Consciousness is one of the most elusive topics not only in Psychology but also in Biology, Computer Science, and Physics. World-renowned scientists, like Nobel laureate Dr. Roger Penrose, have proposed theories in order to make sense of consciousness as a phenomenon. However, we are still far from understanding and explaining consciousness objectively. Dr. David Chalmers calls this particular problem ‘the hard problem of consciousness.’ The reason it is so difficult to objectively understand consciousness is its subjective nature. Everyone could possibly be able to describe how it feels to look at the color red or how it feels when a breeze brushes their face on a winter morning. However, this feeling of redness or coolness is personal and cannot be described or studied objectively. This inner movie or qualia is at the heart of the hard problem of consciousness.
Consciousness has been a mystery for philosophers and thinkers for centuries. Philosopher John Locke described consciousness as the perception of what goes on in one’s own mind. Philosopher Descartes, one of the most influential philosophers in the field of consciousness studies, introduced the Cartesian dualism which states that the mind and the body are two fundamentally separate entities: consciousness and the brain.
Scientists and philosophers have come a long way since the age of Descartes. They are now equipped with technology that primeval thinkers could not have possibly been able to perceive. Modern neuroimaging techniques have given scientists the opportunity to delve deep into the inner workings of the brain. Neuroscientist Dr. Christof Koch has used cutting-edge technology to figure out the workings of consciousness as a function of brain activity. He terms these the ‘neural correlates of consciousness (NCC). According to research, there is evidence suggesting that the regions in the back of the cerebral cortex; the temporal, parietal, and occipital areas seem to play a crucial role in enumerating the mechanisms necessary for consciousness. This shows how current technology is propelling us forward, to a better understanding of the mechanisms that underlie consciousness.
Nobel laureate Dr. Roger Penrose, along with Dr. Hameroff, have also turned heads in the scientific community by hypothesizing that consciousness has its genesis at the quantum level by postulating the Orchestrated Objective Reduction (Orch OR) theory. They theorized that consciousness arises from microtubules, vital constituents of all eukaryotic cells, which are also present in neurons of the brain. This view is vastly contrasting to the conventional view that consciousness arises from the interaction between neurons. The Orch OR theory also intends to tackle the incompleteness of Quantum Theory in Physics.
One of the latest promising theories for consciousness research is the Information Integration Theory (IIT) which purports that consciousness arises as a function of the complexity of a system. In the case of living beings, it, of course, is the brain. This theory was first proposed by Giulio Tononi in 2004, and his contributions are still coming about. Researchers like Javier Sánchez-Cañizares are working toward strengthening IIT as a theory of consciousness.
We experience a plethora of events every day and process them seamlessly, but these processes are really complex in actuality. This is realized by the endeavors of scientists attempting to model AI to think like humans and possess human-like common sense. Scientists like Marvin Minsky, and his follower Ray Kurzweil, think that we can soon figure these complexities and move on to the next step in evolution. Cognitive and computer scientist Marvin Minsky believes that consciousness is not different from a sensation or an experience. He says that the first-person experience, or qualia, is just the result of millions of years of evolution. According to him, in order to figure out how the brain works, we must first have a proper theory of thinking and then look at the brain’s organization for it. He has also postulated that it could be possible to make computers that can be conscious in the sense that they would have achieved an intelligence higher than that of humans and could decide things for themselves. Kurzweil suggests that at the pinnacle of our technological abilities, we could be able to incorporate computer processes into our biological selves and transcend into immortal beings. This is how he believes humans will be able to transcend to the next chapter in evolution.
The domain of consciousness research, given the rise of AI, is rather controversial. The scientific community has often raised ethical questions against research in AI. Replicating human consciousness or even creating artificial consciousness could work in both positive and negative ways. This has been suggested by people like SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who suggests that artificial intelligence could turn out to be harmful to our race because it is essentially like opening Pandora’s Box. If used to make human lives better, artificially intelligent machines could enhance the human experience or it could go the other way and put human lives in danger. Due to such ambiguous repercussions, scientists must tread carefully. It is therefore evident that the exploration of consciousness is crucial, but it is also necessary to be cognizant in this pursuit.
The human brain is responsible for a lot of seemingly magical creations. Right from human space flight to cloning organisms, mankind has achieved feats that ancient scientists could only dream of. Although modern-day science has a plethora of attainments, it still lacks behind significantly when it comes to the question of consciousness. It is, therefore, arduous to assail the question of consciousness all at once. A systematic and unified approach toward solving the problem would be most fruitful. The implications of decoding the mystery of consciousness could open an abundance of avenues in technology, healthcare, innovation, and the way of life as a whole.
Pranali Raorane
