Human beings have direct access to their own mental states, but can only indirectly observe cosmic radiation and enzyme kinetics. Why then can we measure the temperature of far away galaxies and the activation constant of kinases to the third digit, yet we only gauge our happiness on a scale from 1 to 7? Here we propose a radical research paradigm shift to embrace the subjective conscious mind...
CortexOctober 1, 2005Alexei V Samsonovich, Giorgio A Ascoli
Here we address the notion of the self as the subject of experience, in contrast with its other popular meanings of a state of self-awareness, a body image, or a narrative center. In this perspective, the main player is not consciousness per se (the famous "hard problem"), but its subject. We start by showing that the self as the subject of immediate self-awareness cannot be conceived as an...