Being You: A New Science of Consciousness
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Average rating4.2
Being You by Anil Seth explores his theory of consciousness and the self. Seth proposes that perception does not happen outside-in, with external physical signals being detected and processed to constitute our view of the world, but rather inside-out, with the brain constantly generating predictions of sensory inputs and only registering surprises.
According to Seth, consciousness arises from the brain's "predictive processing" of the world, whereby it constantly generates hypotheses about the causes of its own sensory inputs. Our sense of self and subjective experience emerge from the brain's attempts to unify and explain the multisensory information it receives.
The book examines how this predictive model of the brain can account for phenomena like qualia, delusions, and altered states of consciousness. Seth also discusses the implications of this view for understanding animal consciousness as well as the potential for machines to develop consciousness.
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Intriguing Look At Evolving Science. Thirty years ago, if you asked someone to show you the scientific basis for consciousness - human or otherwise - they'd have laughed in your face because the concept was that much of a joke. Now, Seth is among the researchers actually pursuing the inquiry - and they've made some solid strides. In this text, Seth lays out what we now know via evidentiary science and can also posit via a range of philosophical approaches. He readily explains how both prongs of research feed off each other, and his explanations are sufficiently technically complicated to speak with some degree of precision... without being so technically complicated that you basically need to be working in his lab to understand a word of what he is saying. (Though don't get me wrong, even as someone with a BS in Computer Science and who reads similar books on consciousness, cognition, and perception a few times a year... this one was still technical enough that I readily admit I don't fully understand it, even now.) Absolutely a fascinating topic and a well written explanation of it from someone actively engaged in furthering the field, and it is very much recommended.
I really wanted to like this book. I heard him on a podcast and was intrigued. But this book was so boring and so dense it was hard to get through, with no discernable payoff.
