Natural Intelligence & the Logic of Consciousness

From one of the world’s foremost neuroscientists and acclaimed author of Descartes’ Error comes a bold new theory of the origins—and consequences—of human consciousness

Throughout his illustrious decades-long career, Antonio Damasio has been at the leading edge of science’s enduring quest to unravel the mysteries of the human mind. Now, drawing on a lifetime of groundbreaking research as well as the newest findings of neurobiology, Damasio seeks to move the conversation about the origins of consciousness from the world of high-level cognition and abstract reasoning into the wondrous realm of interoception—the human body’s own internal monitoring system.

At the heart of his argument is the revolutionary idea that homeostatic feelings—those primal sensations intrinsically tied to our survival such as hunger, thirst, and pain—are the foundation of conscious experience, not only central to the body’s effort to maintain its physical well-being but carrying with them the initial glimmers of subjectivity, the very first sense of a “self.” Here Damasio redefines consciousness as a natural solution to the problem of regulation in complex, vulnerable organisms and along the way wrestles with the notion of sentience in plants and bacteria; considers the social phenomena of politics, religion, and commerce through the perspective of homeostasis; and addresses the rise and risks of artificial intelligence and its mimicry of the conscious mind.

A probing synthesis of neurobiology, evolutionary science, and philosophy from one of the most notable leaders in his field, Natural Intelligence & the Logic of Consciousness offers readers a scientifically rigorous and deeply profound re-examination of what it means to be alive and aware.ANTONIO DAMASIO is David Dornsife Professor of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Philosophy, and director of the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.