
Why Physicists Are Saying Consciousness Is a State of Matter - Cadsby
https://medium.com/the-physics-arxiv-blog/why-physicists-are-saying-consciousness-is-a-state-of-matter-like-a-solid-a-liquid-or-a-gas-5e7ed624986d#.b2kmxbgq6
======
kbenson
Is it me, or does all this follow from some unproven assumptions?

 _In 2008, Tononi proposed that a system demonstrating consciousness must have
two specific traits. First, the system must be able to store and process large
amounts of information. In other words consciousness is essentially a
phenomenon of information.

And second, this information must be integrated in a unified whole so that it
is impossible to divide into independent parts. That reflects the experience
that each instance of consciousness is a unified whole that cannot be
decomposed into separate components._

So, we've been given constraints, but where is it proven that those
constraints match what we think of when we talk about consciousness? Or is all
this predicated on "consciousness" being an overloaded term here, and it's not
necessarily referring to what the layperson would think of as consciousness?
Is this just a matter of overlapping terms and an article taking advantage of
that misconception?

