Audiobooks by Christof Koch

Inner Space and Outer Thoughts: Speculative Fiction From Caltech and JPL Authors

Fact ignites fiction in this first-of-its-kind anthology of speculative tales by Caltech and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) scientists, engineers, technologists, and students. Experts at the frontiers of their fields, along with renowned Caltech alumni such as David Brin, S. B. Divya, and Larry Niven, present stories about alien astrobiologists, AI parenthood, a quest to preserve our histories beyond the heat death of the universe, a heist to steal engineering secrets from an ancient monk-scientist, the recovery of a long-lost phase of the human life cycle, the demise of Earth’s first intelligent species—billions of years before the rise of humanity, and much more!

Allic Sivaramakrishnan, Anish Sarma, Ann Bernath, Ashish Mahabal, Christine Corbett Moran, Christof Koch, David Brin, David Brown, Fayth Hui Tan, Heidi Klumpe, Kara Lee, Larry Niven, Madison Brady, Naru Dames Sundar, Olivia Pardo, Patrick House, R. James Doyle, Rachael Kuintzle, S. B. Divya, Samuel Clamons, Tatyana Dobreva (Author), Adam Pracht, Ibba Armancas, Kp Upadhyayula, Shweta Adhyam, Trendane Sparks (Narrator)

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The Feeling of Life Itself: Why Consciousness Is Widespread but Can't Be Computed

Psychologists study which cognitive operations underpin a given conscious perception. Neuroscientists track the neural correlates of consciousness in the brain, the organ of the mind. But why the brain and not, say, the liver? 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, Koch outlines such a theory, based on integrated information. Koch describes how the theory explains many facts about the neurology of consciousness and how it has been used to build a clinically useful consciousness meter. The theory predicts that many, and perhaps all, animals experience the sights and sounds of life; consciousness is much more widespread than conventionally assumed. Contrary to received wisdom, however, Koch argues that programmable computers will not have consciousness. Even a perfect software model of the brain is not conscious. Its simulation is fake consciousness. Consciousness is not a special type of computation-it is not a clever hack. Consciousness is about being.

Christof Koch (Author), Patrick Lawlor (Narrator)

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