Sentience: The Invention of Consciousness

We feel therefore we are. Conscious sensations ground our sense of self. They are essential to our idea of ourselves as psychic beings: present, existent, and mattering. But is it only humans who feel this way? Do other animals? Will future machines? To answer these questions we need a scientific understanding of consciousness: what it is and why it has evolved. Nicholas Humphrey has been researching these issues for fifty years. In this extraordinary book, weaving together intellectual adventure, cutting-edge science, and his own breakthrough experiences, he tells the story of his quest to uncover the evolutionary history of consciousness: from his discovery of blindsight after brain damage in monkeys, to hanging out with mountain gorillas in Rwanda, to becoming a leading philosopher of mind. Out of this, he has come up with an explanation of conscious feeling - 'phenomenal consciousness' - that he presents here in full for the first time. Building on this theory of how phenomenal consciousness is generated in the human brain, he turns to the morally crucial question of whether it exists in non-human creatures. His conclusions, on the evidence as it stands, are radical. Contrary to both popular and much scientific opinion, he argues that phenomenal consciousness is a relatively recent evolutionary innovation, present only in warm-blooded creatures, mammals and birds. Invertebrates, such as octopuses and bees, for all their intelligence, are in this respect unfeeling zombies. And for now, but not necessarily for ever, so are man-made machines.

Table of Contents:
Prologue 1: Sentience and Consciousness 2: Foothills 3: Phosphenes: The Touch of Light 4: Blythe Spirits 5: What the Frog's Eye Tells the Monkey's Brain 6: Blindsight 7: Sight Unseen 8: Red Sky at Night 9: Nature's Psychologists 10: On the Track of Sensations 11: Evolving Sentience 12: The Road Taken 13: The Phenomenal Self 14: Theoretical Misprisions 15: Coming to Be 16: Devising a Test 17: Panpsychism 18:  Sentience All the Way Down? 19: Mapping the Landscape 20: Getting Warmer 21: Testing, Testing 22: Qualiaphilia 23: The Self in Action 24: Taking Stock 25: Machina ex Deo 26: Closer to the Truth Acknowledgements References and Notes

About the Author :
Nicholas Humphrey is a theoretical psychologist based in Cambridge, who studies the evolution of intelligence and consciousness. His interests are wide-ranging. He was the first to demonstrate the existence of 'blindsight' after brain damage in monkeys, did research on mountain gorillas with Dian Fossey in Rwanda, proposed the celebrated theory of the 'social function of intellect' and has investigated the evolutionary background of religion, art, healing, death-awareness, and suicide. His honours include the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize, the Pufendorf Medal and the International Mind and Brain Prize. His most recent books are Seeing Red and Soul Dust.

Review :
Sentience is full of provocative ideas, as well as lively anecdotes from decades of pondering these issues. Humphreys thesis offers a great deal to think about. 4* Review: "bold, brilliant, honest" Humphrey's arguments are both plausible and lucid, the product of exhaustive research and decades spent weighing the possibilities...a stimulating exercise in experiment and speculation. an intriguing journey...that stimulates questioning A compelling treatise on the evolution of consciousness from one our finest psychologists. Humphrey combines a fascinating, often surprising, and occasionally hilarious scientific autobiography with a raft of well justified ideas about what it takes for an organism to be sentient. His excellent book will challenge you to think about nature's deepest and most personal mystery in a new and thoroughly enlightening way. It takes a special kind of person to write illuminatingly about consciousness -- a person who is not only steeped in cognitive science, biology, and philosophy, but also has a fertile imagination, an openness to new ideas, and a sensitivity to the richness and variety of experience in humans and other animals. Nicholas Humphrey is such a person, and in his new book he cements his claim to be one of the most insightful writers on this notoriously difficult topic. Sentience is a beautifully written book, full of engaging vignettes, original ideas, and intriguing suggestions. It will fascinate general readers and inspire academic researchers. Nobody has thought more deeply, originally or poetically about animal sentience and the notion of consciousness. In this bold and persuasive book he lays out how he came to his conclusions in a lifetime of studying animals and human minds. Nick Humphrey has been a hugely influential figure across the fields of experimental psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy for half a century, and, for my money, is the most inventive psychological thinker of his generation. Taking a long view of his entire scientific career and peppered with brilliant anecdotes, Sentience crystallizes Humphreys latest thinking on the evolution of consciousness. There are many dazzling insights on offer but, for me, the most eye-catching development is the formulation of a framework for determining which other animal species are sentient or even in possession of a sense of self. How staggeringly bold! Imagine what a shock wave such a test would generate, scientifically and philosophically, of course, but also out into the political sphere. Wonderfully approachable... with a writing style somewhere between a deep conversation and a thought process... Reading this book was a real pleasure. This book serves as an illuminating starting point for those intrigued by the question of whether machines can attain sentience. Nicholas Humphrey's beautiful theory of mind... [how] consciousness evolved to make us feel that life is worth living. bold, brilliant, honest... [Humphreys'] directness and philosophical sophistication are unusual in the crowded and noisy neuroscientific marketplace... [An] important contribution to the debate. All future writers on consciousness will need to take Humphrey's speculations seriously. It is no less significant because it's written breezily and accessibly. I know of no better survey of the big questions in discussions about consciousness. The kind of book to keep and read more than once. Nicholas Humphrey is a fine thinker and a lucid writer.