On Free Will, the Singularity and the Quest to Crack Consciousness

On Free Will, the Singularity and the Quest to Crack Consciousness

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From John Horgan’s Cross-Check blog at SciAm:

A professor at Caltech, Christof Koch helped popularize consciousness as a topic for serious scientific investigation—instead of windy philosophical supposition—through his collaboration with the great Francis Crick, who had already cracked the genetic code and now wanted to solve the riddle of mind as well. In 1994 Koch outlined a theory, jointly fashioned by him and Crick, that 40-hertz brain waves might be a key to consciousness. Although I was skeptical of that particular theory, I liked the hard-nosed, materialist, reductionist approach that Koch and Crick took toward consciousness. I also liked the quirky intensity that Koch brought to his scientific work.

Koch, who since then has been my go-to source on neuroscience, is still chasing the white whale of consciousness …