From Biological to Artificial Consciousness - Neuroscientific Insights and Progress

How does consciousness emerge from a brain that consists only of physical matter and electrical / chemical reactions? The deep mysteries of consciousness have plagued philosophers and scientists for thousands of years. This book approaches the problem through scientific studies that shed light on the neural mechanism of consciousness, and furthermore, delves into the possibility of artificial consciousness, a phenomenon that may ultimately solve the mystery. Finally, two key suggestions made in the book, namely, a method to test machine consciousness and a theory hypothesizing that consciousness emerges from a neural algorithm, reveal a novel and credible pathway to mind-uploading.

The original Japanese version of this book has become a best-seller in popular neuroscience and has even led to a neurotech startup for mind-uploading.

Masataka Watanabe obtained a doctoral degree at University of Tokyo, School of Engineering in 1998. Following appointment as an assistant professor in 1999 and associate professor in 2001, he spent a sabbatical year in the USA at the California Institute of Technology, and also a decade at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany. He currently holds a position as Associate Professor at the University of Tokyo and specializes in theoretical and experimental neuroscience with particular focus on consciousness. He has published in leading scientific journals such as Science, Current Biology and others.