How Human Consciousness Can Exist While a Body Is Unconscious Explained in a Beautiful Animation

Animator Diana Gradinaru of the Royal Institution quite elegantly illustrated a lecture on consciousness by mathematician Marcus du Sautoy. du Sautoy explains a dream he had, then examined how it could so real even though his body wasn’t conscious. This led to a further examination of how consciousness can be now measured and quantified, although humanity cannot be boiled down to just a set of numbers.

Brain imagining techniques have shown that our minds work differently when we’re asleep compared to when we’re awake, conscious vs unconscious. Integrated information theory attempts to measure how conscious a system is using mathematical formulae. Could maths answer the question about what consciousness is or do we need to look to philosophy?

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.