Formalizing falsification for theories of consciousness across computational hierarchies.

ABSTRACT: The scientific study of consciousness is currently undergoing a critical transition in the form of a rapidly evolving scientific debate regarding whether or not currently proposed theories can be assessed for their scientific validity. At the forefront of this debate is Integrated Information Theory (IIT), widely regarded as the preeminent theory of consciousness because it quantified subjective experience in a scalar mathematical measure called Φ that is in principle measurable. Epistemological issues in the form of the "unfolding argument" have provided a concrete refutation of IIT by demonstrating how it permits functionally identical systems to have differences in their predicted consciousness. The implication is that IIT and any other proposed theory based on a physical system's causa

SUBMITTER: Hanson JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8339439 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature