Consciousness is our awareness of thoughts, sensations, and existence. It remains one of the deepest mysteries known to humanity. Neuroscience has revealed much about the brain. Yet explaining why or how it creates the vivid experience of being “you” still challenges scientists and philosophers.
What Is Consciousness?
Consciousness covers a range of experiences. It includes feeling pain, recalling memories, and imagining the future. Many describe it as the difference between a living, thinking person and a machine running code without awareness.
Philosopher David Chalmers called it the “hard problem” of neuroscience. He contrasted this with “easy problems” such as explaining reflexes or sensory processing.
Theories of Consciousness
Scientists have proposed several models:
- Global Workspace Theory (GWT) suggests that consciousness appears when information spreads across the brain, like a spotlight of attention.
- Integrated Information Theory (IIT) links consciousness to how connected and unified the brain’s networks are.
- Higher-Order Theories propose that the brain becomes conscious when it reflects on its own processes.
Despite these ideas, no theory fully explains how brain activity leads to the feeling of joy or the sight of red.
Can Science Measure It?
Brain scans show networks active during conscious states. For instance, the default mode network is active when we daydream or recall memories. Doctors use EEG patterns to gauge awareness in coma patients.
However, linking these patterns to the origin of subjective experience remains unsolved.
Altered States
Experiences like meditation, sensory deprivation, or psychedelics can change consciousness. They offer clues about how the brain builds our sense of reality.
Could AI Ever Be Conscious?
The rise of artificial intelligence prompts fresh debate. Most experts agree today’s AI lacks subjective awareness. It processes data without feelings or understanding.
Neuroscientist Anil Seth describes consciousness as “a controlled hallucination. The brain’s best guess about the world.” Yet, why it feels like something remains the greatest mystery.
