The Theory of Life, Consciousness, and Meaning in a Self-Organizing Universe
224 pages
English language
Published July 21, 2023 by Spiegel & Grau LLC.
A brief synopsis of everything. The author fuses quantum theory, biology, astronomy, Zen Buddhism, Kabbalah, and more to explain why he thinks that the brain is not a producer of consciousness but rather a transducer: something that takes a signal and turns it into a different type of signal. As if we are all radios, turning radio waves into sound, while being composed of radio waves ourselves.
I expected the depictions of emergence and boundarylesness at the heart of this book, but I did not expect how much I'd enjoy the material which goes beyond experimentally-validated science and enters philosophy and religion. A neat and efficient eye-opening read which makes me want to read more Kabbalah.
One defining feature of complexity is, that parts combine into something greater than their sum—the result holds additional "emergent properties"! Combining a misleading title and terrible writing results in a… terrible little book. No complexity here.
But, you can find my full review here
