Evolving the Mind: On the Nature of Matter and the Origin of Consciousness

By A.G. Cairns-Smith

Book Overview

Evolving the Mind has two main themes: how ideas about the mind evolved in science; and how the mind itself evolved in nature. The mind came into physical science when it was realised, first, that it is the activity of a physical object, a brain, which makes a mind; and secondly, that our theories of nature are largely mental constructions, artificial extensions of an inner model of the world which we inherited from our distant ancestors. From both of these perspectives, consciousness is the great enigma. If consciousness evolved, however, it is in some sense a material thing whatever else may be said of it. Physics, chemistry, molecular biology, brain function and evolutionary biology - almost the whole of science - is involved, and there can be no expert in all these fields. So the style of the book is simple, almost conversational. The excitement is that we seem to be close to a scientific theory of consciousness.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 027362346X
• ISBN13: 9780521402200
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 340 Pages
• Weight: 1.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.2" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Quantum Consciousness? - Not

A most thoughtful book indeed, the best parts being the impressive summaries he provides of cellular function - particularly the dynamic chemistry of proteins (he is a chemist). Subsequently, Cairns-Smith expands to neurology, advocating that the neuron has added nothing to the basic cell but the action potential and a few more exotic neurotransmitters. Consciousness began to evolve when a pre-adaptive function of some sort of "feeling" arrived as the phenotype of a genetic mutation. Cairns-Smith's theme, however, is that basic synapses and neurochemistry need extra help to produce consciousness, and he injects a little mystery into the equation. The author is setting up a scenario in which he can explain consciousness on the basis of quantum phenomenon. He has no evidence, nothing to test - but is bursting with string theory-type speculations, complete with multiple universes, half dead cats, etc. Meanwhile, he lines up the basic science of quantum mechanics in as impressive a manner as he did proteins - complete with Feynman diagrams. According to the author, origin of quantum consciousness is located in sub-atomic particles in white matter (axons, glial cells, and astrocytes) instantaneously communicating to the multiple parallel circuits in gray matter. The analogy is to a laser or a Bose-Einstein condensate in which - when a threshold of stimulation is reached - the signals become coherent and consciousness is reached. My favorite definition of consciousness recognizes there is not a specific area of the brain where it can be said that consciousness resides. Instead, consciousness results when communication and integration of diverse and separate brain areas are coordinated in time. This definition, general as it is, functions quite nicely without resorting to the current quantum fadmeme, and I think I will keep it. Regardless, the book is a wealth of advanced knowledge in biochemistry, neurology, and quantum physics - not appropriate for the casual reader - and well worth one's time.

Stands out from the crowd

"Evolving the Mind" is an excellent book about the material basis of consciousness from an unorthodox but thoroughly clear-headed and scientific point of view. The style is conversational, accessible, and entertaining. The discussion focuses on the essential concepts and questions, avoiding various philosophical "isms" (e.g. functionalism, dualism, etc.) that tend to inflame intellectual prejudices and cloud the real issues. There are many recent books about scientific theories of consciousness (some very good), but frankly many of them are saying nearly the same thing: consciousness is to be identified or associated with some particular aspects of computation (e.g. planning, decision-making, self-representation, etc.) among neurons in the brain. In these theories, while random noise is understood to affect processes at the sub-cellular level, the brain at the functional level is assumed to operate as a deterministic computing machine. This assumption is present even in current sophisticated theories involving chaotic dynamics, parallel distributed processing, or feedback (a.k.a. "re-entrant connections"). Because Cairns-Smith's writing style is conversational, open-minded, and non-confrontational, some experts (e.g. neuroscientists, cognitive psychologists, computer scientists) are liable to miss the powerful challenge to mainstream approaches to a fundamental theory of consciousness running through his book. This main point has two parts. First, based on the correspondence between conscious experiences and evolutionary fitness (e.g. fire feels bad, food tastes good), consciousness must have evolved. If it evolved, that means (according to evolutionary theory) it must have some effect on the organism's physical body or behavior. Second, since in contemporary neuroscience models the dynamics of the brain are completely determined by the local "mechanical" action (by electro-chemical signals) of neurons, conscious feelings cannot have any effect on the brain's behavior. Various ways have been tried to wiggle out of this, but it's a real problem--conscious feelings aren't allowed to have any effects on the organism's structure or behavior, but that's inconsistent with their evolution by natural selection. As Cairns-Smith details, this problem was clearly spelled out by William James before the solution favored by Cairns-Smith, using 20th century physics, was even conceivable. To arrive at his outline of a solution to his impasse, Cairns-Smith starts from a lovely historical introduction to relevant ideas from physics, chemistry and neurobiology. Another reviewer dismissed this approach as a mere bias due to Cairns-Smith's background in chemistry. That's an unfair conclusion, because Cairns-Smith builds a strong case that the physical composition of the brain, and not just its functional organization, is important for understanding consciousness. Ultimately Cairns-Smith proposes that large-scale quantum states may provide a substr

A good book, if you are interested in science.

Book selectively covers modern physics, protein and neuro-biology, evolution, and theories of consciousness. The hypothesis is that consciousness is the 3rd system to develop for organism control, the others being chemical transmitters, and the nervous system. Hypothesis is buttressed by evolutionary arguments, and a discussion of quantum physics, showing that quantum physics is every bit as strange as consciousness, in many respects is not understood any better, and could plausibly be linked to consciousness. I was not entirely happy with the discussion of quantum physics, but that is a tough subject. I know the chapter on the structure of the brain could have been done much better. And certainly you should not read this book if you aren't interested in the science for itself: had he wanted to, Cairns-Smith could have written a much smaller book to get his thoughts on consciousness (which are interesting) properly presented. For those who just enjoy reading about science, let me put in a plug for Life Matrix, Biography of Water by Philip Ball.

Turn on the Gas and the Flame Burns Again

There was a joke about a student who summarized the knowledge of a course into a series of sentences such as "Read only your good books in vacation" (Colors of the light spectrum in order: Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.) He then summarized these into words and continued this until one final word. It seems he got to final exams and forgot the word! Arrgh!Well, I just finished reading this book and it managed to summarize and integrate all physics, evolution, chemistry and brain physiology into 300 pages without leaving out any detail however arcane. I will now reduce this to even less, so you will have something more convenient to forget.The first 95% is background material starting with forces, fields, uncertainty, mass, etc. and leading up to electrons, atoms, water molecules, lipids, and arriving at life which, in the case of the E. coli, already has modest nerve-like capabilities so it can approach food and flee poisons. It goes on to show how nerve cells not much advanced from E. coli are constructed and act to assemble three dimensional images from eye signals, etc. This is to the painful detail of enumerating the parts of the brain and how they interact.Now we are all familiar with nonsense philosophy where someone who has been exposed to little knowledge nevertheless comes to some fantastic conclusion such as "maybe the entire Universe is an electron in some larger scale Universe". Such speculation, although possibly true, is not interesting because it is not based on any evidence, however flawed and slight.This book also proceeds to such a fantastic conclusion, but with evidence that is neither obviously flawed nor slight. The problem that it finally addresses is that there is no place in the brain which is connected to all others and which becomes significantly active during consciousness. Such a place would have a huge amount of computing to do to account for our feeling of awareness and would therefore be easily located.The fantastic conclusion is that there is another kind of activity going on involving probably the white matter in the brain and the cell walls. This activity is at the sub-atomic level and, because of the fact that such activities (as shown by the first 95%) can act over large distances instantaneously, it has the potential of integrating all brain cells. The subconscious brain, i.e. the primitive part constructed of neurons using chemistry and electricity, does the work. It integrates the signals from our sensors and coordinates our movements. It wants food and revenge and fears predators. It spells words and remembers faces. But it has evolved in this environment of atomic forces and uses these for integration, just as the flower uses the bee for pollination. We perceive this as consciousness. This is required so we can plan, chose undesirable short-term actions for long-term gain, avoid the truck while riding the bike, etc.The book then seems to end without a last chapter. I supply a possible

Intriguing argument for a physical basis of consciousness

Review by Oscar EstŽvez-Uscanga Dept. of Medical Physics, Academic Medical Center Meibergdreef 15, 1105 AZ, Amstedam, The Netherlands. A.C. Cairns-Smith, Evolving the Mind, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996; 329 pages including References and Index. Contains 66 figures (plus 21 illustrations, diagrams or sketches included in the text). ISBN 0 521 40220 4 hardback; price £16.95 (US$24.95). Consciousness continues to be a popular subject for book writers: a quick search using the catalogues of a WWW-ÔBookstoreÕ that features more than a million books in its ÔshelvesÕ retrieved in excess of 200 titles. This number included the full gamut: from quack books intending to ÔexplainÕ the inner workings of your consciousness and how you can either enhance it or suppress it (as the case may be), all the way up to serious philosophical treatises and scientific studies of experts on the matter. Cairns-SmithÕs book can be placed near the upper end of this range: it is a serious attempt to explain the nature of consciousness by taking a constructive approach to the subject. Indeed, the sub-title: ÔOn the nature of matter and the origin of consciousnessÕ, already reveals the approach taken by the author. The assumption is that an understanding of the phenomenon of consciousness requires an understanding of the nature of matter in general, not only biology and neuroscience, but bio-chemistry and indeed basic chemistry as well as fundamental physics. There is, of course, a good rationale for taking this position for, when I say: ÔI understand ...Õ something, what I mean is that I can explain it in terms of something else I already knew. The understanding and acquisition of knowledge is indeed a constructive activity. Because of his position, the writer adopts a Ôbottom-upÕ treatment to explain his ideas and make up his point. He goes on to deal, in successive chapters, with some important issues of fundamental physics, (bio-) chemistry and biology (Chapters 1 and 2) and, building upon this, he continues with some basic subjects of neuroscience and neurophysiology (Chapters 3 and 4) to arrive at some facts of psychology relevant to the phenomenon of ÔconsciousnessÕ (Chapters 5 and 6) Indeed, the word ÔconsciousnessÕ doesnÕt turn up in his book until page 118! In the next chapters the narrative acquires a more philosophical character, touching on some profound epistemological questions in Chapters 7 and 8, which in turn allows the author to culminate in Chapter 9 with what he believes can reasonably be said at this moment on the nature of consciousness if it is to be explainend in terms of our more fundamental knowledge of Matter in general. Chapter 10, finally, is a well thought review of the important issues touched up in the previous chapters and is written in the form of a conversation between two ÔreadersÕ of his book: ÔAdvoÕ, who seems to agree with the author and tries to explain the key issues to fend off the criticism of ÔKritÕ, who is