From one of the world's foremost neuroscientists and acclaimed author of Descartes' Error comes a bold new theory of the origins--and consequences--of human consciousness Throughout his illustrious decades-long career, Antonio Damasio has been at the leading edge of science's enduring quest to unravel the mysteries of the human mind. Now, drawing on a lifetime of groundbreaking research as well as the newest findings of neurobiology, Damasio seeks to move the conversation about the origins of consciousness from the world of high-level cognition and abstract reasoning into the wondrous realm of interoception--the human body's own internal monitoring system.
At the heart of his argument is the revolutionary idea that homeostatic feelings--those primal sensations intrinsically tied to our survival such as hunger, thirst, and pain--are the foundation of conscious experience, not only central to the body's effort to maintain its physical well-being but carrying with them the initial glimmers of subjectivity, the very first sense of a "self." Here Damasio redefines consciousness as a natural solution to the problem of regulation in complex, vulnerable organisms and along the way wrestles with the notion of sentience in plants and bacteria; considers the social phenomena of politics, religion, and commerce through the perspective of homeostasis; and addresses the rise and risks of artificial intelligence and its mimicry of the conscious mind.
A probing synthesis of neurobiology, evolutionary science, and philosophy from one of the most notable leaders in his field,
Natural Intelligence & the Logic of Consciousness offers readers a scientifically rigorous and deeply profound re-examination of what it means to be alive and aware.
