Consciousness, complexity, and evolution.
The Behavioral and brain sciences March 23, 2022 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x21001825 (opens in new tab) via PubMed
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractConsciousness and complexity are often thought to be closely linked, a view that has boosted the popularity of integrated information theory (IIT) despite its significant formal, phenomenological, and neuroscientific flaws. The author proposes replacing IIT's biologically neutral concept of complexity with an evolutionary one called 'pathological complexity' to salvage the intuition that complexity relates to consciousness.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key finding | Argues that the intuition linking consciousness and complexity can be recovered by replacing integrated information theory's biologically neutral complexity with an evolutionary notion termed 'pathological complexity'. |
Abstract
The idea that consciousness and complexity are closely related has been a major driver of the popularity of integrated information theory (IIT) of consciousness, despite its major formal, phenomenological, and neuroscientific shortcomings. Here, I argue that we can recover this intuition by replacing its biologically neutral notion of complexity with an evolutionary one that I shall dub "pathological complexity."