Two Levels of Integrated Information Theory: From Autonomous Systems to Conscious Life.

Integrated Information Theory (IIT) is a prominent candidate for a theory of consciousness, but it has faced criticism for failing to meet expectations. This paper argues that IIT operates on two levels: a second level that claims to anchor consciousness directly, and a first level that deals with autonomous systems or systems with critical complexity. The gap between these levels, along with IIT's panpsychist tendency, underlies the criticisms. The authors contend that IIT's problems are not pseudoscientific and that by adding necessary elements to combine the two levels, IIT can move toward a theory of consciousness that provides necessary and sufficient interpretations.

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Abstract

Integrated Information Theory (IIT) is one of the most prominent candidates for a theory of consciousness, although it has received much criticism for trying to live up to expectations. Based on the relevance of three issues generalized from the developments of IITs, we have summarized the main ideas of IIT into two levels. At the second level, IIT claims to be strictly anchoring consciousness, but the first level on which it is based is more about autonomous systems or systems that have reached some other critical complexity. In this paper, we argue that the clear gap between the two levels of explanation of IIT has led to these criticisms and that its panpsychist tendency plays a crucial role in this. We suggest that the problems of IIT are far from being "pseudoscience", and by adding more necessary elements, when the first level is combined with the second level, IIT can genuinely move toward an appropriate theory of consciousness that can provide necessary and sufficient interpretations.