Consciousness may emerge not from code, but from the way living brains physically compute.

The familiar fight between “mind as software” and “mind as biology” may be a false choice. This work proposes biological computationalism: the idea that brains compute, but not in the abstract, symbol ...

A new theoretical study argues that many standard beliefs about consciousness are rooted in a misleading concept of how the brain functions.

Consciousness has long resisted neat explanations, but a growing body of research suggests the problem may lie in how we ...

When René Descartes watched a mechanical figure move with lifelike precision in the 17th century, the scene unsettled him. The machine behaved like a person, yet no one believed it could feel. That ...

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Researchers have developed a new algorithm that can accurately track a patient's level of consciousness, easing strain on clinicians and enabling new treatments. Visit a neurological ICU during a ...

As a journalist who covers AI, I hear from countless people who seem utterly convinced that ChatGPT, Claude, or some other chatbot has achieved “sentience.” Or “consciousness.” Or—my personal favorite ...

In intensive care units, some patients who appear unconscious occupy a gray zone in their relationship to the world. To ...