Overview
- Addresses the nature of consciousness: one of the major unsolved questions in science
- Proceeds from the assumption that consciousness can be understood using the intellectual potential of modern physics and other sciences
- Reviews competing theories of consciousness, some based on classical physics while others require the use of quantum concepts
- Presents a spectrum of opinions in this on-going scientific debate, allowing readers to decide for themselves which of the approaches are most likely to succeed
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: The Frontiers Collection (FRONTCOLL)
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Table of contents (14 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
Consciousness is one of the major unsolved problems in science. How do the feelings and sensations making up conscious experience arise from the concerted actions of nerve cells and their associated synaptic and molecular processes? Can such feelings be explained by modern science, or is there an entirely different kind of explanation needed? And how can this seemingly intractable problem be approached experimentally? How do the operations of the conscious mind emerge out of the specific interactions involving billions of neurons? This multi-authored book seeks answers to these questions within a range of physically based frameworks, i.e, the underlying assumption is that consciousness can be understood using the intellectual potential of modern physics and other sciences. There are a number of theories of consciousness in existence, some of which are based on classical physics while some others require the use of quantum concepts. The latter ones have drawn a lot of criticism from the present-day scientific establishment while simultaneously claiming that classical approaches are doomed to failure. This book presents the reader with a spectrum of opinions from both sides of this on-going scientific debate, letting him/her decide which of these approaches are most likely to succeed.
Reviews
From the reviews:
“The intention of the book was clearly to present many different views of the consciousness problem, and as such it succeeds extremely well. … If you are interested in consciousness and its interaction with the physical and biological worlds, this is an excellent book that I recommend highly.” (Philosophy, Religion and Science Book Reviews, bookinspections.wordpress.com, March, 2014)
Editors and Affiliations
About the editor
Professor Jack Tuszynski received his M.Sc. with distinction in Physics from the University of Poznan (Poland) in 1980. He received his Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics from the University of Calgary in 1983. He held a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Calgary Chemistry Department in 1983. He was an Assistant Professor at the Department of Physics of the Memorial University of Newfoundland from 1983 to 1988, and at the University of Alberta Physics Department from 1988 to 1990. He joined the University of Alberta Physics Department in 1993. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Biological Physics.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Emerging Physics of Consciousness
Editors: Jack A. Tuszynski
Series Title: The Frontiers Collection
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-36723-3
Publisher: Springer Berlin, Heidelberg
eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-540-23890-4Published: 22 June 2006
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-642-06285-8Published: 12 February 2010
eBook ISBN: 978-3-540-36723-9Published: 05 September 2006
Series ISSN: 1612-3018
Series E-ISSN: 2197-6619
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVI, 487
Number of Illustrations: 135 b/w illustrations, 5 illustrations in colour
Topics: Quantum Physics, Neurosciences, Philosophy, general, Neurobiology, Physics, general