25 years ago neuroscientist Christof Koch and philosopher David Chalmers made a bet.
What was the bet? That the neuroscientist could find the seat of consciousness in the brain. The philosopher, on the other hand, believed that anything with information would be just a tiny bit conscious and that we are conscious because we process so much information.
Koch's theory, on the other hand, is that consciousness is nothing more than brain cells firing in synchrony 40 times per second.
Even without reading further, I know who's side I'm on. Crows show strong signs of being as conscious as we are with a very different brain structure.
And now so does Koch. After studying the matter for 25 years, he's surrendering to Chalmers. Not because he's wrong, but because there's absolutely no way to prove he's right.
In fact, he too is now studying information-based consciousness.
The two have now made another bet. This time, Koch is betting that we will understand consciousness in 25 years. Chalmers is betting that we still won't.
Maybe we never will.
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