Consciousness and the structuring property of typical data
Jonathan W D Mason
arXiv Preprint Archive March 14, 2012 preprint
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Q-bio.nc 92b20, 91e30 Consciousness definition Theory of consciousness Conscious experience Mathematical neuroscience Computational neuroscience Theoretical neuroscience Neural data modeling Brain structure modeling Brain activity patterns Typical brain activity Brain states Inherent brain structure |
| Key points | Proposes that consciousness arises from relations defined by typical brain states, where a brain state is meaningful only in the context of the brain's structural typicality. |
Abstract
The theoretical base for consciousness, in particular an explanation of how consciousness is defined by the brain, has long been sought by science. We propose a partial theory of consciousness as relations defined by typical data. The theory is based on the idea that a brain state on its own is almost meaningless but in the context of the typical brain states, defined by the brain's structure, a particular brain state is highly structured by relations. The proposed theory can be applied and tested both theoretically and experimentally. Precisely how typical data determines relations is fully established using discrete mathematics.