I of the Vortex: From Neurons to Self

Description

This is a stimulating book, from one of the modern fathers of neuroscience, Rodolfo Liinas (if anyone is interested in a video of him discussing the book, there is a great one online here [...] where he attempts to build a coherent theory of consciousness as an emergent property of neurons. He does not only stay within the confinement of describing the current modern discoveries. He actually attempts to find a framework. That framework stems from motricity, the capacity to move. Llinas argues that moving and being conscious are profoundly linked, in such that for one to move, one needs: * The capacity to move * A perception of how one is moving and where * The desire to move From there it follows that the brain is essentially a prediction, or dreaming, machine, but the dream is always being modulated by the information coming from the senses. All that does not, of course, spring from nothing. There is a evolutionary progress in the development of this three items, that according to my interpretation of Llinas' book, is what consciousness is all about. There is a lot of technical information there, so my advice is, give this book a couple of readings, because Llinas is at the forefront of neuro research, and his compilation of recent finding is a worth reading in itself.