The New Science of Consciousness: Exploring the Complexity of Brain, Mind, and Self

by Paul L. Núñez

This book explains in layperson's terms a new approach to studying consciousness based on a partnership between neuroscientists and complexity scientists. The author, a physicist turned neuroscientist, outlines essential features of this partnership. The new science goes well beyond traditional cognitive science and simple neural networks, which are often the focus in artificial intelligence research. It involves many fields including neuroscience, artificial intelligence, physics, cognitive science, and psychiatry. What causes autism, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer's disease? How does our unconscious influence our actions? As the author shows, these important questions can be viewed in a new light when neuroscientists and complexity scientists work together. This cross-disciplinary approach also offers fresh insights into the major unsolved challenge of our the origin of self-awareness. Do minds emerge from brains? Or is something more involved? Using human social networks as a metaphor, the author explains how brain behavior can be compared with the collective behavior of large-scale global systems. Emergent global systems that interact and form relationships with lower levels of organization and the surrounding environment provide useful models for complex brain functions.By blending lucid explanations with illuminating analogies, this book offers the general reader a window into the latest exciting developments in brain research.From the Hardcover edition.

Genres: Neuroscience, Science, Psychology, Nonfiction, Brain

376 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 8, 2016

Reviews

[Apoorv Mathur · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit convoluted and recursive - not unlike the topic.

https://medium.com/@corlettnovis_8247...

[Keith Swenson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad at all. Very good overview of brain structure, and how the brain all works together. The hard problem of consciousness is left to the last two chapters, and they are the weakest ones. Clearly the author does not have nobel-prize-worthy insights into consciousness, however the details he does provide about the working of the brain is good grounding material for that future researcher who finally does crack the hard problem open.

This is highly esoteric, scholarly. He avoids equations to make it more accessible. I guess that works, but I still think you have to be pretty interested in the brain to get a lot out of this.

[Huong Ho · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a beautiful book. Written with wonderful insight.

[Yates Buckley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is far from perfect but is great:
- grandly dismisses many philosophical problems
- has opinionated and belittling attitude toward some competing views of consciousness
- badly written, unclear sentences, simple language
- example metaphors and personal stories that are not really interesting

But... on the other hand this is now one of my preferred texts in the popularisation of Consciousness Science, because:
- the author leaves the door open for alternatives and takes a non dogmatic tone
- conveys in broad strokes the challenges of this science
- offers some very insightful perspective on a direction of investigation that is as falsifiable as it could be
- addresses the puzzle of falsifiable knowledge in this domain
- elaborates his hypothesis from a deep knowledge of the field which is insightful and interesting even to technical readers

I think Nunez captures the spirit of this research better than others I have read.

[Kalle Wescott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read /The New Science of Consciousness: Exploring the Complexity of Brain, Mind, and Self/, by Paul Nunez:

https://manhattanbookreview.com/produ...

Great book!

My favorite sentence: "Some writers have even described the brain as 'the most complex object in the universe', but it seems unlikely that such pundits are sufficiently well-traveled to defend this claim."

[Craig Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it. The book covers a tremendous amount of ground and several fields of study that are the building blocks to the various ideas about consciousness. The author postulates a view - a long-shot theory - towards the end of the book that is described as highly speculative - but then so are many of the other half dozen ‘theories’ of consciousness.

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blew my mind, pun intended. The book served as a course on the brain and a mini course on multiple other fields of study, most interestingly quantum physics and quantum mechanics. Loved it, it changed my perspective on the world and on myself, which is when I award 5 stars.

[Charles Porter · Rating 5 out of 5]

The hard question of consciousness: How does biological hardware give rise to conscious experience?

[Nicole Choe · Rating 5 out of 5]

you can tell it was written by a physicist! Lol

[Stephen Cranney · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little (okay, a lot) technical for us amateurs.

[Andrew · Rating 1 out of 5]

Surprisingly bereft of information or elucidation on the subject it it purports to cover.

[Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great ending. Love his end concept.

[Ave Mets · Rating 4 out of 5]

Often the analogues and metaphors are not helpful for me, they only fill space and blur the point.