Natural Intelligence and the Logic of Consciousness

Natural Intelligence and the Logic of Consciousness - Antonio Damasio ****

There have been plenty of books on consciousness, what is and even if it exists at all. This is a bit different. In what sometimes feels like a collection of contemplative essays, Antonio Damasio gives us a a take on consciousness based on elements of physiology and different aspects of intelligence.

One of the key terms here is 'feelings' and Damasio divides these into homeostatic (such as hunger or warmth or pain) that help keep an organism capable of operating, and emotional (such as joy or anger) which are (not surprisingly) about the emotional process rather than regulating physiology.

We often struggle to identify exactly what consciousness is: Damasio begins by describing it as 'the biological process that allows all of us to experience our individual lives', where the key word here is 'experience'. He later goes on to refine this and splits out elements.

Another concept that the book spends a considerable amount of time on is the nature of mind. Damasio's take on this comes from four different aspects: feeling, perception, reflection and linguistic, though the whole is pulled together as the 'integrated' mind.

As the book progresses, we get more into how and why consciousness might have emerged, the often overlooked significance of the physiological components, and the distinction between sensing (which, for example, plants can do) and experiencing (which requires consciousness, and is beyond plants), with some potential distinction in animals adding at different levels physiological feelings, subjectivity and consciousness. AI also gets a look-in too, with a distinction made between natural and artificial intelligence.

Although Damasio throws around a few technical terms like homeostasis and affect, it's not a heavy read, often feeling like an engaging series of short lectures. It sometimes felt a little difficult to follow exactly where the author was going with his arguments, but overall it's a genuinely different and interesting take on an important subject.

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