| 2021 | Being You |
| I.1 n | p.22 | 23513 | Single neurons can carry out complex functions |
| Full Idea: It is increasingly apparent that even single neurons are capable of carrying out highly complex functions all by themselves. | |||
| From: Anil Seth (Being You [2021], I.1 n) | |||
| A reaction: Bang goes the simple connectionist account of consciousness. |
| I.2 | p.37 | 23514 | The cerbellum has a huge number of neurons, but little involvement in consciousness |
| Full Idea: The cerebellum [at the back] has about four times as many neurons as the rest of the brain put together, but seems barely involved in consciousness. | |||
| From: Anil Seth (Being You [2021], I.2) | |||
| A reaction: I wonder if it also has four times as many connections? |
| I.2 | p.46 | 23515 | Human exceptionalism plagues biology, and most other human thinking |
| Full Idea: Human exceptionalism has repeatedly plagued biology, and has darkened the history of human thought everywhere. | |||
| From: Anil Seth (Being You [2021], I.2) | |||
| A reaction: I increasingly agree with this, as much in philosophy as in biology. We really need to get used to our place in evolution. |
| I.3 | p.61 | 23516 | Maybe a system is conscious if the whole generates more information than its parts |
| Full Idea: The main claim of Tononi's 'integrated information theory' is that a system is conscious to the extent that its whole generates more information than its parts. | |||
| From: Anil Seth (Being You [2021], I.3) | |||
| A reaction: Seth seems to present this as an 'interesting' proposal. I find it unlikely that consciousness could be explain in terms of information, or that a machine constructed on this principle would thus become conscious. (Databases pass this test). |
| III.11 | p.216 | 23517 | Volition is felt as doing what you want, with possible alternatives, and a source from within |
| Full Idea: The experience of volition is defined by 1) the feeling that I am doing what I want to do, 2) that I could have done otherwise, and 3) that voluntary actions seem to come from within. | |||
| From: Anil Seth (Being You [2021], III.11) | |||
| A reaction: Note that these can all be cited without reference to their feeling 'free'. |
| III.8 | p.151 | 23519 | The self is embodied, perspectival, volitional, narrative and social |
| Full Idea: The elements of a self are 1) embodied - related directly to the body, 2) perspectival - having a viewpoint, 3) volitional - being an agent, 4) narrative - aware of past and future, and 5) social - as others perceive me. | |||
| From: report of Anil Seth (Being You [2021], III.8) by PG - Db (ideas) | |||
| A reaction: [summarised] Seth says there are distinctive emotions associated with each of these aspects of the self. This list is very helpful, as a discouragement for anyone who wants to pick one of these as the sole true nature of the self. |
| IV.13 | p.252 | 23518 | Modern AI is mostly machine-based pattern recognition |
| Full Idea: Much of today's AI is best described as sophisticated machine-based pattern recognition. | |||
| From: Anil Seth (Being You [2021], IV.13) | |||
| A reaction: Personally I wouldn't want to underestimate the extent to which human intelligence is also pattern recognition (across time as well as in space). |