Science has made great strides in answering many questions, but there are three major mysteries that most likely can never be solved. Despite belonging to different branches of science physics, biology, and neurosciencethey share the same problem that sets a fundamental limit to the very nature of human knowledge. These are fundamental inquiries into the origins of the universe, life, and...
A resurgence of panpsychism and dualism is a matter of ongoing debate in modern neuroscience. Although metaphysically hostile, panpsychism and dualism both persist in the science of consciousness because the former is proposed as a straightforward answer to the problem of integrating consciousness into the fabric of physical reality, whereas the latter proposes a simple solution to the problem...
The mind-brain relation underlies causal analysis in neuroscience, linked to physical reductionism, information theory, and network science. While the mystery of consciousness is still unresolved, the neurophysiological processes responsible of its emergence from brain dynamics are intensively discussed in contemporary neuroscience. Causation is involved dually there. The first issue is about...
Is information the other face of causation? This issue cannot be clarified without discussing how these both are related to physical laws, logic, computation, networks, bio-signaling, and the mind-body problem. The relation between information and causation is also intrinsically linked to many other concepts in complex systems theory such as emergence, self-organization, synergy, criticality,...
There are now dozens of very different theories of consciousness, each somehow contributing to our understanding of its nature. The science of consciousness needs therefore not new theories but a general framework integrating insights from those, yet not making it a still-born “Frankenstein” theory. First, the framework must operate explicitly on the stream of consciousness, not on its static...
The brain integrates volition, cognition, and consciousness seamlessly over three hierarchical (scale-dependent) levels of neural activity for their emergence: a causal or 'hard' level, a computational (unconscious) or 'soft' level, and a phenomenal (conscious) or 'psyche' level respectively. The cognitive evolution theory (CET) is based on three general prerequisites: physicalism, dynamism,...
This article reviews the modern approaches to the quantum brain hypothesis. The aim is to consider the hypothesis and its classical brain-machine alternative from a broad perspective, including physics, biology, computer science, cosmology, and metaphysics. My starting point is that asking whether consciousness can or cannot have free will is fundamentally incorrect. This aspect is challenged...
The ‘theory of everything’ (TOE) is conceived to embrace all natural sciences Today the TOE is discussed mostly in physics. From Copenhagen interpretation to date, another discussion is widely unfolded on the role of consciousness in quantum experience and physical descriptions in general. The paper combines both the discussions and argues for a global theory of consciousness (GTC). It will...
Since its first formulation the Integrated Information Theory (IIT) has recently been updated to the version 4.0. Unlike the previous versions where the problem of free will was completely neglected, IIT 4.0 claims to suggest a full neuroscientific account of this oldest problem in the philosophy of mind. The aim of this opinion paper is to show that IIT’s account of free will is apparently...