Being You

Being You: A New Science of Consciousness by Anil Seth (2021 Faber & Faber Kindle edition 368pp)

Wherein research scientist and much lauded science writer Anil Seth attempts to explain the current thinking on human consciousness and in particular his own ‘Beast Machine’ theory.

To get us there he guides us through the history of scientific thinking on the mind and brain. He stops occasionally to describe the various researchers and the more important experiments that brought us to the current day where the ‘hard problem’ of consciousness continues to elude us. Various fads and fallacies are dismissed (i.e., the brain is a computer) and he takes quite a lot time explaining why some theories are wrong – sometimes this seemed a little too much blather and my eyes glazed over during a few paragraphs.

His theory (named “Beast Machine’ after the thinking of philosopher Rene Descartes on animals) basically says our consciousness is a fusion of hallucinations as we attempt to keep a number of essential variables within a certain range to stay alive. After laying out his thinking we then press on to explore the consciousness of animals – lots of fun anecdotes on Octopus experiments and meetings with monkeys. We end with a chapter on the possibility of Artificial Intelligence and whether consciousness could arise in machines (he has serious doubts).

I found Seth at his best when he was relating stories and experiences he had on the way to his conclusions. The experiments, the people, animals and so on. When he dives into dry theory, he always risked losing my attention. The book is, as you would expect from a scientist, is meticulously researched with many foot-notes and sources in each chapter. A comprehensive index also takes up a large chunk of the volume.

Its not a lengthy read, I finished it in a couple of sittings. Possibly borderline on being in the popular science genre but a good attempt to tackle a difficult topic.