Science

Sentience: The Invention of Consciousness

Sentience: The Invention of Consciousness

  • Downloads：9039
  • Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date：2023-03-17 03:19:28
  • Update Date：2025-09-06
  • Status：finish
  • Author：Nicholas Humphrey
  • ISBN：B0B1BRG238
  • Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle

Reviews

Andrey Lebedev ，

I put 5 stars for the fascinating narrative of the book。 Reading it made me feel like if the author were sitting next to me in the living room， having a friendly informaldiscussion about the topic of the theory of mind。 Many new insights， ideas and scientifically proven facts， provided in the book， are definitely worth to learn and read。The author however does not even try to answer the hard problem of consciousness。 This is quite disappointing， but nevertheless， the book left me with a sweet af I put 5 stars for the fascinating narrative of the book。 Reading it made me feel like if the author were sitting next to me in the living room， having a friendly informaldiscussion about the topic of the theory of mind。 Many new insights， ideas and scientifically proven facts， provided in the book， are definitely worth to learn and read。The author however does not even try to answer the hard problem of consciousness。 This is quite disappointing， but nevertheless， the book left me with a sweet aftertaste and no regret at all of spending a few bedtime evenings in its company。 。。。more

Riyadh ，

Important advances in the theoretical underpinnings of consciousness。 In particular， the solid evolutionary basis gets taken to wonderfully tight conclusions about why consciousness is， how consciousness may work （at only a structural level）， what are the conditions for consciousness， and what is and isn’t conscious。 In this way it is akin to Schrödinger’s “What is Life” providing the foothold for， and presaging， the discovery of DNA。 What it elides is an explanation of how the subjective magic Important advances in the theoretical underpinnings of consciousness。 In particular， the solid evolutionary basis gets taken to wonderfully tight conclusions about why consciousness is， how consciousness may work （at only a structural level）， what are the conditions for consciousness， and what is and isn’t conscious。 In this way it is akin to Schrödinger’s “What is Life” providing the foothold for， and presaging， the discovery of DNA。 What it elides is an explanation of how the subjective magic of consciousness can arise out of matter。 His brief description of the structural mechanics defaults to Hofstadter’s “strange loops，” in which stimulus and response feed off recursively。 He covers this up with some new words and some fuzzy old words deftly stitched together。 But the magic is， still， magic。 The stories of the animal experiences were entertaining， and show how masterful his command of the evidence is。 The book is a delight to read - simple， poetic， and clear。 To date， the finest exploration of consciousness I’ve read。 。。。more

Stephen Palmer ，

Originator of the social intelligence theory of consciousness， philosopher and psychologist， Nicholas Humphrey's books have enthralled and inspired me ever since I saw his The Inner Eye television series in the mid-1980s。 Now， eleven years after his last book， comes a new work。First of all， Sentience is fascinating， beautifully written， thought-provoking and important。 But more than that， to my mind it is true。 Everything Humphrey writes here， which in some ways sum up his huge contribution to t Originator of the social intelligence theory of consciousness， philosopher and psychologist， Nicholas Humphrey's books have enthralled and inspired me ever since I saw his The Inner Eye television series in the mid-1980s。 Now， eleven years after his last book， comes a new work。First of all， Sentience is fascinating， beautifully written， thought-provoking and important。 But more than that， to my mind it is true。 Everything Humphrey writes here， which in some ways sum up his huge contribution to the field of the understanding of consciousness， has that feel of being fundamentally correct。 The tale he is telling matches reality。The book falls into three thirds， the first giving the background to Humphrey’s journey through life and the questions he asked himself as he pondered various unknowns: consciousness… why， and when？ This summary is vital for the following two parts， one of which deals with our phenomenal experiences （the redness of a poppy， the sweetness of sugar， etc）， and one of which sums it all up in a new perspective， drawing at all times from evolutionary reasoning。It’s this latter third which I think is groundbreaking。 The issue for the vast majority of philosophers dealing with qualia in the brain （that is， how the redness of red can be generated and experienced by “mere” neuron activity） is how to make the leap from neurons to private mental experience。 There’s a couple of sentences in this book which I suspect may be the most important Humphrey has ever written。 They read: Remember how it emerged in the earlier discussion that when， for example， you project phenomenal redness onto a poppy， you are in effect making a bridge to other sentient beings。 You’re seeing the poppy as being ‘rubropotent’ – as having the power to evoke red qualia in another like yourself。Isn’t that extraordinary？ Other philosophers look at one brain in isolation and try to pin down the mind/body relationship therein， but that’s their mistake。 Conscious brains， human brains， never exist in isolation。 They grow， develop and mature only in social groups。 Personally， I think this cultural blind spot has a lot to do with men dominating such intellectual discussions， men who in comparison with women have little grasp of the true importance of relationships。This， then， is the brilliance of Nicholas Humphrey。 He grasps the fundamental role of social relations in the evolution of consciousness。 He never loses sight of that evolutionary history， and indeed uses it to underpin the truth of his theory。As he notes early on in the book， his intellectual and philosophical journey has been rather a lonely furrow。 I hope this exceptional work changes all that。 It certainly deserves to。 It’s more than worthy of being added to his outstanding canon of work。 Trailblazing， compelling and true。 。。。more

Brian Clegg ，

The first seventy-odd pages of this book are absolutely phenomenal （pun intended， though still true）。 We start with a near-stream of consciousness prologue - very appropriate for a book on sentience - and then go on to have a description of the early part of Nicholas Humphrey's career in a wonderfully approachable fashion with a writing style somewhere between a deep conversation and a thought process。 I particularly loved Humphrey's description of his heading off to Elba to investigate the para The first seventy-odd pages of this book are absolutely phenomenal （pun intended， though still true）。 We start with a near-stream of consciousness prologue - very appropriate for a book on sentience - and then go on to have a description of the early part of Nicholas Humphrey's career in a wonderfully approachable fashion with a writing style somewhere between a deep conversation and a thought process。 I particularly loved Humphrey's description of his heading off to Elba to investigate the paranormal claims of the eccentric Hugh Sartorius Whitaker and his experiences with Dian Fossey （not always pleasant） when visiting to study the 'natural psychologist' ability of gorillas。The book then takes a change of tack， signified by the author heading the next chapter 'To work'， as he sets out to build for us his theory on the nature of sentience and 'phenomenal consciousness'。 This too is very interesting， but lacks the same storytelling verve。 It's also a lot harder to get your head around， as a lot of the time we are dealing with rather wispy philosophical concepts。 The central thesis is that sentience is about not the ability to react to sensations （as it originally meant）， but to be consciously aware of what it's like to experience sensations （that's phenomenal consciousness， I think - though I need to say 'I think' because it is difficult to take in）。The job Humphrey has is to persuade the reader of his thesis， apparently not accepted across the board by any means， that sentience arises from a particular mechanism in the brain。 This， he suggests， was linked to warm-bloodedness， so it is likely that only mammals and birds （presumably potentially also including earlier dinosaurs） have been sentient - though not all to the same level。 He gives a （to me） quite convincing argument that， for example， playing is a good indicator of sentience。There were times when I think there could have been more explanation （and he might have better avoiding some of the confusing technical terms）。 So， for example， I don't think there is enough distinction between the sensation of redness as we experience it and the quality of an object being red， which is a simple physical property of giving off photons in a certain range of energies。 To philosophers used to discussing this topic， there is a yawning gap between the two - but to the ordinary reader they are much closer and the distinction needed better handling。 The same is true of some of the other philosophical niceties that are needed to really get your head around this topic。Despite this resulting in sometimes feeling like I was experiencing Humphrey's ideas like a view through gauze （going all sensational there）， reading this book was a real pleasure。 。。。more