The User Illusion

Informationen zum Autor Tor 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 . Klappentext As John Casti wrote, "Finally, a book that really does explain consciousness." This groundbreaking work by Denmark's leading science writer draws on psychology, evolutionary biology, information theory, and other disciplines to argue its 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 fact, most of what we call thought is actually the unconscious discarding of information. What our consciousness rejects constitutes the most valuable part of ourselves, the "Me" that the "I" draws on for most of our actions--fluent speech, riding a bicycle, anything involving expertise. No wonder that, in this age of information, so many of us feel empty and dissatisfied. 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. Zusammenfassung First published in 1998, the title refers to the simplistic mental image most of us have of our PCs. The author says our consciousness is our user illusion of ourselves. Drawing on scientific research from psychology and biology to physics and computer science, he makes a compelling case for putting consciousness in perspective. Inhaltsverzeichnis 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 Index...

Autorentext

Tor 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.

Klappentext

As John Casti wrote, "Finally, a book that really does explain consciousness." This groundbreaking work by Denmark's leading science writer draws on psychology, evolutionary biology, information theory, and other disciplines to argue its 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 fact, most of what we call thought is actually the unconscious discarding of information. What our consciousness rejects constitutes the most valuable part of ourselves, the "Me" that the "I" draws on for most of our actions--fluent speech, riding a bicycle, anything involving expertise. No wonder that, in this age of information, so many of us feel empty and dissatisfied. 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.

Zusammenfassung
**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.

Inhalt
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
Index