Journey of the Mind

How Thinking Emerged from Chaos

448 pages

English language

Published Dec. 23, 2022 by Norton & Company Limited, W. W..

ISBN:
978-1-324-00657-2
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3 editions

No grand epiphany, but plenty to chew on

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An interesting book that doesn't quite achieve what it promises (the humble task of resolving the age-old question of what consciousnes is and how it emerges from unconscious matter). The authors seem convinced that it does, and maybe something is lost in the translation from math-heavy research papers to accessible prose, but I don't think I'm any closer to grasping it.

The key chapter on self makes a distinction between consciousness and self-awareness that I'm having a particularly hard time with, essentially saying that many creatures have qualia experiences of the world, but only humans are aware of themselves having them (unless they're actively engaged in something like the mirror test, at which point a self-aware self emerges only to disappear once the mirror is removed). And I just can't grok the concept of consciousness without awareness.

The idea of consciousness as a process, like a basketball game or hurricane, …