manipulating consciousness
"You're nothing but a pack of neurons”, said the late Nobel price winner and co-discoverer of DNA Francis Crick. For most people it is hard to believe there's no soul, just a body with a brain generating an identity.
Why are humans conscious? And where in the brain arises this
consciousness? No exact answers can yet be given to these questions but a lot of
research has been done on the topic in the past decade after the taboo on
thinking scientifically about consciousness had been broken down.
The most common description of consciousness is that it is a
state of awareness with three dominant features: subjectivity, unity, and
intentionality. Subjectivity, because it is personal and intensely subjective.
That’s why it’s so hard to come to an objective understanding of
consciousness. Unity, because consciousness is whole and continuous over time
involving all sensory modalities. Intentionality, because its experiences have a
meaning beyond the physical sensation of the moment.
Or, as Antonio Damasio, neuroscientist at the University of
Southern California, puts it: “Consciousness is a critical biological function
that allows us to know sorrow or know joy, to know suffering or to know
pleasure, to sense embarrassment or pride, to grieve for lost love or lost
life.”
Consciousness is a function of the brain. As such it should be possible to identify the neural mechanisms that give rise to consciousness. Several theories have been proposed as to the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC), the minimal brain mechanisms causing any one specific conscious percept, memory, or action.