Jul 27, 2016 02:17 AM
http://bigthink.com/paul-ratner/the-medi...in-missing
EXCERPT: The French man’s story really challenges the idea that consciousness arises in one part of the brain only. Current theories hold that the part of the brain called the thalamus is responsible for our self-awareness. A man living with most of his brain missing does not fit neatly into such hypotheses. Axel Cleeremans believes that the brain learns to be conscious. In his Thesis of Radical Plasticity, he claims that the brain constantly adapts and learns how to describe what it does to itself, not only knowing information, but knowing that it knows that information. If that conundrum wasn’t enough for you, Cleeremens calls consciousness “the brain’s theory about itself....”
EXCERPT: The French man’s story really challenges the idea that consciousness arises in one part of the brain only. Current theories hold that the part of the brain called the thalamus is responsible for our self-awareness. A man living with most of his brain missing does not fit neatly into such hypotheses. Axel Cleeremans believes that the brain learns to be conscious. In his Thesis of Radical Plasticity, he claims that the brain constantly adapts and learns how to describe what it does to itself, not only knowing information, but knowing that it knows that information. If that conundrum wasn’t enough for you, Cleeremens calls consciousness “the brain’s theory about itself....”