preprints.org > social sciences > cognitive science > doi: 10.20944/preprints202308.0164.v1

Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Version 1 : Received: 1 August 2023 / Approved: 2 August 2023 / Online: 2 August 2023 (08:36:05 CEST)

In spite of its remarkable characteristics, consciousness cannot be considered in splendid isolation. It is only one of the remarkable phenomena associated with the brain, the brain is just one of the organs in the body, and computers and brains share many characteristics as information-based systems. On the basis of the ubiquitous hierarchical organization of reality into stacked layers, and the particular importance of strong emergence in living systems, this article argues that the brain must also employ such methods to achieve its advanced functions. This is in line with the prop-osition of Integrated Information Theory (IIT) that consciousness requires a high degree of causal integration in its physical substrate. However, such emergence is also shown to underlie infor-mation processing in computers and the non-conscious functions of the brain. It is also demon-strated that both computers and brains exploit a specific type of information that is correlated to but not synonymous with states and mechanisms in the physical substrate. Emergent Information Theory (EIT) therefore presents consciousness as one member of a large and diverse family of non-physical but real forms of emergent information created by specific types of designed and evolved systems.

Emergence; Information; Consciousness; Integrated Information Theory; Emergent Information Theory; Connectome; Artificial Intelligence

Social Sciences, Cognitive Science

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