Attention Schema Theory is Michael Graziano's theory of consciousness. Graziano is a professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Princeton University. His scientific research focuses on the brain basis of awareness. He has proposed the "attention schema" theory, an explanation of how, and for what adaptive advantage, brains attribute the property of awareness to themselves. He is also a novelist and musical composer.

❶ Background
0:00 Highlights
5:10 Michael's background (Physics vs. Neuroscience)
11:35 Early lab work & his thesis
13:25 The Spaces Between Us book (Peripersonal space bubbles)
16:35 Personal space differences across cultures (Common misconception!)

❷ Attention Schema Theory
20:32 Rethinking Consciousness book
21:40 What is the Attention Schema Theory? Most other theories are magical...
25:25 The man who thought he had a squirrel in his head
27:55 Why the focus on "attention"?
33:00 How did Michael come to this realization? Movement control/body models/phantom limbs...
38:15 What is the most common definition of consciousness? Experiential...
45:30 Do sponges have consciousness? We are machines that think we have experience...
47:40 Organisms that start to have self-models... 250M years ago
50:00 We "think" we have this experience...
51:05 "Attention is something the brain does. Consciousness is something the brain says it has."
51:25 The costs of attention... pay attention!
53:50 The attention economy... social manipulation

❸ Rival Theories of Consciousness
56:25 Attention Schema Theory vs Modern Consciousness Theories
58:20 Global Workspace Theory (i.e. Fame in the Brain)
1:01:15 Higher Order Thought Theory
1:01:45 How does AST shorten the explanatory gap?
1:06:00 Integrated Information Theory
1:10:00 Relationship to Donald Hoffman's work?
1:12:35 There are no colors in the universe
1:13:25 "Experienceness is an inaccurate way that the brain describes what it's doing"
1:15:15 Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter
1:17:35 Steel man the other side of your theory?

❹ Final Thoughts
1:19:45 Consciousness is a matter of technology, not philosophy/psychology
1:20:50 Doesn't want to be around when we start uploading minds
1:24:18 Psychedelics informing research?
1:24:55 Relationship to dreams?
1:25:55 Any lessons from research you use in your day-to-day life?
1:27:15 If you could give your younger self one piece of advice?

🚩Links to Michael 🚩
Website: https://grazianolab.princeton.edu/
Channel:    / @grazgorilla  
Rethinking Consciousness: A Scientific Theory of Subjective Experience https://www.amazon.com/Rethinking-Con...

🚾 Works Cited
Integrated information theory: from consciousness to its physical substrate (Tononi 2016) https://www.researchgate.net/publicat...

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Egmont Overture by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...

Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-...

Artist: http://incompetech.com/

🚀 What is this channel?
Exploring Truth in philosophy, science, & art. We'll uncover concepts from psychology, mythology, spirituality, literature, media, and more. If you like Lex Fridman or Curt Jaimungal, you'll love this educational channel.

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#consciousness #attentionschematheory #science #evolution #algorithms #ai #computation #iit