The User Illusion

Description

Explore the depths of consciousness through the essential groundbreaking international bestseller.

“Finally, a book that really does explain consciousness.”—John Casti, scientist and author of What Scientists Can Know About the Future

With foundations in psychology, evolutionary biology, and information theory, Demark’s leading science writer argues a revolutionary point: that consciousness represents only an infinitesimal fraction of our ability to process information. Although we are unaware of it, our brains sift through and discard billions of pieces of data in order to allow us to understand the world around us. In this thought-provoking work, Norretranders argues that our perceptions are not direct representations of the world we experience, but instead, illusions our brains craft to process it.  

More timely and relevant than ever, in light of rapid development in artificial intelligence and large language models, this informative study of consciousness provides the framework to reflect on the inner workings of the mind and understand the self. As engaging as it is insightful, this important book encourages us to rely more on what our instincts and our senses tell us so that we can better appreciate the richness of human life.Preface
PART I: COMPUTATIONChapter 1: Maxwell’s Demon
Chapter 2: Throwing Away Information
Chapter 3: Infinite Algorithims
Chapter 4: The Depth of ComplexityPART II: COMMUNICATIONChapter 5: The Tree of Talking
Chapter 6: The Bandwidth of Consciousness
Chapter 7: The Bomb of Psychology
Chapter 8: The View from Within
PART III: CONSCIOUSNESSChapter 9: The Half-Second Delay
Chapter 10: Maxwell’s Me
Chapter 11: The User Illusion
Chapter 12: The Origin of Consciousness
PART IV: COMPOSUREChapter 13: Inside Nothing
Chapter 14: On the Edge of Chaos
Chapter 15: The Nonlinear Line
Chapter 16: The Sublime
Notes
Bibliography
IndexTor Nørretranders is a Danish writer, speaker, thinker, and self-identified “science storyteller” who writes with “a sophistication rarely seen in popular science writing” (New York Times). He is the author of The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size and The Generous Man: How Helping Others Is the Sexiest Thing You Can Do.US

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