ALPHABETICAL BRAIN™ VOCABULARY
HUMANIST GALAXY
OF SECULAR SCIENCE STARS

EDELMAN & TONONI
June 8, 2020

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A UNIVERSE OF CONSCIOUSNESS:
How Matter Becomes Imagination
by Gerald M. Edelman and Giulio Tononi.
Basic Books/Perseus Books Group,
2000 (i-xiii, 274 pages)

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BOOK OUTLINE
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QUOTE = "Each conscious state is unified and indivisible, yet at the same time, each person can choose among an immense number of different conscious states." by authors, Edelman & Tononi (pages xi-xii)

ILLUSTRATIONS (pages vii-viii)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (page ix)

PREFACE (pages xi-xiii)

note = This book explains how matter becomes imagination. (page xiii)

note = The book answers the following four specific questions:

[1] How does consciousness arise as a result of particular neural processes and of the interactions among the brain, the body, and the world? (page xi)

[2] How do these neural processes account for key properties of conscious experience? Each conscious state is unified and indivisible, yet at the same time, each person can choose among an immense number of different conscious states. (page xi-xii)

[3] How can we understand different subjective states: so-called qualia — in neural terms? (page xii)

[4] How can our understanding of consciousness help connect strictly scientific descriptions to the wider domain of human knowledge and experience? (page xii)

PART 1THE WORLD KNOT (pages 1-34)

Introduction (pages 1-2)

1) CONSCIOUSNESS — Philosophical Paradox or Scientific Object? (pages 3-9)

2) THE SPECIAL PROBLEM OF CONSCIOUSNESS (pages 10-19)

3) EVERYMAN'S PRIVATE THEATER — Ongoing Unity, Endless Variety (pages 20-34)

PART 2CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE BRAIN (pages 35-75)

Introduction (pages 35-36)

4) BUILDING A PICTURE OF THE BRAIN (pages 37-50)

Introduction (pages 35-36)

5) CONSCIOUSNESS AND DISTRIBUTED NEURAL ACTIVITY (pages 51-61)

6) NEURAL ACTIVITY INTEGRATED AND DIFFERENTIATED (pages 62-75)

PART 3MECHANISMS OF CONSCIOUSNESS — The Darwinian Perspective ( (pages 77-110)

Introduction (pages 77-78)

7) SELECTIONISM (pages 79-92)

8) NONREPRESENTATIONAL MEMORY (pages 93-101)

9) PERCEPTION INTO MEMORY — The Remembered Present (pages 102-110)

PART 4DEALING WITH PLETHORA: The Dynamic Core Hypothesis (111-154)

Introduction (pages 111-112)

10) INTEGRATION AND REENTRY (pages 113-124)

11) CONSCIOUSNESS AND COMPLEXITY (pages 125-138)

12) DETERMINING WHERE THE KNOT IS TIED — The Dynamic Core Hypothesis (pages 139-154)

PART 5UNTANGLING THE KNOT (pages 155-190)

Introduction (page 155)

13) QUALIA AND DISCRIMINATION (pages 157-175)

14) THE CONSCIOUS AND THE UNCONSCIOUS (pages 176-190)

PART 6OBSERVER TIME (pages 191-222)

Introduction (pages 191-192)

15) LANGUAGE AND THE SELF (pages 193-199)

16) THINKING (pages 200-206)

17) PRISONERS OF DESCRIPTION (pages 207-222)

NOTES (pages 223-251)

BIBLIOGRAPHY (pages 253-264)

CREDITS (pages 265-266)

INDEX (pages 267-274)

Selected Topics Highlighted:
    Abstraction
    Automatic performance
    Awareness
    Axons
    Basal ganglia
    Binocular rivalry
    Binding problem
    Brain
    Brainstem
    Capacity limitation
    Categorization
    Cerebellum
    Cerebral cortex
    Cholinergic system
    Cluster index
    Coherence
    Color perception
    Complexity
    Complexity matching
    Computer comparison
    Computer simulations
    Concepts
    Consciousness
    Context
    Differentiation
    Disconnection syndromes
    Dissociative disorders
    Distributed neural activity
    Dynamic core hypothesis
    Emotions
    Entropy, statistical
    Epilepsy
    Epistemology
    Evolutionaary assumption
    Evolutionary theory
    Experience
    Externalist view
    Functional clusters
    Global mappings
    Global workspace
    Higer-order consciousness
    Hippocampus
    Information
    Integration
    Lanbguage
    Memory
    Musicians as exampes
    Mutual information
    Neuroanatomy
    Neuronal firing
    Neurons
    Neuropsychological disorders
    Neuroscience
    Neurotransmitters
    Perception
    Postsynaptic neuron
    Primary consciousness
    Qualia
    Reentry
    Remembered present
    Routines
    Selectionism
    Self
    Semantic capabilities
    Sensory inputs
    Sensory percepts
    Sleep state
    Somatosensory cortex
    Statistics
    Stimuli, awareness of
    Striatum
    Symbols
    Synapses
    Synaptic vesicle
    Synchronization
    Thalamocortical system
    Thalamus
    Theory of neuronal group selection (TNGS)
    Thinking
    Time
    Unconscious
    Understanding
    Value category memory
    Value systems
    Visual cortex
    Visual system
    Voltage dependent connections
    Working memory
    World knot
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AUTHOR NOTES, SUMMARY,
AND BOOK DESCRIPTION

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AUTHOR NOTES = Gerald M. Edelman, was Director of the Neurosciences Institute and President of the Neurosciences Research Foundation. Giulio Tononi is an authority on sleep, and in particular the genetics and etiology of sleep. Tononi and collaborators have pioneered several complementary approaches to study sleep.

SUMMARY = What goes on in our head when we have a thought? Why do the physical events that occur inside a fistful of gelatinous tissue give rise to the world of conscious experience?

BOOK DESCRIPTION = In the book, Edelman and Tononi present for the first time a full-scale theory of consciousness based on direct observation of the human brain in action. It builds on the radical ideas that Edelman introduced in his monumental trilogy --- Neural Darwinism, Topobiology, and The Remembered Present. The book presents for the first time an empirically supported full-scale theory of consciousness. This pioneering work is presented in an elegant style and challenges conventional wisdom about consciousness by describing a modern humanistic version of brain functions. The book has enormous implications for our understanding of language, thought, emotion, and mental illness.

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BOOK REVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
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[1] One of the recurring issues in consciousness is the existence of qualia, such as redness, warmth and pain. It is not enough to identify each quale with a particular neuron or neuronal group; what is crucial is all the other groups which are highly influenced by the sensation will fire at the same time. -- Wikipedia.org

[2] Numerous examples in the book show how the brain is being studied, and what the information gleaned from experiments and experience suggests. A variety of illustrations and charts offer useful supporting information. Edelman and Tononi also offer much speculation. -- Good Reads.com

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