Then I Am Myself the World

1. Consciousness: The Bedrock of Reality

Primacy goes to consciousness, not to the objective world.

Consciousness First. Koch challenges the conventional scientific view that consciousness arises from the mindless actions of molecules. Instead, he posits that consciousness is primary, the starting point from which we infer the existence of the objective world. This perspective shifts the focus from explaining consciousness as an emergent property of matter to understanding matter as a manifestation of consciousness.

The Omphalos. Koch uses the metaphor of the omphalos, the navel or center of the world in ancient Greek tradition, to describe consciousness. For him, consciousness is the center from which everything else radiates. This includes our understanding of the physical world, our sense of self, and our experiences.

Absolute vs. Relative Existence. This perspective distinguishes between absolute existence, which is the intrinsic experience of being conscious, and relative existence, which is the existence of objects as perceived by a conscious observer. This distinction highlights the fundamental importance of subjective experience in defining what is real.

2. The Dazzling Spectrum of Subjective Experience

To be conscious is to have experiences.

Phenomenology. Koch emphasizes the importance of phenomenology, the study of subjective experience, as a way to understand the vast universe of human feelings. This includes not only the five traditional senses but also bodily sensations, emotions, thoughts, and the sense of self.

Percepts and Feelings. He distinguishes between percepts, which are sensory and concrete experiences, and feelings, which have an emotional character. This distinction helps to categorize the different types of experiences that make up our conscious lives.

Meta-consciousness. Much of adult human consciousness is taken up by reflecting on immediate experiences, so-called meta-consciousness. Life is a stream of such interwoven percepts, thoughts, and feelings, waxing and waning, shifting, moving, metamorphosing, never resting.

3. Each Mind Constructs Its Own Unique Reality

Things are known not according to their natures but according to the nature of the one who is comprehending them.

Perception Boxes. Koch introduces the concept of the "Perception Box," a metaphor for the invisible walls that limit our individual experiences. Each person's brain and experiences shape their unique version of reality, influenced by genetics, environment, and personal history.

Bayesian Brain. The mind constructs what it takes to be "reality" from explicit and implicit assumptions about statistical regularities in the world around and within us. These are called priors in the language of Bayesian reasoning, or expectations in layman's terms.

Neuroplasticity. The brain retains an ability to rewire itself, enables us to actively mold how we interpret and understand ourselves. We are not just helpless victims of fate but are the agents in charge of our own narrative, for better or worse, victorious or defeatist.

4. The Elusive Mind-Body Connection

To attain any assured knowledge about the soul is one of the most difficult things in the world.

The Hard Problem. Koch acknowledges the enduring mystery of how the mental relates to the physical. He surveys various philosophical attempts to understand this connection, from Cartesian dualism to physicalism, highlighting the challenges and limitations of each approach.

Physicalism in Crisis. Classical physicalism, the idea that everything is reducible to observer-independent quantities, faces challenges from quantum mechanics and the reality of subjective experience. This has led to a resurgence of interest in older ideas like idealism and panpsychism.

The Return of the Mental. The mental, having refused to yield, is returning with a vengeance. Indeed, the wheel is turning back to much more ancient understandings of experience, including idealism, the proposition that ultimately even matter and energy are mental manifestations, and panpsychism, the school of thought that all creatures, and perhaps even matter itself, are ensouled, that it feels-like-something to be anything, not just a human or even a bat.

5. Causal Power Defines Existence

Only What Has Causal Power Exists.

Integrated Information Theory (IIT). Koch introduces IIT, a quantitative, causal account of consciousness that defines existence in terms of causal power. According to IIT, consciousness is unfolded intrinsic causal power, the ability to effect change, a property associated with any system of interacting components.

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Existence. IIT distinguishes between intrinsic existence, which is the subjective experience of being conscious, and extrinsic existence, which is the existence of objects as perceived by an observer. Only what has causal power exists in a fundamental sense.

Quantifying Consciousness. The theory quantifies the amount of consciousness of any system by its integrated information, characterizing the system’s irreducibility. The more integrated information a system possesses, the more it is conscious. Systems with a lot of integration, such as the adult human brain, have the freedom to choose; they possess free will.

6. The Brain: Footprints of Consciousness

The brain is the most complex piece of self-organized, active matter in the known universe.

Neural Correlates of Consciousness (NCC). Koch discusses the search for the NCC, the minimal neuronal mechanisms jointly sufficient for any one specific conscious percept. This quest involves tracking the footprints of consciousness within the dense jungle of the central nervous system.

Posterior Hot Zone. Research suggests that the back (posterior) regions of the neocortex, the vast lace of dense neuronal tissue layered and folded, like dough, across the outermost layers of the brain, are most closely associated with consciousness. This area is called the posterior hot zone.

Consciousness Detector. Tracking these footprints helped established a beachhead in the mind-body problem, the construction of a consciousness detector, a first in history. Following a traumatic brain injury, stroke, or heart attack, victims can be severely impaired, unable to speak or otherwise signal their conscious state.

7. Transformative Experiences: Dissolving the Self

There is no birth of consciousness without pain.

Ego Dissolution. These include religious, mystical, and near-death experiences that leave in their wake a profoundly changed individual. These extraordinary episodes of altered or expanded consciousness, triggered by backgrounding or even abolishing the sense of self, can lead to an epiphany, an enduring and pervasive change in a person’s identity, core beliefs, and values.

Flow State. The reduction of the experience of the “self” during intense physical-mental exertions that demand full concentration is known to athletes, soldiers, or fly-fishers as being in the flow, in the zone, or in peak experience.

Nondual States. The complete abolition of the sense of self has been reported by many, throughout history, as experiencing a bright light or a luminous expanse, losing the sense of having a body, being someone with a particular history and agency, and a slowing or even a complete cessation of the passage of time. Some contemplative Buddhist practices refer to such states without a center as nondual states of consciousness.

8. Psychedelics: Catalysts for Change

Psychedelics can teach us much about the mind and its substrate as well as facilitate human flourishing.

Psychedelic Renaissance. The first two decades of the twenty-first century witnessed a remarkable renaissance in the use of psychedelics, such as psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, that profoundly alter consciousness.

Therapeutic Potential. This psychedelic revival is based on the growing recognition that these powerful medicines, in combination with therapy, can ameliorate or even heal a wide range of psychiatric disorders, such as major depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, or general anxiety disorder.

Neuroplasticity Window. These experiences open a window of neuroplasticity, lasting for weeks, during which the brain can change its wiring, letting the mind modify deeply engrained attitudes. Sticky thoughts and prolonged ruminations, the hallmark of depression, low self-esteem, and anxiety fade away, and a new, more wholesome attitude and outlook on life asserts itself.

9. Modern Death: Ebbing of Consciousness

There is no birth of consciousness without pain.

Modern vs. Traditional Death. Given progress in the clinical arts, how we die has evolved over the past century. A brief chapter describes modern death, how it differs from traditional death, and deals with some unusual classes of events in the final hours of the brain, as it irrevocably shuts down.

Brain Death. The criteria for establishing brain death leave a lot of leeway in clinical practice, such as what kind of doctor and how many must sign off on the declaration-of-death certificate; how many brainstem reflexes must be evaluated (e.g., testing for the oculovestibular reflex by pouring cold water into one ear); whether such testing must be repeated; and whether next of kin can lodge religious objections against the entire procedure.

Terminal Lucidity. The final moments of life sometimes bring another ill-understood, and possibly related, flowering of consciousness known as terminal lucidity. Dying patients who have been unable to recognize their caretakers unexpectedly become alert and fully present for minutes, hours, or even a few days; they recall past events and engage loved ones in conversation.

10. The Future of Consciousness: Upload or Deep Fake?

Only What Truly Exists Can Freely Decide.

Mind Uploading. Can we reconstruct our aging brains in software, rejuvenate our minds in the digital realm by simulating it on a computer, thereby living practically forever? Mind-uploading will only be achievable if computational functionalism, the metaphysical assumption that computations, executed on a computer, are sufficient for consciousness, holds.

Computational Functionalism. In this view, consciousness is simply a question of discovering the right algorithm. Under a different metaphysical assumption, consciousness cannot be achieved by mere computation as it is a structure associated with the physics of complex systems.

Deep Fake. If this is how reality is structured, then uploading a “mind” to a digital computer will end up with a deep fake: all action without what we hold most precious, subjective experience.

11. The Limits of Artificial Intelligence

Only What Truly Exists Can Freely Decide.

Sentient Machines. What about nonhuman, artificial minds, rivaling or even exceeding ours? This topic is treated last. Sentient machines have been a recurring theme in science fiction.

Intelligence vs. Consciousness. Against the grain, integrated information theory radically disagrees with this functionalist view. It argues from first principles that digital computers can (in principle) do everything that humans can do, eventually even faster and better. But they can never be what humans are. Intelligence is computable, but consciousness is not.

Free Will. It means that these machines will never be sentient, no matter how intelligent they become. Furthermore, that they will never possess what we have: the ability to deliberate over an upcoming choice and freely decide.

Last updated: April 1, 2025