risk is the likelihood that someone may be harmed by a hazard

 TRAILING LEAD 

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Holding someone’s hand is enough to reduce their pain and even synchronise breathing and heart rates, research finds.

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In 1976, another researcher interested in consciousness, Julian Jaynes, then a professor at Princeton, published what would become a cult classic. The book was The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. To this day it still sells well, and as a young man I read it and found it fascinating. For in it Jaynes proposes a radical theory: that prior to around 1200 BCE, humanity was a set of “automatons who knew not what they did,” lacking all consciousness. Furthermore, he proposed that consciousness itself came about via the thickening of the communication between the two hemispheres of the brain, and that, prior to the full integration between the hemispheres, early consciousness had taken the form of essentially auditory hallucinations, which were often interpreted as the commandments of the gods.

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Consciousness research explores the nature, origin, and functioning of consciousness—the mysterious phenomenon of self-awareness, subjective experience, and perception. Researchers across neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and artificial intelligence aim to answer foundational questions about how consciousness arises from biological processes, its purpose, and its various levels or states.

Key Areas of Consciousness Research

1. Neuroscientific Approaches: Neuroscientists study the brain’s structures and functions to identify regions and networks linked to conscious experience. This includes:

   • Global Workspace Theory (GWT): Proposes that consciousness emerges when information is broadcast across multiple brain networks, creating a shared "workspace" for experiences.
   • Integrated Information Theory (IIT): Suggests consciousness is linked to the amount and integration of information processed by a system.
   • Neurotransmitters and Neural Correlates: Identifying specific molecules and circuits involved in wakefulness, sleep, and altered states.

2. Philosophical Approaches: Philosophers examine the "hard problem" of consciousness—the question of why subjective experiences (qualia) arise from physical brain processes. This includes:

   • Dualism vs. Physicalism: The debate over whether consciousness is purely a product of physical processes or if it requires a non-material component.
   • Panpsychism: The hypothesis that consciousness may be a fundamental property of the universe, existing even in elementary particles to a minimal degree.
   • The Self and Identity: Exploring concepts like the nature of self-awareness and how consciousness creates a sense of self.

3. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Consciousness: AI researchers investigate whether artificial systems can achieve a form of consciousness. While current AI lacks subjective experience, studies in artificial general intelligence (AGI) and embodied cognition suggest ways to create machines that mimic certain conscious behaviors or self-awareness.

4. Altered States of Consciousness: Examining states beyond everyday wakefulness, such as sleep, dreams, hypnosis, meditation, and psychedelic experiences, to understand how consciousness can change and what that reveals about its underlying structure.

5. Developmental and Evolutionary Perspectives: Researchers explore how consciousness evolves from infancy through adulthood and across species, analyzing the role of consciousness in survival, learning, and social interaction.

Breakthroughs and Challenges

While we’ve made progress in mapping brain networks associated with conscious thought, there are still challenges, including:

• Bridging the Hard Problem: Connecting subjective experience with measurable processes remains one of the field's greatest challenges.
• Ethical Implications: Questions about machine consciousness, treatment of animals, and neuro-enhancements raise new ethical issues.
• Practical Applications: Applying findings in medicine, such as enhancing recovery for coma patients or creating more effective treatments for mental health.

Consciousness research remains at the frontier of science, seeking to bridge the gap between mind, brain, and the nature of reality itself.

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