From Wolf Kirchmeir, Blind River, Ontario, Canada
Regarding the article “Unlocking consciousness”, it seems to me that the excellent and wonderful work of Nao Tsuchiya et al. is about perception, not consciousness. If we could map a cat’s colour perception, I think we would find a similar web of contrasts and similarities. I think a cat is aware of colour, but I don’t think it’s aware that it’s aware of colour. But we humans are aware of being aware of colour. That awareness of being aware may be just the brain simulating a centre of awareness, a self (28 March, p 30).
I think “being conscious” refers to behaviour, not an attribute. The brain simulates reality, and part of that reality is the brain that simulates it. The human brain simulates itself as the perceiver of the simulation, hence “I”. That’s handwaving, I know. But if it is a reasonable stance, then the question isn’t: “What is the structure of consciousness?” Instead, it is: “How does the brain do being conscious?”
