Bewusstseins und seine Führer sind Frick, Alturi und der bärtige alte Mann, die, wie sich bald herausstellt, Francis Crick, Alan Turing und Charles Darwin verkörpern. Auf seiner Reise trifft Galileo auf eine illustre Reihe mehr oder weniger bedeutsamer Figuren - Maler, Philosophen, Literaten, Wissenschaftler. Oft sind die Namen nur mit dem ersten Buchstaben abgekürzt, man darf rätseln, und notfalls wird man nach jedem Kapitel in den Anmerkungen aufgeklärt.
Galileo diskutiert mit dem einradfahrenden S. über Information und Entropie, lauscht dem Dialog des blinden Malers Gian Paolo Lomazzo mit der blinden Malerin Sofonisba Anguissola, er schaut im Palast des Lichtes durch das Qualiaskop des Linsenschleifers Spinoza, er trifft Descartes, Leibnitz, Caroline Herschel, die wie ihr Bruder eine bedeutende Astronomin war. Zu meiner großen Freude hat auch der Philosoph N. seinen Auftritt, dank der Abbildung von Dürers Fledermaus hab ich ihn gleich als Thomas Nagel (Wie ist es, eine Fledermaus zu sein?) erkannt. Ein beängstigendes Kapitel, das die Erfahrung des Schmerzes auslotet, ist Kafkas Strafkolonie nachempfunden. Meine Lieblingsszene spielt im Foyer eines Pariser Mietshauses, wo sich Marcel Proust, der Polarfahrer Ernest Shakleton, Sigmund Freud und Charles Darwin darüber streiten, ob denn die Erforschung innerer oder äußerer Phänomene zu den entscheidenden Entdeckungen führt. Als die Herren fast untergriffig werden, kommt Emily Dickinson die Treppe herab und beendet den Streit mit einem Zitat aus einem ihrer Gedichte.
So ist Wissenschaft nicht nur lehrreich und macht Spaß, die Art der Darstellung ist auch angemessen, da die Erforschung des Bewusstseins nur interdisziplinär zum Ziel führen wird.
Weder die Naturwissenschaft noch die Philosophie alleine werden das Leib-Seele Problem, das Rätsel der Qualia oder die Frage nach der Wirklichkeit der Realität lösen. Ich finde es großartig, wie der Wissenschaftler Tononi es der Kunst zugesteht, dass sie durch ihre intuitive Herangehensweise einem Verständnis oft näher ist als Kalkül und Vernunft. Konsequenterweise sind zahlreiche Zitate und Ausschnitte aus Literatur und Dichtung in den Kontext eingebunden, das Buch ist durchgängig mit farbigen Abbildungen aus Kunst und Wissenschaft ausgestattet und es ist aufwändig und in allen Detail liebevoll gestaltet, ein echter Augenschmaus.
Aus meiner Sicht ist das Buch eine Sensation! Durch seine ungewöhnliche und phantasievolle Machart war es mir Wissensvertiefung, Erlebnis und Inspiration in einem. Wenn man sich für die Erforschung des Bewusstsein im Speziellen interessiert, ist es ein Muss, aber auch Leserinnen und Lesern, die sich ganz allgemein für den menschlichen Geist im Zusammenhang von Philosophie, Wissenschaft und Kunst interessieren, würde ich es vorbehaltlos empfehlen.
Phi ist auch Maß für Integrierte Information. Die vom Autor und Neurowissenschaftler Giulio Tononi entwickelte Integrated Information Theory (IIT) ist mittlerweile eines der heißesten Modelle zur Erforschung des Bewusstseins. Tononi hat versucht, das sperrige Thema in einer für ein Wissenschaftsbuch völlig unerwarteten und erstaunlichen Weise aufzubereiten und so für jeden Interessierten zugänglich zu machen.
Idee und Form des Buchs hat Tononi bei seinem Landsmann Dante Alighieri und dessen göttlicher Komödie entliehen. Die in drei Teilen erzählte Wanderung führt jedoch nicht in die Bereiche des Jenseits, sondern in die des Innenlebens. Wir begleiten nicht Dante, sondern Galileo auf einer phantastischen Reise durch das Reich des Bewusstseins und seine Führer sind Frick, Alturi und der bärtige alte Mann, die, wie sich bald herausstellt, Francis Crick, Alan Turing und Charles Darwin verkörpern. Auf seiner Reise trifft Galileo auf eine illustre Reihe mehr oder weniger bedeutsamer Figuren - Maler, Philosophen, Literaten, Wissenschaftler. Oft sind die Namen nur mit dem ersten Buchstaben abgekürzt, man darf rätseln, und notfalls wird man nach jedem Kapitel in den Anmerkungen aufgeklärt.
Galileo diskutiert mit dem einradfahrenden S. über Information und Entropie, lauscht dem Dialog des blinden Malers Gian Paolo Lomazzo mit der blinden Malerin Sofonisba Anguissola, er schaut im Palast des Lichtes durch das Qualiaskop des Linsenschleifers Spinoza, er trifft Descartes, Leibnitz, Caroline Herschel, die wie ihr Bruder eine bedeutende Astronomin war. Zu meiner großen Freude hat auch der Philosoph N. seinen Auftritt, dank der Abbildung von Dürers Fledermaus hab ich ihn gleich als Thomas Nagel (Wie ist es, eine Fledermaus zu sein?) erkannt. Ein beängstigendes Kapitel, das die Erfahrung des Schmerzes auslotet, ist Kafkas Strafkolonie nachempfunden. Meine Lieblingsszene spielt im Foyer eines Pariser Mietshauses, wo sich Marcel Proust, der Polarfahrer Ernest Shakleton, Sigmund Freud und Charles Darwin darüber streiten, ob denn die Erforschung innerer oder äußerer Phänomene zu den entscheidenden Entdeckungen führt. Als die Herren fast untergriffig werden, kommt Emily Dickinson die Treppe herab und beendet den Streit mit einem Zitat aus einem ihrer Gedichte.
So ist Wissenschaft nicht nur lehrreich und macht Spaß, die Art der Darstellung ist auch angemessen, da die Erforschung des Bewusstseins nur interdisziplinär zum Ziel führen wird.
Weder die Naturwissenschaft noch die Philosophie alleine werden das Leib-Seele Problem, das Rätsel der Qualia oder die Frage nach der Wirklichkeit der Realität lösen. Ich finde es großartig, wie der Wissenschaftler Tononi es der Kunst zugesteht, dass sie durch ihre intuitive Herangehensweise einem Verständnis oft näher ist als Kalkül und Vernunft. Konsequenterweise sind zahlreiche Zitate und Ausschnitte aus Literatur und Dichtung in den Kontext eingebunden, das Buch ist durchgängig mit farbigen Abbildungen aus Kunst und Wissenschaft ausgestattet und es ist aufwändig und in allen Detail liebevoll gestaltet, ein echter Augenschmaus.
Aus meiner Sicht ist das Buch eine Sensation! Durch seine ungewöhnliche und phantasievolle Machart war es mir Wissensvertiefung, Erlebnis und Inspiration in einem. Wenn man sich für die Erforschung des Bewusstsein im Speziellen interessiert, ist es ein Muss, aber auch Leserinnen und Lesern, die sich ganz allgemein für den menschlichen Geist im Zusammenhang von Philosophie, Wissenschaft und Kunst interessieren, würde ich es vorbehaltlos empfehlen.
December 20, 2012
Oh, for heaven's sake. I wanted to like this a lot more than I did, reviews compared it to Gödel, Escher, Bach (which I have to admit I have owned for about 20 years, and never made it past page 17 because it gets way too hard) and Sophie's World, in that it takes an academic discipline -- neural science and the definition of human consciousness -- and puts it into a populist format with kind of a loose narrative (although mercifully, one which does not involve the U.N.).
So I think we're using a series of metaphors and analogies to describe different aspects of consciousness and neurological process? My biggest problem with the book is that they weren't particularly GOOD analogies. They were elaborate and detailed and gussed up with a lot of literary language so by the end I would typically lose the thread and have no idea was it was supposed to be an analogy for in the first place. There were also a lot of cameos from real historic figures, with coy remarks about how the author took license with the details -- and at first, I was all for this -- I have no issues with using the basics of an example from history without a lot of labored extra effort to make all the exact circumstances fit into a metaphor -- but these examples got so crazy off-topic that I can't figure why there was a big *wink, wink* about making them actual people.
All the information about neurology you already know from reading Oliver Sacks.
The book also weighs about fifty million pounds, because it's printed on extremely high quality paper and contains a whole bunch of excellent reproductions of classic art, photography, and other images. You know, I get what the author was trying to do, and if the book worked better, I'd probably be more excited about the art ... but it ended up, to me, looking like someone was trying to bulk up a web site by throwing up a bunch of images without actually improving the content.
Reading this never stopped feeling like homework. I noticed, though, that reading this as homework would probably have been a better experience for me, it would have been interesting to read it with someone else and see what kinds of conversations and reactions get sparked as a result. (Not that I would encourage anyone to read this for the sole purpose of talking about it, more like if you had to read it for an assignment, I bet there would be good class discussions.)
I guess the most frustrating thing is that I can completely see how the author is knowledgeable and passionate about the topic, and probably a very interesting guy to chat with in person, and the plan for this book is impressive ... but it simply doesn't meet the goals.
So I think we're using a series of metaphors and analogies to describe different aspects of consciousness and neurological process? My biggest problem with the book is that they weren't particularly GOOD analogies. They were elaborate and detailed and gussed up with a lot of literary language so by the end I would typically lose the thread and have no idea was it was supposed to be an analogy for in the first place. There were also a lot of cameos from real historic figures, with coy remarks about how the author took license with the details -- and at first, I was all for this -- I have no issues with using the basics of an example from history without a lot of labored extra effort to make all the exact circumstances fit into a metaphor -- but these examples got so crazy off-topic that I can't figure why there was a big *wink, wink* about making them actual people.
All the information about neurology you already know from reading Oliver Sacks.
The book also weighs about fifty million pounds, because it's printed on extremely high quality paper and contains a whole bunch of excellent reproductions of classic art, photography, and other images. You know, I get what the author was trying to do, and if the book worked better, I'd probably be more excited about the art ... but it ended up, to me, looking like someone was trying to bulk up a web site by throwing up a bunch of images without actually improving the content.
Reading this never stopped feeling like homework. I noticed, though, that reading this as homework would probably have been a better experience for me, it would have been interesting to read it with someone else and see what kinds of conversations and reactions get sparked as a result. (Not that I would encourage anyone to read this for the sole purpose of talking about it, more like if you had to read it for an assignment, I bet there would be good class discussions.)
I guess the most frustrating thing is that I can completely see how the author is knowledgeable and passionate about the topic, and probably a very interesting guy to chat with in person, and the plan for this book is impressive ... but it simply doesn't meet the goals.
November 13, 2012
This ranks as the oddest neuroscience book I've ever read, and yet for me it was often beautiful and quite compelling.
Giulio Tononi specializes in work on neuroscience and the mystery of consciousness -- how we gain a sense of self and an awareness of all our mental experiences adding up to an "I."
To do this, he creates short, vivid chapters of a journey through time with Galileo. Along the way, Galileo meets many other historical figures, from Francis Crick to Alan Turing to Freud to Kant to Borges, each introduced to illustrate some aspect of how our brains work and what constitutes consciousness.
The title, Phi, is Tononi's way of expressing the somewhat ineffable idea that consciousness is the totality of integrated information that our brains produce, residing not in one particular part of the brain, but certainly seated somehow in the frontal cortex.
Someone with bucks must have loved this book project, because the hardcover is printed on glossy, heavy stock with scores of full color illustrations of great works of art and other scenes. Each short chapter ends with a set of notes to explain what the more scientific meaning of the chapter was, which gives Tononi freedom to exercise his creative writing muscles in the main text. Sometimes, he does that quite well. At other times, he ventures into Creative Writing 101 territory.
Nevertheless, I found much of this material to be fascinating, particularly his chapters toward the end that explored such things as when or whether consciousness might develop before birth, how consciousness permits imagination as well as discovery, and how consciousness can exist without language.
November 7, 2015
There's a lot here that is interesting, but the biggest problem with this book is that I cannot figure out who it is written for. It's basically a thought experiment, highly allegorical, with many obscure literary, historical, and philosophical allusions. Therein lies the problem. It's far too fanciful for the technically-minded reader interested in a serious exposition on the nature of consciousness; it contributes nothing new to that reader. For the less technically-oriented reader with little exposure to theories of consciouness, it probably seems too erudite and somewhat pretentious (particularly the author's notes at the end of each chapter, which frequently refer to the author in the third person and say things like, "what the author means by that is unknown.") The artwork is beautiful, but generally does nothing to illuminate the ideas in the book, so that the whole thing comes off as an extremely heavy, expensive coffee-table book.
Read
March 30, 2018A most interesting book.
First of all it has an unusual format. It follows Galileo on an imaginary journey where he encounters interesting people who, through discussion and confrontation with various "interesting patients “ try to paint a picture of what consciousness really is. This has the added benefit that the reader is part of the journey to the “answers" which makes it much more impactful to read the book. It also makes you reflect on your own consciousness and I noticed myself being annoyed with verbosity on the one hand but also conceding that the story format did make it more impactful.
If you are into philosophy of consciousness then you can skip half of the book though. However, there are some nice takeaways in the second half as well. For example the notion that consciousness has gradations and that the more differences that make a difference one can see, the more consciousness one has.
First of all it has an unusual format. It follows Galileo on an imaginary journey where he encounters interesting people who, through discussion and confrontation with various "interesting patients “ try to paint a picture of what consciousness really is. This has the added benefit that the reader is part of the journey to the “answers" which makes it much more impactful to read the book. It also makes you reflect on your own consciousness and I noticed myself being annoyed with verbosity on the one hand but also conceding that the story format did make it more impactful.
If you are into philosophy of consciousness then you can skip half of the book though. However, there are some nice takeaways in the second half as well. For example the notion that consciousness has gradations and that the more differences that make a difference one can see, the more consciousness one has.
April 22, 2013
Phi is an extremely ambitious book which sets out to explain the nature and implications of consciousness. It's beautifully put together, incorporating numerous images from classical painting and sculpture and contemporary scientific imaging. The images are interspersed with a text which is consciously modeled on the Divine Comedy; everything comes in threes and Tononi balances his vision of the infernal dimensions of consciousness with the wonders of life. The book is structured around Galileo's three-part journey with sections focusing on the physical foundations of consciousness, a series of thought experiments concerning consciousness, and a section of philosophical reflections on the implications of the previous sections. Each section gives Galileo a different guide, figure based on Francis Crick, Alan Turing and Charles Darwin. Each chapter is followed by a section in which Tononi provides notes for images and the numerous quotations and adapted quotations and, problematically, offers ironic analysis of the contents of the chapter.
That's the description, now the review. The core of Phi is Tononi's vision of "integrated information" (a.k.a. the Phi of the title) as the defining feature of consciousness. This leads to the notion of "qualia": the irreducible states of perception which define what consciousness is. Each set of perceptions/experiences is a "quale" and our consciousness consists of the changing array of quale we perceive. In the first third of the book, Tononi revisits, summarizes and endorses material from neuroscientific research that will be familiar to readers of Carl Sagan, Oliver Sacks and Antonio Damaso. That section's fine. The second section, however, begins to lose its clarity and focus. Tononi knows he's playing with ideas that aren't as firmly established as those in the first section and he structures things so that every time an idea is advanced it's challenged and usually undercut. While the notion of integrated information emerges clearly, that's about it. And the third section of philosophical meditations is simply unconvincing. Tononi's not a philosopher--he's a Professor of Sleep Science and Consciousness Studies at my home institution, the University of Wisconsin. There are a lot of very large speculations, which lead to the assertion that integrated information provides a way of reconciling the tension between the "one" and the "many." I sympathize but I didn't find it convincing, even aesthetically. That's partly because Tononi's dramatic approach is more device than literary performance. The characters aren't convincing as characters; rather, they're clearly mouthpieces for perspectives. And I simply think the postscripts on the chapters were a bad idea; when Tononi, with ironic intent apparently, points out the failings of the positions which he's just presented, all too often I found myself saying "yeah, that's right."
Phi is an interesting and sometimes engaging attempt to present a major philosophical statement. For me, it didn't quite work.
That's the description, now the review. The core of Phi is Tononi's vision of "integrated information" (a.k.a. the Phi of the title) as the defining feature of consciousness. This leads to the notion of "qualia": the irreducible states of perception which define what consciousness is. Each set of perceptions/experiences is a "quale" and our consciousness consists of the changing array of quale we perceive. In the first third of the book, Tononi revisits, summarizes and endorses material from neuroscientific research that will be familiar to readers of Carl Sagan, Oliver Sacks and Antonio Damaso. That section's fine. The second section, however, begins to lose its clarity and focus. Tononi knows he's playing with ideas that aren't as firmly established as those in the first section and he structures things so that every time an idea is advanced it's challenged and usually undercut. While the notion of integrated information emerges clearly, that's about it. And the third section of philosophical meditations is simply unconvincing. Tononi's not a philosopher--he's a Professor of Sleep Science and Consciousness Studies at my home institution, the University of Wisconsin. There are a lot of very large speculations, which lead to the assertion that integrated information provides a way of reconciling the tension between the "one" and the "many." I sympathize but I didn't find it convincing, even aesthetically. That's partly because Tononi's dramatic approach is more device than literary performance. The characters aren't convincing as characters; rather, they're clearly mouthpieces for perspectives. And I simply think the postscripts on the chapters were a bad idea; when Tononi, with ironic intent apparently, points out the failings of the positions which he's just presented, all too often I found myself saying "yeah, that's right."
Phi is an interesting and sometimes engaging attempt to present a major philosophical statement. For me, it didn't quite work.
August 31, 2021
اسم الكتاب :فاي : رحله من الدماغ الي الروح (نظريه عصبيه في تفسير الوعي)
الكاتب : جوليو تونوني
ترجمه : احمد عمرو شريف
التقييم :4/5
الوعي...... اكتر كلمه تخليك تلف حوالين نفسك وتخلي عقلك شبه الزومبي ويا تخليك تحب تكمل بسبب الغموض الممتع يا اما تكرهها بسبب التعقيد الصعب.
انا اسفه ان البوست هيبقا طويل عن غير العاده بس اسمحولي :
قبل كل حاجه الكتاب دا كان من ضمن الكتب اللي خلوني ابقا attention hore ف اني احصل عليه باي طريقه وعملت فلم هندي عشان اجيبه بالتالي هيبقا اقربهم.
اولا : الغلاف فكرته شبه المحتوى بالظبط ، رجل كنايه للانسان يتوسط الدماغ وبداخله رجل اخر كنايه (للوعي) يسير في نفق اخره نور.
ثانيا : الورق ملمسه وسمكه كويس جدا وديا ميزه انك تغتني كتب وتحس بنعومه الورق والخط المناسب للعين.
الكتاب بيناقش بكل بساطه مفهوم الوعي الانساني اللي هو بيميز الانسان عن الحيوانات الأخرى وعن الآلات، ماهو الوعي؟ واين هو؟ ولماذا يوجد فقط في المخ ولا يوجد في اجزاء أخرى مثل القلب او الكبد او سائر اجزاء الجسم؟ لماذا. نملك نحن البشر دونا عن الجيوانات الأخرى وعيا ولا تملكه بقية الحيوانات بل وحتي الآلات؟ وهل هنالك فرق بين الوعي والروح؟ كيف نقيس الوعي وماهي الادوات الخاصه به؟ اسئله بيحاول الكاتب انه يساعدنا نلاقي اجابه ليها بطرق بسيطه في شكل رحله بطلها العالم جاليلو بقياده ثلاثه علماء اخريين هم العالم فريك (فرانسيس كريك) عالم البيولوجيا الجزئيه وكانت مهمته تشريح المخ بطرق علميه مبسطه ، والتوري (آلان تورنج) عالم الرياضيات والحاسوب مهمته هو علاقه الوعي بالحواسيب والالات والرجل ذو اللحيه (غالبا كنايه عن تشازلز داروين)ومهمته كانت شرح الوعي وعلاقته بالتطور .
الكتاب بيتبنى فكرة الوعي يرجع لتكامل المعلومات بين مناطق المخ المختلفه مع استبعاد اي دور للمخيخ والفص الجبهي لإنتاج الوعي اللي حاول العلم الحديث نفي هذه الفكره.
الرمز اللي اتسمى عليه الكتاب هو فاي phi زي ما واضح في غلاف الكتاب ، الكاتب شرح معناه وعلاقته بالوعي. فالرمز فاي هو عباره عن دائره ترمز للتجربه الذاتيه والتكامل اللي عن طريقها الوعي بيتكون، اما الرمز I فهو دلاله للمعلومات Information ومن الواضح ان كل ماتفاعلت هذه المعلومات والعناصر مع بعضها البعض هنقدر نتحصل علي الوعي اللي لايمكن اختزاله لوحدات اصغر منه.
الكتاب مقسّم ل٣ اجزاء كل جزء مقسم لاجزاء تانيه، ال٣ اجزاء الرئيسيه :
1. الادله (تجارب الطبيعه) اللي بيحاول الكاتب فيها يعرف ويفسر ويشرح الوعي بطرق بسيطه وادله طبيعيه تساعدك علي المشاركه
2.النظريه ( التجارب الذهنيه) اكتر جزئيه حسيتها صعبه في فهمها وتقيله شويه لازم يبقا عندك فكره كبيره بالوعي قبل كدا ويفضل لو كنت طبيب اعصاب
3. النتائج المترتبه(كون من الوعي) وبصراحه استمتعت بيه جدا وكتب جواه ملاحظات كتير . اللي هو خلاصه الخلاصه
من الحاجات اللي كويسه في الكتاب وخلته شبه سهل هي الصور التوضيحيه اللي هتساعد كتير ، كمان الامثله الطبيه اللي تم ذكرها للحالات المصابه كانت جيده جدا
الكاتب : جوليو تونوني
ترجمه : احمد عمرو شريف
التقييم :4/5
الوعي...... اكتر كلمه تخليك تلف حوالين نفسك وتخلي عقلك شبه الزومبي ويا تخليك تحب تكمل بسبب الغموض الممتع يا اما تكرهها بسبب التعقيد الصعب.
انا اسفه ان البوست هيبقا طويل عن غير العاده بس اسمحولي :
قبل كل حاجه الكتاب دا كان من ضمن الكتب اللي خلوني ابقا attention hore ف اني احصل عليه باي طريقه وعملت فلم هندي عشان اجيبه بالتالي هيبقا اقربهم.
اولا : الغلاف فكرته شبه المحتوى بالظبط ، رجل كنايه للانسان يتوسط الدماغ وبداخله رجل اخر كنايه (للوعي) يسير في نفق اخره نور.
ثانيا : الورق ملمسه وسمكه كويس جدا وديا ميزه انك تغتني كتب وتحس بنعومه الورق والخط المناسب للعين.
الكتاب بيناقش بكل بساطه مفهوم الوعي الانساني اللي هو بيميز الانسان عن الحيوانات الأخرى وعن الآلات، ماهو الوعي؟ واين هو؟ ولماذا يوجد فقط في المخ ولا يوجد في اجزاء أخرى مثل القلب او الكبد او سائر اجزاء الجسم؟ لماذا. نملك نحن البشر دونا عن الجيوانات الأخرى وعيا ولا تملكه بقية الحيوانات بل وحتي الآلات؟ وهل هنالك فرق بين الوعي والروح؟ كيف نقيس الوعي وماهي الادوات الخاصه به؟ اسئله بيحاول الكاتب انه يساعدنا نلاقي اجابه ليها بطرق بسيطه في شكل رحله بطلها العالم جاليلو بقياده ثلاثه علماء اخريين هم العالم فريك (فرانسيس كريك) عالم البيولوجيا الجزئيه وكانت مهمته تشريح المخ بطرق علميه مبسطه ، والتوري (آلان تورنج) عالم الرياضيات والحاسوب مهمته هو علاقه الوعي بالحواسيب والالات والرجل ذو اللحيه (غالبا كنايه عن تشازلز داروين)ومهمته كانت شرح الوعي وعلاقته بالتطور .
الكتاب بيتبنى فكرة الوعي يرجع لتكامل المعلومات بين مناطق المخ المختلفه مع استبعاد اي دور للمخيخ والفص الجبهي لإنتاج الوعي اللي حاول العلم الحديث نفي هذه الفكره.
الرمز اللي اتسمى عليه الكتاب هو فاي phi زي ما واضح في غلاف الكتاب ، الكاتب شرح معناه وعلاقته بالوعي. فالرمز فاي هو عباره عن دائره ترمز للتجربه الذاتيه والتكامل اللي عن طريقها الوعي بيتكون، اما الرمز I فهو دلاله للمعلومات Information ومن الواضح ان كل ماتفاعلت هذه المعلومات والعناصر مع بعضها البعض هنقدر نتحصل علي الوعي اللي لايمكن اختزاله لوحدات اصغر منه.
الكتاب مقسّم ل٣ اجزاء كل جزء مقسم لاجزاء تانيه، ال٣ اجزاء الرئيسيه :
1. الادله (تجارب الطبيعه) اللي بيحاول الكاتب فيها يعرف ويفسر ويشرح الوعي بطرق بسيطه وادله طبيعيه تساعدك علي المشاركه
2.النظريه ( التجارب الذهنيه) اكتر جزئيه حسيتها صعبه في فهمها وتقيله شويه لازم يبقا عندك فكره كبيره بالوعي قبل كدا ويفضل لو كنت طبيب اعصاب
3. النتائج المترتبه(كون من الوعي) وبصراحه استمتعت بيه جدا وكتب جواه ملاحظات كتير . اللي هو خلاصه الخلاصه
من الحاجات اللي كويسه في الكتاب وخلته شبه سهل هي الصور التوضيحيه اللي هتساعد كتير ، كمان الامثله الطبيه اللي تم ذكرها للحالات المصابه كانت جيده جدا
November 26, 2014
Frequentareil campo delle neuroscienze è interessante perché è una terra di frontiera. Su quel confine della conoscenza, l'umanesimo, cioè quel che l'uomo ha tentato lentamente, nei millenni, di comprendere di sé, della sua mente e del suo corpo, si incontra con quel che sta scoprendo negli ultimi decenni con il metodo scientifico, ad una velocità sempre più vertiginosa. Nella ricerca neurologica, scienza e umanesimo si incontrano. La cosa che meraviglia e forse un po’ commuove anche, è che intuizioni antichissime “a mente nuda” e scoperte fatte oggi con la risonanza magnetica, i laboratori iperattrezzati e i computer non solo non si contraddicono, ma piuttosto si sorreggono e si confermano a vicenda.
Questo libro, bello come oggetto prima ancora che come racconto, denso di foto e di citazioni, è straordinariamente interessante proprio perché è centrato su questa convergenza.
Tononi è un neuroscienziato. Lavora in una università americana. Si occupa della funzione più alta e complicata del cervello, la funzione che chiamiamo coscienza. Ha definito e raccontato l'oggetto e lo stato del suo lavoro con una favola. Se Gombrich racconta la storia dell'arte come la favola della bellezza, Tononi ci racconta la storia della ricerca umanistica e scientifica sulla coscienza come una sorta di favola dell’anima.
Anche Tononi usa l'arte per costruire il suo racconto: la pittura, la scultura, la fotografia, il cinema, ma anche Proust, Dante, Borges e altri uomini che la coscienza l’avevano ipertrofica. Un viaggio che sembra un sogno, fatto da un Galileo surreale al di là dei confini di tempo e di spazio. La costruzione narrativa è barocca e forse troppo poco immediata; la lettura quindi è impegnativa, ma è anche suggestiva come poche altre.
La migliore recensione di questo libro l'ha scritta Antonio Pascale, nel link qui sotto e vale la pena di leggerla, perché è bella di per sé, indipendentemente dal libro voglio dire.
http://www.codiceedizioni.it/files/20...
Questo libro, bello come oggetto prima ancora che come racconto, denso di foto e di citazioni, è straordinariamente interessante proprio perché è centrato su questa convergenza.
Tononi è un neuroscienziato. Lavora in una università americana. Si occupa della funzione più alta e complicata del cervello, la funzione che chiamiamo coscienza. Ha definito e raccontato l'oggetto e lo stato del suo lavoro con una favola. Se Gombrich racconta la storia dell'arte come la favola della bellezza, Tononi ci racconta la storia della ricerca umanistica e scientifica sulla coscienza come una sorta di favola dell’anima.
Anche Tononi usa l'arte per costruire il suo racconto: la pittura, la scultura, la fotografia, il cinema, ma anche Proust, Dante, Borges e altri uomini che la coscienza l’avevano ipertrofica. Un viaggio che sembra un sogno, fatto da un Galileo surreale al di là dei confini di tempo e di spazio. La costruzione narrativa è barocca e forse troppo poco immediata; la lettura quindi è impegnativa, ma è anche suggestiva come poche altre.
La migliore recensione di questo libro l'ha scritta Antonio Pascale, nel link qui sotto e vale la pena di leggerla, perché è bella di per sé, indipendentemente dal libro voglio dire.
http://www.codiceedizioni.it/files/20...
July 22, 2024
The concept of the book is great. I was excited to dive into a book on Integrated Information Theory in the words of the theorizer. Rumors of its stylistic similarity to GEB drew me in as well. But while IIT may be know for its rigor, this book won't be. Rather than using equations, the author's arguments are conveyed through allegories and (sometimes unsettled) debates in poetic but antiquated and cryptic language. While I was hoping for elucidation, this book serves perhaps more to shroud the ideas in mystery.
The work is clearly a passion project (Tononi confesses in the afterword that he had no intended audience, at least in the first stages of writing). Those passions are evident as he toys with language, incorporates several literary allusions, nods to his intellectual influences, and explores visual arts on about every other page. This is a rare kind of book that I think I would enjoy writing much more than reading.
The work is clearly a passion project (Tononi confesses in the afterword that he had no intended audience, at least in the first stages of writing). Those passions are evident as he toys with language, incorporates several literary allusions, nods to his intellectual influences, and explores visual arts on about every other page. This is a rare kind of book that I think I would enjoy writing much more than reading.
June 4, 2018
"La memoria è immaginazione che scruta il passato, e l'immaginazione memoria che guarda nel futuro." (p. 273)
"Due coscienze [...] possono toccarsi solo come si toccano due sfere: in un punto soltanto, e persino quel singolo punto potrebbe non trovarsi mai." (p. 286)
"L'arte [...] ci porta in un'ala insospettata del vasto palazzo della coscienza, un'ala che, se gli anfratti più remoti del mondo, la cartografia di tutte le stelle, o la composizione di tutta la materia fossero stati esplorati in modo esauriente, sarebbe rimasta in sospeso, come la bella addormentata prima del bacio, uno strano angolo dell'universo dell'esperienza che era possibile ma non fu reale finché non fu immaginato. e ora è là, e tutti lo possono vedere." (p. 290)
"Due coscienze [...] possono toccarsi solo come si toccano due sfere: in un punto soltanto, e persino quel singolo punto potrebbe non trovarsi mai." (p. 286)
"L'arte [...] ci porta in un'ala insospettata del vasto palazzo della coscienza, un'ala che, se gli anfratti più remoti del mondo, la cartografia di tutte le stelle, o la composizione di tutta la materia fossero stati esplorati in modo esauriente, sarebbe rimasta in sospeso, come la bella addormentata prima del bacio, uno strano angolo dell'universo dell'esperienza che era possibile ma non fu reale finché non fu immaginato. e ora è là, e tutti lo possono vedere." (p. 290)
July 24, 2024
This is a psychedelic experience in book form, written as a parable employing many well-known historical figures and archetypes, rich in kaleidoscopic metaphor and multilayered analogy.
Integrated Information Theory, the main concept the book puts forth, is highly controversial, and dismissed as pseudoscience by many (though by no means all) notable scientists and philosophers of mind. This does not take away from the reading experience and you can just join Galileo and company and marvel at the multitude of consciousness and experience within us and around us.
Integrated Information Theory, the main concept the book puts forth, is highly controversial, and dismissed as pseudoscience by many (though by no means all) notable scientists and philosophers of mind. This does not take away from the reading experience and you can just join Galileo and company and marvel at the multitude of consciousness and experience within us and around us.
March 28, 2013
A creative, colorful, and poetic book, styled quite similarly to Dante's Divine Comedy, with spirit-guides walking the interlocutor through three perceptual realms. Certainly more of a scientific bent than DC, though ultimately I don't believe it connected all the dots it was supposed to in explaining the basis of consciousness.
Consciousness is explained to Galileo in parts by Frick, Alturi, and an unnamed bearded man (Francis Crick, Alan Turing, and Charles Darwin), where they lead Galileo from room to room with different allegorical scenes, usually based on historical or scientific evidence in each one. Frick displays some of the physical knowledge of consciousness and the brain--the effects of lobotomy or infarction. Alturi compares the brain to devices, both mechanical and information theoretic, concluding that Phi--irreducible integrated information--is the measure of consciousness. [Darwin] shows the practical and philosophical consequences of such a system--how dementia affects consciousness, whether other creatures possess it, etc.
I think the crux of this thesis lies near the end of Alturi's domain, and I found there a disconnect that I'll have to look into further. The author does a great job of explaining how the brain is not like a photodiode (simply registering 'ON' in the presence of light and 'OFF' otherwise), but that individual neurons more or less are (or can be modeled that way). But then a higher level of awareness (than a neuron) is attained through 'complexes', which aren't described physically (are they neurons? massively connected neurons?), and have probability measures (i.e. rather than binary 0 or 1 any value between them inclusive). And then qualia are introduced which seem to be high dimensioned hypercubes, unique to each individual concept--as though some neuron or complex (or ??) can hold all of the information gathered from uncountable precursor neurons. I don't disagree with this idea, I just don't understand the mechanics. The apparent hypercube in qualiaspace may contain more information than any individual neuron could perceive--knowledge of one measure being 00 means it isn't the state 01 or 10 or 11, etc., but I'm not sure if this is any more information than the readings alone--where does this become consciousness?
Regardless of my disconnect, this book was a pleasure to read--there are many full color reproductions of varied famous works, often with subtle modification giving them a stronger relationship to the story, and the story was quite an interesting allegorical journey influenced and backed up by science and history. I'm not sure whom I would recommend the book to, it's difficult to categorize or relate to other works--perhaps to a person of literary mind who wants a better scientific understanding of consciousness without too much technical detail?
Consciousness is explained to Galileo in parts by Frick, Alturi, and an unnamed bearded man (Francis Crick, Alan Turing, and Charles Darwin), where they lead Galileo from room to room with different allegorical scenes, usually based on historical or scientific evidence in each one. Frick displays some of the physical knowledge of consciousness and the brain--the effects of lobotomy or infarction. Alturi compares the brain to devices, both mechanical and information theoretic, concluding that Phi--irreducible integrated information--is the measure of consciousness. [Darwin] shows the practical and philosophical consequences of such a system--how dementia affects consciousness, whether other creatures possess it, etc.
I think the crux of this thesis lies near the end of Alturi's domain, and I found there a disconnect that I'll have to look into further. The author does a great job of explaining how the brain is not like a photodiode (simply registering 'ON' in the presence of light and 'OFF' otherwise), but that individual neurons more or less are (or can be modeled that way). But then a higher level of awareness (than a neuron) is attained through 'complexes', which aren't described physically (are they neurons? massively connected neurons?), and have probability measures (i.e. rather than binary 0 or 1 any value between them inclusive). And then qualia are introduced which seem to be high dimensioned hypercubes, unique to each individual concept--as though some neuron or complex (or ??) can hold all of the information gathered from uncountable precursor neurons. I don't disagree with this idea, I just don't understand the mechanics. The apparent hypercube in qualiaspace may contain more information than any individual neuron could perceive--knowledge of one measure being 00 means it isn't the state 01 or 10 or 11, etc., but I'm not sure if this is any more information than the readings alone--where does this become consciousness?
Regardless of my disconnect, this book was a pleasure to read--there are many full color reproductions of varied famous works, often with subtle modification giving them a stronger relationship to the story, and the story was quite an interesting allegorical journey influenced and backed up by science and history. I'm not sure whom I would recommend the book to, it's difficult to categorize or relate to other works--perhaps to a person of literary mind who wants a better scientific understanding of consciousness without too much technical detail?
April 19, 2023
Another book where I wish I could do half stars since it's better than "It's OK" but "Liked it" is a step too far.
In a nutshell, this is a deliberate ruff on The Divine Comedy with Galileo in the center and Frick, Turing, and Darwin as tour guides through Galileo's dreams into the question of consciousness. The writing is good, and the illustrations are interesting enough to keep one turning pages (although they don't really have all that much to do with the content.). My lukewarm response to it is due to my not being nearly as interested in reading philosophy as I thought I might be. There is some science in it -- the author is a professor and psychiatrist. But it's mostly a lot of thinking about the mechanics of thinking.
In a nutshell, this is a deliberate ruff on The Divine Comedy with Galileo in the center and Frick, Turing, and Darwin as tour guides through Galileo's dreams into the question of consciousness. The writing is good, and the illustrations are interesting enough to keep one turning pages (although they don't really have all that much to do with the content.). My lukewarm response to it is due to my not being nearly as interested in reading philosophy as I thought I might be. There is some science in it -- the author is a professor and psychiatrist. But it's mostly a lot of thinking about the mechanics of thinking.
September 5, 2012
A book that will be easy to recommend.
It's beautifully illustrated, clearly and stylishly written, and a fantastic synthesis of the problems of consciousness. Like a meatier version of Alain de Boton, Tononi writes for the non-academic but doesn't condescend.
I was consistently impressed with his balance between historical influences and a modern and subtle trajectory through the modern scientific approach to minds and meaning.
One of the few books whose overall style compares well to the works of Douglas Hofstadter.
It's beautifully illustrated, clearly and stylishly written, and a fantastic synthesis of the problems of consciousness. Like a meatier version of Alain de Boton, Tononi writes for the non-academic but doesn't condescend.
I was consistently impressed with his balance between historical influences and a modern and subtle trajectory through the modern scientific approach to minds and meaning.
One of the few books whose overall style compares well to the works of Douglas Hofstadter.
May 14, 2015
This book takes the reader on a mind-altering journey through the nature of consciousness. It interweaves science, art, and the imagination with golden ratios, The reader has the joy of perceiving the world through such masters as Galileo, Alan Turing, Darwin and Francis Crick, among others. From neuroscience to pseudoscience, from deep introspection to mindful meditation, Tononi demonstrates how consciousness is an evolving, ever-deepening awareness of ourselves as finite, spiritual beings in an infinite universe.
October 31, 2023
Libro sotto le aspettative: il racconto metaforico e lo stile dell'autore non sono di una qualità poetica tale da giustificare la scelta. Molto spesso si perde il filo. Le analogie e i racconti a volte peccano di arabeschi e rendono la comprensione forse più complicata di quanto dovrebbe essere. Non è un saggio ma forse avrei fatto meno fatica in un saggio arricchito da raccontini metaforici.
June 20, 2019
Giulio Tononi is a wonderful book, interweaving science, art, and imagination, telling a story about Galileo in search of consciousness. This is also a book for lover of books as books (referring to the hard cover edition), with many beautiful pictures and pages feeling like gifts.
December 14, 2023
You will read reviews of this book that praise its ambition and the brilliance of its unusual format and style and others that call the book hard to follow and written without an audience in mind. Both are correct. Indeed, the author himself admits not having a clear idea of his intended audience while writing it, which makes the book that resulted all the more remarkable for the labor of love that it is.
The book's author, Giulio Tononi, is a very accomplished scientist. He holds doctorates in medicine and neurobiology and has an enviable publication record, with over 90 thousand citations of his many peer-reviewed works. He is also the originator and champion of something called the Integrated Information Theory (IIT) of consciousness [1], whose main claim is that consciousness arises from a system's ability to integrate information in a manner that makes the result greater than the sum of its parts, with the level of that integration represented by the quantity Φ. It is a theory potentially friendly to both emergentists, who contend that consciousness emerges as a property of the interaction among non-conscious components, and panpsychists, who contend that there are no non-conscious components, that everything is conscious to some degree. It is not, however, a theory particularly friendly to actual scientific testing, and Φ is essentially impossible to calculate for any but the simplest toy systems. IIT's ability to accommodate opposing viewpoints of the fundamental nature of consciousness is also problematic in itself.
It's already risky business to try to pitch a theory of consciousness as a scientist, as any paper one writes on the topic can conceivably become one's career suicide note. And indeed, the attention IIT has gotten as perhaps the most popular theory of consciousness despite its potential unfalsifiability (i.e. its inability to be disproven) has led to a backlash against it, most recently with 124 researchers signing a letter calling the theory pseudoscience [2]. Tononi has weathered the criticism, and IIT remains, for now, one of the only options we have for even trying to approach consciousness scientifically.
One would think that any book written for a popular audience by IIT's originator would be a popular-science book, aiming to translate the more jargony or mathematical aspects of the theory as presented in scientific papers into language accessible to the educated lay reader. Instead, Tononi delivers a series of vignettes featuring Galileo as a main character along with various other barely disguised historical scientists, philosophers, and artists, written in a 19th century continental European fiction style. These vignettes individually set up the components of the theory (e.g. "Galileo and the Bat: In which is feared that the quality of experience cannot be derived from matter"), with the ostensible aim of having the reader let the theory develop and establish itself along the way.
The problem for some readers could be that this 19th century fictional style, which is an interesting device in the first few chapters of this beautifully formatted and illustrated book, begins to feel more and more abstract and, frankly, exhausting, as the book wears on. There were several times when I had to corral my wandering mind and reread passages just to figure out what they were about. And in a handful of cases, even rereading didn't help all that much. Even the author seems to know that some chapters work better than others, as evidenced in his much more accessible end-of-chapter notes, which are written in a third-person perspective that often lets the author have some self-effacing fun.
For the book's length, it proved to be a mostly breezy read, although the tailwind I enjoyed at the beginning of the book gave way to a headwind toward the end. I have read the author's scientific papers on this topic, and I cannot say that I walked away with a better understanding of IIT by book's end than I had before I read it. I do wonder what someone with no prior exposure to this topic would come away with when the kernel of the theory is buried in layers of symbolism and abstraction.
As the review suggests, the book is not completely successful in achieving its main aim, if one assumes that its main aim is to communicate IIT to a lay audience. Nevertheless, the book is an achievement, and I have to give it and its author extra credit just for the sheer ambition in the attempt. Also, I am genuinely impressed that an Italian-born practicing scientist wrote a book in English (the author's father prepared the Italian translation) not only in this style but also so grounded in the humanities and filled with literary, philosophical, and artistic references. This appears to be the product of a true Renaissance man, and it's a truly interesting work to behold.
[1] Tononi, Giulio. "Consciousness as integrated information: a provisional manifesto." The Biological Bulletin 215.3 (2008): 216-242.
[2] https://www.nature.com/articles/d4158...
The book's author, Giulio Tononi, is a very accomplished scientist. He holds doctorates in medicine and neurobiology and has an enviable publication record, with over 90 thousand citations of his many peer-reviewed works. He is also the originator and champion of something called the Integrated Information Theory (IIT) of consciousness [1], whose main claim is that consciousness arises from a system's ability to integrate information in a manner that makes the result greater than the sum of its parts, with the level of that integration represented by the quantity Φ. It is a theory potentially friendly to both emergentists, who contend that consciousness emerges as a property of the interaction among non-conscious components, and panpsychists, who contend that there are no non-conscious components, that everything is conscious to some degree. It is not, however, a theory particularly friendly to actual scientific testing, and Φ is essentially impossible to calculate for any but the simplest toy systems. IIT's ability to accommodate opposing viewpoints of the fundamental nature of consciousness is also problematic in itself.
It's already risky business to try to pitch a theory of consciousness as a scientist, as any paper one writes on the topic can conceivably become one's career suicide note. And indeed, the attention IIT has gotten as perhaps the most popular theory of consciousness despite its potential unfalsifiability (i.e. its inability to be disproven) has led to a backlash against it, most recently with 124 researchers signing a letter calling the theory pseudoscience [2]. Tononi has weathered the criticism, and IIT remains, for now, one of the only options we have for even trying to approach consciousness scientifically.
One would think that any book written for a popular audience by IIT's originator would be a popular-science book, aiming to translate the more jargony or mathematical aspects of the theory as presented in scientific papers into language accessible to the educated lay reader. Instead, Tononi delivers a series of vignettes featuring Galileo as a main character along with various other barely disguised historical scientists, philosophers, and artists, written in a 19th century continental European fiction style. These vignettes individually set up the components of the theory (e.g. "Galileo and the Bat: In which is feared that the quality of experience cannot be derived from matter"), with the ostensible aim of having the reader let the theory develop and establish itself along the way.
The problem for some readers could be that this 19th century fictional style, which is an interesting device in the first few chapters of this beautifully formatted and illustrated book, begins to feel more and more abstract and, frankly, exhausting, as the book wears on. There were several times when I had to corral my wandering mind and reread passages just to figure out what they were about. And in a handful of cases, even rereading didn't help all that much. Even the author seems to know that some chapters work better than others, as evidenced in his much more accessible end-of-chapter notes, which are written in a third-person perspective that often lets the author have some self-effacing fun.
For the book's length, it proved to be a mostly breezy read, although the tailwind I enjoyed at the beginning of the book gave way to a headwind toward the end. I have read the author's scientific papers on this topic, and I cannot say that I walked away with a better understanding of IIT by book's end than I had before I read it. I do wonder what someone with no prior exposure to this topic would come away with when the kernel of the theory is buried in layers of symbolism and abstraction.
As the review suggests, the book is not completely successful in achieving its main aim, if one assumes that its main aim is to communicate IIT to a lay audience. Nevertheless, the book is an achievement, and I have to give it and its author extra credit just for the sheer ambition in the attempt. Also, I am genuinely impressed that an Italian-born practicing scientist wrote a book in English (the author's father prepared the Italian translation) not only in this style but also so grounded in the humanities and filled with literary, philosophical, and artistic references. This appears to be the product of a true Renaissance man, and it's a truly interesting work to behold.
[1] Tononi, Giulio. "Consciousness as integrated information: a provisional manifesto." The Biological Bulletin 215.3 (2008): 216-242.
[2] https://www.nature.com/articles/d4158...
August 23, 2018
Vivimos extraños tiempos... de un nuevo barbarismo donde las masas viven cada vez más enajenadas por la aparición de fenómenos cuyos precedentes en la historia de la Humanidad, sólo pueden encontrarse en tiempos míticos o pre-míticos, donde el hombre se encontró con la herramienta, el fuego, o el lenguaje. En ese periodo primigenio, la especie humana pasó de ser animal a ser "Persona", en el sentido filosófico desarrollado por Julián Marías, en cuanto a ser social, cuya evolución ya no es sólo genética, sino histórica. En ese tiempo se desarrollaron todos los mitos -salvo el de la bola azul flotando en el espacio, que es el único según Campbel, que no poseyeron nuestros antepasados remotos. En el presente, incluso la ciencia ficción, parece haber perdido la capacidad para establecer posibles futuros, ya que el ser humano parece capaz de imaginar de forma linealmente predictiva, pero no de forma exponencialmente predictiva. Y en el ámbito de la ciencia y la tecnología, "exponencial" es la medida de suceso y progresión de los acontecimientos. La capacidad de edición genética, la de comunicación directa entre máquina y cuerpo -hacia el hombre biónico-, la realidad de una memoria e inteligencia expandida a través de la máquinas cuyo precedente más primitivo puede ser el iPhone -no se trata de si usamos mucho o poco el móvil sino de que mientras exista algo semejante o algo infinitamente más poderoso y desarrollado, seremos seres expandidos en lo racional en detrimento o no de lo vital, los descubrimientos a nivel de la física en los ámbitos de la relatividad y lo cuántico, los avances en medicina en general -operaciones de precisión sobrehumana practicadas por robots...- y la neurociencia, y sus estudios sobre el hecho de la consciencia en sí, o sobre la memoria....
Phi del neurocientífico Tononi, es un reencuentro con un nuevo tipo de renacimiento que, posiblemente esté sucediendo ya, aunque no seamos conscientes de ello, al igual que Giotto o Petrarca no lo fueron... Sin embargo este segundo renacimiento del Siglo XXI, lo es en cuanto al regreso a la exploración del conocimiento no racional, y en cuanto a la intima unión entre ciencia y tecnología y arte.
En este sentido, Tononi, en su particular "Humana Comedia", viaja hacia el hecho de la consciencia definiéndola como la unidad básica de información para la viabilidad de "ese tipo de realidad" en palabras de nuevo de Marías, que llamamos "la Persona Humana". La profusa utilización del arte, fotografía, escultura, literatura, pintura, en la narración científica, dota a "Phi" de una particularidad propia, al incorporar la belleza como fuente de conocimiento no racional, dejando intuir la necesidad de éste junto al racional, para poder intuir las realidades que componen este "bicho" tan particular que es el único capaz de producir eso que hemos dado en llamar arte.
La forma literaria de Tononi, de narrar la investigación científica, no se si pone las bases o consolidad alguna ya existente, para la posibilidad de una imaginación exponencial, si es que esto es posible en la actual especie humana o, en su defecto, otra especie consecuencia de la evolución de la actual.
Finalmente, más allá de la aseveración o refutación de las rigurosas tesis que fundamentan sus investigaciones en neurociencia, uno puede entretenerse y deleitarse en este portento donde los no iniciamos podemos descubrir hechos asombrosos sobre la realidad de lo que la ciencia sabe de nosotros mismos en este faro maravilloso sobre el océano oscuro y apasionante de la ignorancia que parece ser una fuente de energía infinita para ese motor del ser humano en su devenir histórico cual es: la curiosidad.
Phi del neurocientífico Tononi, es un reencuentro con un nuevo tipo de renacimiento que, posiblemente esté sucediendo ya, aunque no seamos conscientes de ello, al igual que Giotto o Petrarca no lo fueron... Sin embargo este segundo renacimiento del Siglo XXI, lo es en cuanto al regreso a la exploración del conocimiento no racional, y en cuanto a la intima unión entre ciencia y tecnología y arte.
En este sentido, Tononi, en su particular "Humana Comedia", viaja hacia el hecho de la consciencia definiéndola como la unidad básica de información para la viabilidad de "ese tipo de realidad" en palabras de nuevo de Marías, que llamamos "la Persona Humana". La profusa utilización del arte, fotografía, escultura, literatura, pintura, en la narración científica, dota a "Phi" de una particularidad propia, al incorporar la belleza como fuente de conocimiento no racional, dejando intuir la necesidad de éste junto al racional, para poder intuir las realidades que componen este "bicho" tan particular que es el único capaz de producir eso que hemos dado en llamar arte.
La forma literaria de Tononi, de narrar la investigación científica, no se si pone las bases o consolidad alguna ya existente, para la posibilidad de una imaginación exponencial, si es que esto es posible en la actual especie humana o, en su defecto, otra especie consecuencia de la evolución de la actual.
Finalmente, más allá de la aseveración o refutación de las rigurosas tesis que fundamentan sus investigaciones en neurociencia, uno puede entretenerse y deleitarse en este portento donde los no iniciamos podemos descubrir hechos asombrosos sobre la realidad de lo que la ciencia sabe de nosotros mismos en este faro maravilloso sobre el océano oscuro y apasionante de la ignorancia que parece ser una fuente de energía infinita para ese motor del ser humano en su devenir histórico cual es: la curiosidad.
September 10, 2018
Rating: 4/5
Phi is written by Giulio Tononi was first published in the year 2012. It is very unusual book. It is difficult to put Phi in one particular genre. Although the book majorly deals with the idea of consciousness, but it draws upon a body of work from different genres such as neurology, arts, history, artificial intelligence, philosophy, psychology and biology to name a few fields.
The book is quite allegorical, where Galileo goes on a voyage in his dreams to discover the nature of consciousness. Why Galileo you ask? Well, Galileo was the first person in the western science, who opened the door for objective evaluation of the nature of reality and the universe by empirical techniques. And now with the help of this book Galileo ventures on journey to decipher the nature of consciousness basically the subjective side of the human experience.
Phi is a treat to the senses because it is an elaborate thought experiment. The book is divided into three parts. In the first part Galileo meets someone with the name of Frick, who is no one but Francis Crick, the eminent scientist who discovered the structure of DNA helix and in his later years dedicated his time to discover the scientific correlation between the brain and consciousness. In the first part of the book Galileo discovered how various regions of the brain are responsible or not responsible for a person to have a conscious state of mind. The author draws from a wide range of neurological cases from the annals of history, to draw home the point that consciousness or the awareness of a person resides in certain brain regions and even if a person may lose functionality of certain parts of their brain still the consciousness remains intact.
In the second part of the book, Galileo meets a man named Alturi who is none other than Alan turning, who invented the first working computer. Here in this part of the book, Galileo meets some really eminent scientists and mathematicians and starts to build up a theory of consciousness. The theory which Galileo gives for consciousness is integrated information theory. According to which any entity where there is complex information processing with a feedback loop present in the system will have certain amount of consciousness, which he denoted using the Greek symbol Phi. So according to Galileo even a photo-diode will have a certain level of consciousness in it, according to the integrated information theory.
In the third part of the book accompanied by a bearded old man, who is none other than Charles Darwin, Galileo meditates on how consciousness is evolving as an entity across culture, across human history and how it has been influenced by arts and culture. The third part also talks about how apart from Humans animals are also conscious in some way. Also how consciousness must be present, to some degree, even before birth at the foetus level and many other biological revelations about consciousness.
This book is very heavy and is made out of expensive glossy paper. Throughout the book there are many images of arts and history and culture, which in some places have been modified to give coherence to the thought experiment of the author. All the images are without any labels below them, which worked best for me, as it helped me imagine what the author was trying to say in the different passages and was able to relate the ideas to the images present between them. At the end of each chapter the author has put out a notes section where he explains the implication of the thought experiment presented in that chapter, and gives a coherence to the allegories exemplified in the chapters.
Read this book if you want to get a peak in the latest developments in the search for the meaning of consciousness, and also to enjoy a very well-crafted allegorical thought experiment.
Phi is written by Giulio Tononi was first published in the year 2012. It is very unusual book. It is difficult to put Phi in one particular genre. Although the book majorly deals with the idea of consciousness, but it draws upon a body of work from different genres such as neurology, arts, history, artificial intelligence, philosophy, psychology and biology to name a few fields.
The book is quite allegorical, where Galileo goes on a voyage in his dreams to discover the nature of consciousness. Why Galileo you ask? Well, Galileo was the first person in the western science, who opened the door for objective evaluation of the nature of reality and the universe by empirical techniques. And now with the help of this book Galileo ventures on journey to decipher the nature of consciousness basically the subjective side of the human experience.
Phi is a treat to the senses because it is an elaborate thought experiment. The book is divided into three parts. In the first part Galileo meets someone with the name of Frick, who is no one but Francis Crick, the eminent scientist who discovered the structure of DNA helix and in his later years dedicated his time to discover the scientific correlation between the brain and consciousness. In the first part of the book Galileo discovered how various regions of the brain are responsible or not responsible for a person to have a conscious state of mind. The author draws from a wide range of neurological cases from the annals of history, to draw home the point that consciousness or the awareness of a person resides in certain brain regions and even if a person may lose functionality of certain parts of their brain still the consciousness remains intact.
In the second part of the book, Galileo meets a man named Alturi who is none other than Alan turning, who invented the first working computer. Here in this part of the book, Galileo meets some really eminent scientists and mathematicians and starts to build up a theory of consciousness. The theory which Galileo gives for consciousness is integrated information theory. According to which any entity where there is complex information processing with a feedback loop present in the system will have certain amount of consciousness, which he denoted using the Greek symbol Phi. So according to Galileo even a photo-diode will have a certain level of consciousness in it, according to the integrated information theory.
In the third part of the book accompanied by a bearded old man, who is none other than Charles Darwin, Galileo meditates on how consciousness is evolving as an entity across culture, across human history and how it has been influenced by arts and culture. The third part also talks about how apart from Humans animals are also conscious in some way. Also how consciousness must be present, to some degree, even before birth at the foetus level and many other biological revelations about consciousness.
This book is very heavy and is made out of expensive glossy paper. Throughout the book there are many images of arts and history and culture, which in some places have been modified to give coherence to the thought experiment of the author. All the images are without any labels below them, which worked best for me, as it helped me imagine what the author was trying to say in the different passages and was able to relate the ideas to the images present between them. At the end of each chapter the author has put out a notes section where he explains the implication of the thought experiment presented in that chapter, and gives a coherence to the allegories exemplified in the chapters.
Read this book if you want to get a peak in the latest developments in the search for the meaning of consciousness, and also to enjoy a very well-crafted allegorical thought experiment.
June 1, 2019
The author explores the possibilities of origin of consciousness, from a neurosurgeon's point of view. The author has somewhat successfully discussed questions of philosophical and theosophical importance.
The book progresses on the basis of logic of scientific reduction as championed by Galileo. Indeed, the book presents various questions, arguments and conclusions drawn by Galileo, as he meets up other prominent philosophers, scientists and artists, whose characters are based on historical facts or theories.
Brain is considered the room for consciousness : why and why not ?- this is the principle tug-of-war in the content of the book. It is not a surprise that this piece of fine literature of science (could very well be called philosophy or logic) does not solve the problem of consciousness in its entirety. But, the true success, in my opinion is to gather all the western development of the theory of consciousness in mere few hundreds of pages, to explore and define scientifically what are the shimmering questions and enfin, advances the theory of integrated information in an attempt to solve them.
The book progresses on the basis of logic of scientific reduction as championed by Galileo. Indeed, the book presents various questions, arguments and conclusions drawn by Galileo, as he meets up other prominent philosophers, scientists and artists, whose characters are based on historical facts or theories.
Brain is considered the room for consciousness : why and why not ?- this is the principle tug-of-war in the content of the book. It is not a surprise that this piece of fine literature of science (could very well be called philosophy or logic) does not solve the problem of consciousness in its entirety. But, the true success, in my opinion is to gather all the western development of the theory of consciousness in mere few hundreds of pages, to explore and define scientifically what are the shimmering questions and enfin, advances the theory of integrated information in an attempt to solve them.
April 29, 2018
In a voyage similar to Dante's Divine comedy, Galileo is taken on a voyage with some famous scientists to try to solve the hard problem of conciousness. Tononi, the author, doesn't deliver completely, of course -no one has really come near solving it in two millenia- but everything is quite suggestive, and the gorgeous book, with great full-color paintings and beautiful photos, is worth the effort.
The main claim of the book is that conscience depends on "phi", a measure of the level of integration of an informational system. For example, there are more neurons in the cerebellum than in the cerebrum. But cerebellum neurons don't "talk to each other" very much. The neurons at the cerebrum are very interconnected, have a large "phi". So conscience resides in the cerebrum (you can be conscious with a very damaged cerebellum, for example).
A book to get pleasure from, and to buy in physical form.
The main claim of the book is that conscience depends on "phi", a measure of the level of integration of an informational system. For example, there are more neurons in the cerebellum than in the cerebrum. But cerebellum neurons don't "talk to each other" very much. The neurons at the cerebrum are very interconnected, have a large "phi". So conscience resides in the cerebrum (you can be conscious with a very damaged cerebellum, for example).
A book to get pleasure from, and to buy in physical form.
June 25, 2019
Interesting format. Tononi goes through, what I like to think of as, a set of dreams and brings us through a journey of the different aspects of consciousness. This book goes into integrated information theory only a very surface level, which was my main disappointment, because I was hoping he would get more technical, but I was satisfied with the philosophical depth of this book and the development of the main character Galileo. The thing that this book really brought to me more than what I've heard before is give a non-yogi/ buddhist interpretation of how we are all connected with consciousness and while we are all alone in our heads, our experiences and actions are much more meaningful when shared with the rest of the world.
January 11, 2022
Maybe it is my fault to have expected a different kind of book than the one I read. I was expecting to read a scientific book on the consciousness theory of integrated information, so that when I finished I would have a better understanding of the principles and proofs of such theory (like how to calculate phi and stuff like that). But instead I found a book that presents its ideas through a fictional narrative (which is pretty cool) but that focuses much more on philosophy than I expected.
If you want a book to understand the science of the theory of integrated information, this is not the book for you, but if you want a fun read with interesting characters and philosophical questions and reflexions on consciousness, then it's a good book.
If you want a book to understand the science of the theory of integrated information, this is not the book for you, but if you want a fun read with interesting characters and philosophical questions and reflexions on consciousness, then it's a good book.
November 4, 2017
This is an explain-the-brain-through-brain-injuries book, so in that respect it is similar to an Oliver Sachs or Antonio Damasio book. But the similarities end there. The author has ambitiously attempted to write a survey on modern neuroscience through a complicated metaphor involving Galileo interacting with historical figures. The device is brilliant in some places, tortuous in others, but ambitious throughout. What really saves the book are the self-deprecating 'Notes' sections at the end of each chapter, which lighten the mood while at the same time casting some appropriate doubt on the material.
December 2, 2017
A unique book, merging science, philosophy, art in a narrative that is so easy to understand and so compelling at the same time, and that reminds of the Divina Commedia journey. For this, it deserves 4 stars.
Throughout the journey, the book presents a theory of consciousness grounded in neuroscience that anybody can understand, without any major scientific knowledge. But it fails to answer all questions, and the reader is left wondering about many aspects that are not clarified. For this, it deserves 3 stars.
It's a really enjoyable and original reading, but it will disappoint the reader that hopes to find in it a complete, scientific explanation of consciousness.
Throughout the journey, the book presents a theory of consciousness grounded in neuroscience that anybody can understand, without any major scientific knowledge. But it fails to answer all questions, and the reader is left wondering about many aspects that are not clarified. For this, it deserves 3 stars.
It's a really enjoyable and original reading, but it will disappoint the reader that hopes to find in it a complete, scientific explanation of consciousness.
January 15, 2023
This books is like a dark fever dream. It’s an original idea to explain a scientific concept, that’s for sure, but if every chapter needs a special notes section at the end explaining clearly what we were supposed to be learning, is that really effective scientific communication? I would say no. Personally, I would have rather read a clear and journalistic style description of the theories and people referenced. So three stars for that, and one extra off for all the truly unnecessary sexism. I did read this book as a sleep aid, and it was super effective, so take from that what you will.
September 5, 2021
Not sure exactly how to categorize this book. While definitely an interesting literary experiment, it was not at all what I was expecting. I was looking for a more serious overview of Tononi's integrated information theory. While I did get a rough intuition for the idea from this book, I think I would recommend looking elsewhere for an introduction to or summary of the theory. One other thought is that this reminded me to some extent of Godel, Escher, Bach.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews