Stairway to the Mind The Controversial New Science of Consciousness

Stairway to the Mind The Controversial New Science of Consciousness / by Alwyn Scott.

Stairway to the Mind explores one of the most exciting and controversial areas of modern science: consciousness and the nature of the mind. The book proposes that consciousness emerges from hierarchical layers of mental reality, in the same way that life emerges from layers of biological reality. Th...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Scott, Alwyn (Author)
Corporate Author: SpringerLink (Online service)
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: New York, NY : Springer New York : Imprint: Copernicus, 1995.
Edition:1st ed. 1995.
Series:Springer eBook Collection.
Subjects:
Neurosciences.
Neuropsychology.
Cognitive psychology.
Medicine.
Biophysics.
Biological physics.
Animal physiology.
Electronic resources (E-books)
Online Access:Click to view e-book
Holy Cross Note:Loaded electronically.
Electronic access restricted to members of the Holy Cross Community.
Table of Contents:
  • 1 Introduction
  • 2 Quantum Physics, Chemistry, and Consciousness
  • Quantum physics
  • Chemistry
  • Quantum consciousness
  • References
  • 3 The Chemistry of Life
  • Biomolecular structures
  • Biomolecular dynamics
  • Is life based on the laws of physics?
  • References
  • 4 The Nerve Afire
  • Nerve membrane dynamics
  • Nonlinear diffusion
  • The Hodgkin-Huxley equations
  • Neurodynamics
  • References
  • 5 Is There a Computer In Your Head?
  • The McCulloch-Pitts neuron
  • Dendritic and axonal computing
  • Synaptic transmission
  • The multiplex neuron
  • A real neuron
  • Quantum effects?
  • Can a neuron be modeled on a computer?
  • References
  • 6 “An Enchanted Loom”
  • A brief look at the brain
  • Layered structures
  • The Perceptron
  • The cell assembly
  • The hierarchy of cell assemblies
  • The cell assembly revisited
  • The nature of thought
  • Cortical stimulation
  • A deeper question
  • References
  • 7 A Century of Brain-Mind Theory
  • William James
  • George Santayana
  • Behaviorism
  • Donald Hebb
  • Erwin Schrödinger
  • Can a machine think?
  • Are we machines?
  • Forebrain commissurotomy
  • Karl Popper and John Eccles
  • Blindsight
  • Roger Penrose
  • Francis Crick and Christof Koch
  • Daniel Dennett
  • John Searle
  • Erich Harth
  • Henry Stapp
  • Eccles throws down the gauntlet
  • Crick replies
  • The hard problem
  • References
  • 8 “A Great Arc” of Possibilities
  • The birth of American anthropology
  • Cultural configurations
  • Coming of age in Samoa
  • Cultural relativity
  • Anthropology and modern life
  • Ethics
  • Biological and cultural evolution
  • References
  • 9 Toward an Emergent Theory of Consciousness
  • Credo
  • Quantum consciousness and scientific determinism
  • Conservation of energy in the mind?
  • Materialism
  • Functionalism
  • Dualism
  • The locus of consciousness
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Two dreams
  • References
  • 10 “Then I Tell Them What I Told Them”
  • Recapitulation
  • Final comments
  • Appendices
  • A Nonlinearity and Emergence
  • B The Mathematics of Quantum Theory
  • C The Born-Oppenheimer Approximation
  • D Local Modes
  • E Schrödinger’s Cat
  • F Linear and Nonlinear Diffusion
  • G The Hodgkin-Huxley Equations
  • H Counting Neural Networks
  • I An Incomplete Physical Theory
  • References.

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