Impossible minds : my neurons, my consciousness / Igor Aleksander.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Aleksander, Igor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Brain.

Neurons.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (364 p.)

Place of Publication:

London : Imperial College Press, 1996.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Impossible Minds: My Neurons, My Consciousness has been written to satisfy the curiosity each and every one of us has about our own consciousness. It takes the view that the neurons in our heads are the source of consciousness and attempts to explain how this happens. Although it talks of neural networks, it explains what they are and what they do, in such a way that anyone may understand.This book is also a story. A story of a land where people think that they are automata without much in the way of consciousness, a story of cormorants and cliffs by the sea, a story of what it might be like t

Contents:

Contents; Preface: YET ANOTHER BOOK ON CONSCIOUSNESS?; How this book got to be written; Apologies; Thanks; Molecula's story; Chapter 1: WHO'S AFRAID OF MAGNUS?; Artificial consciousness: the very idea!; Why Magnus?; The consciousness of a vacuum cleaner?; Why neurons and not beer cans?; The mental world of Magnus; The Basic Guess: neurons and thoughts; A game of consequences; Psychological puzzles; Language: the human competitive edge; Philosophy or mathematical equations?; Cultural pressures; The point of it all; Chapter 2: NEURONS AND THOUGHT; The Basic Guess; Defining my own consciousness

The consciousness of othersThe power of modelling; The danger of inappropriate modelling; Why neurons?; The mind's eye; Learning and remembering; In a nutshell...; Philosophy and consciousness; The new student and the engineer; Descartes (1596-1650); Locke (1632-1704); Berkeley (1685-1753); Hume (1711-1776); Kant (1724-1807); Hegel (1770-1831); William James (1842-1910); Wittgenstein (1889-1951); The end of the millennium; Enter the ghost in the machine; Penrose; The Basic Guess in perspective; Chapter 3: AUTOMATA AND BRAINS; Automata theory: mathematics anyone can do

Consequence 1: The brain is a state machineThe wheel machine; Some shorthand; Building machines with neurons; The behaviour of neural machines; The function of neurons: learning and generalisation; Learning or programming?; A touch of perspective: have we lost sight of consciousness?; Neuroanatomy: the shape of the brain; The cortex; The visual system; How does the brain create consciousness?; The concentric theory of consciousness; The language of automata: a summary; Chapter 4: THE INNER EYE OF CONSCIOUSNESS; Preamble: Engineering the mind of Magnus; Designing an octopus

The daydreaming automatonThe state structure of daydreams and dreams; Learning to be conscious; Has the Cartesian theatre reopened?; Chapter 5: WHO AM I?; The me in consciousness; The ""self"" as others see it; The psychology of self; Self, personality and state structure; An image of the future; Another brief look at sleep; The self as knowing what I can do; Will and consciousness; Will and personality; Returning to the self in philosophy and psychology; Kelly's personal state structures; So, who am I?; Chapter 6: BEGINNINGS AND WORDS; Setting human beings apart; Knowing the names of things

What is an object?Associating names; Where are the objects?; A changing world; Concepts and logic ...; More logic ...; Verbs; Novelty; Abstractions and confusions; Theories of meaning; Gottlob Frege (1848-1925); Wittgenstein's picture theory of meaning; Intentionality; Recent views of ""meaning""; Whither the word of God?; Chapter 7: GIVE ME A TEDDY ...; Battle at dawn; The Piaget challenge; Chomsky's reply; Iconic representation and the battle of Royaumont; ""Mah mah""; Magnus utters its first words; ""On human communication""; The universality of languages; An alternative to inheritance

The effectiveness of iconic representation

Notes:

"Reprinted 1997."--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781860944048

1860944043