Peter Gelfan's Reviews > The Feeling of Life Itself: Why Consciousness Is Widespread but Can't Be Computed

Koch tackles the “hard problem” of philosophy and neuroscience: consciousness. While some dispute that such a thing exists separate from or in addition to the neurological functions that enable us to deal with our bodies and environment, Koch gives consciousness a specific definition: our inner experience of life. A thermostat may in a sense be aware of the ambient temperature and thereby control heating and cooling devices, but does it experience anything? You know that you experience things, but you cannot convey your experience, along with all its feelings and nuance, to another. Words or other forms of expression can impart the gist of your experience not precisely recreate it. In fact, none of us can know with certainty that anyone else experiences anything. They can say they do, but your cell phone can say that too. Which puts neuroscience and philosophy in an embarrassing position: they cannot examine firsthand the essence of what it means to be conscious. We can share facts, images, sounds, ideas, and so on but I can never experience what it feels like to be you.

Dualists will say here’s where spirit, soul, comes in to make life complete. Physicalists say either that consciousness doesn’t really exist or that it’s an emergent property of brains and possibly other complex systems. Panpsychists believe that consciousness is an integral part of all that exists. Koch has a different explanation. Integrated information theory, IIT, which he helped develop, is his answer. It begins by breaking experience down to its essential components and then studying how they work (or not) in brains (and computers).

The book is fascinating. In places it’s also quite technical. For some of the diagrams, I confess I lifted the hood, stared down inside, then closed the hood again. But overall, the theory makes sense, is testable, and doesn’t require a leap of faith to any ism. He writes well with a straightforward manner.