Christof Koch discusses The Feeling of Life Itself: Why Consciousness is Widespread but Can't Be Computed.

A Q&A and signing will follow the discussion.

Presented in partnership with the Illinois Science Council

RSVP is requested but not required.

About the Book: How can the brain, three pounds of highly excitable matter, a piece of furniture in the universe, subject to the same laws of physics as any other piece, give rise to subjective experience? Koch argues that what is needed to answer these questions is a quantitative theory that starts with experience and proceeds to the brain. In The Feeling of Life Itself, Christof Koch (President and Chief Scientist of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle) creates a new and straightforward definition of consciousness as any subjective experience, from the most mundane to the most exalted—the feeling of being alive.

About the Author: Christof Koch is President and Chief Scientist of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, following twenty-seven years as a Professor at the California Institute of Technology. He is the author of Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist (MIT Press), The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach, and other books.

Event Location:

The Seminary Co-op Bookstore

5751 S Woodlawn Avenue

Chicago, IL 60637

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