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Phi: A Voyage From The Brain To The Soul (2012)

by Giulio Tononi(Favorite Author)

3.88 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0307907228 (ISBN13: 9780307907226)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Pantheon

review 1: Giulio Tononi is a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin. His book, PHI: A VOYAGE FROM THE BRAIN TO THE SOUL (2012) is the third book I have recently read by a prominent neuroscientist. This is an unusual book as it combines scientific research of the brain with art, history, and fictional techniques. And i must say that it is a fascinating voyage accessible to the non-scientist who is interested in neuroscience and the nature of human consciousness. I have often thought that understanding the workings of human consciousness is the true "final frontier," not space, not the oceans. After all, it is by the virtue of self-reflective awareness that we humans know anything at all about our world and the universe. Our knowledge is colored by how we know, and that is why ... moreit is so important to pursue this question. If we don't come to some understanding of how consciousness shapes our perceptions of the world then our knowledge is incomplete, fragmentary. And perhaps alway will be so. But as the subtitle suggests, a voyage is a means to an end; the voyage more important than the destination. Anyone interested in these questions will find PHI a rewarding and fascinating reading experience. The main character in the book is the great Galileo Galilei who acts as an exemplar of the ever curious man of science who himself wonders about the mystery of consciousness. Taking fictional liberties, Tononi introduces Galileo with various historical personages: Descartes, Francis Crick, Cardinal Bellermine (Galileo's inquisitor), Sigmund Freud, William James, and many others, who question and inform Galileo. The reader will find himself combing his own historical knowledge and art and science as he reflects upon these pages. Many discussions about perception, thought, and the workings of the human brain follow, creating a loose history of the quest for the meaning of consciousness. At the close of each chapter, Tononi briefly annotates the arguments and illustrations. In the end, even considering what the science and technology of brain studies have so far produced, there is no clear answer to the question. The quest continues.I might also add that PHI, the hardback version, is beautifully designed and produced and a joy to hold. It has a pleasing heft that compliments the gravity of the subject. It is printed on shiny, heavy stock, firmly bound in a black cover, and contains many prints, both color and monochrome, some of which have been digitally altered in order serve Tononi's purposes of illustration.
review 2: A creative, colorful, and poetic book, styled quite similarly to Dante's Divine Comedy, with spirit-guides walking the interlocutor through three perceptual realms. Certainly more of a scientific bent than DC, though ultimately I don't believe it connected all the dots it was supposed to in explaining the basis of consciousness. Consciousness is explained to Galileo in parts by Frick, Alturi, and an unnamed bearded man (Francis Crick, Alan Turing, and Charles Darwin), where they lead Galileo from room to room with different allegorical scenes, usually based on historical or scientific evidence in each one. Frick displays some of the physical knowledge of consciousness and the brain--the effects of lobotomy or infarction. Alturi compares the brain to devices, both mechanical and information theoretic, concluding that Phi--irreducible integrated information--is the measure of consciousness. [Darwin] shows the practical and philosophical consequences of such a system--how dementia affects consciousness, whether other creatures possess it, etc. I think the crux of this thesis lies near the end of Alturi's domain, and I found there a disconnect that I'll have to look into further. The author does a great job of explaining how the brain is not like a photodiode (simply registering 'ON' in the presence of light and 'OFF' otherwise), but that individual neurons more or less are (or can be modeled that way). But then a higher level of awareness (than a neuron) is attained through 'complexes', which aren't described physically (are they neurons? massively connected neurons?), and have probability measures (i.e. rather than binary 0 or 1 any value between them inclusive). And then qualia are introduced which seem to be high dimensioned hypercubes, unique to each individual concept--as though some neuron or complex (or ??) can hold all of the information gathered from uncountable precursor neurons. I don't disagree with this idea, I just don't understand the mechanics. The apparent hypercube in qualiaspace may contain more information than any individual neuron could perceive--knowledge of one measure being 00 means it isn't the state 01 or 10 or 11, etc., but I'm not sure if this is any more information than the readings alone--where does this become consciousness?Regardless of my disconnect, this book was a pleasure to read--there are many full color reproductions of varied famous works, often with subtle modification giving them a stronger relationship to the story, and the story was quite an interesting allegorical journey influenced and backed up by science and history. I'm not sure whom I would recommend the book to, it's difficult to categorize or relate to other works--perhaps to a person of literary mind who wants a better scientific understanding of consciousness without too much technical detail? less

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