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In Then I Am Myself the World, Christof Koch explores the only thing we directly experience: consciousness. At the book\\u2019s heart is integrated-information theory, the idea that the essence of consciousness is the ability to exert causal power over itself, to be an agent of change. Koch investigates the physical origins of consciousness in the brain and how this knowledge can be used to measure consciousness in natural and artificial systems.

Enabled by such tools, Koch reveals when and where consciousness exists, and uses that knowledge to confront major social and scientific questions: When does a fetus first become self-aware? Can psychedelic and mystical experiences transform lives? What happens to consciousness in near-death experiences? Why will generative AI ultimately be able to do the very thing we can do, yet never feel any of it? And do our experiences reveal a single, objective reality? \\u202f\\u202f

Christof Koch is a neuroscientist at the Allen Institute and at the Tiny Blue Dot Foundation, the former president of the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and a former professor at the California Institute of Technology. Author of four previous titles \\u2014 The Feeling of Life Itself: Why Consciousness Is Widespread but Can\\u2019t Be Computed, Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist, and The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach \\u2014 Koch writes regularly for a range of media, including Scientific American. He lives in the Pacific Northwest.

Shermer and Koch discuss: \\u201csubjective experience\\u201d \\u2022 the author\\u2019s near-death experience changed him \\u2022 the difficulties of materialism/physicalism \\u2022 a fundamental theory of consciousness that explains subjective experiences in objective measures \\u2022 designing a \\u201cconsciousness detector\\u201d for unresponsive patients \\u2022 why magic mushrooms and Ayahuasca are of so fascinating to neuroscientists \\u2022 how our minds are shaped by our beliefs, prior experiences, and intentions \\u2022 insights crucial to those suffering from anxiety, low self-esteem, post-traumatic stress, and depression. \\u2022 the future of advanced brain-machine interfaces \\u2022 why digital computers will never be conscious.