There’s One Thing That Separates Us From Self-Driving Cars. Scientists Are Fighting Over What It Is.

Key Points:

• Neuroscientist Mark Solms and others challenge the dominant view that the cerebral cortex is the seat of consciousness, arguing instead that raw feeling and fundamental consciousness reside in the upper brainstem.
• A recent paper in The Neuroscientist distinguishes between access consciousness (awareness of stimuli) and phenomenal consciousness (raw sentience), emphasizing that an experienced self persists even without sensory input.
• Evidence from conditions like hydranencephaly and studies of brain damage show that consciousness can persist despite extensive cortical loss, whereas brainstem damage often results in loss of consciousness or coma.
• The brainstem is proposed as the primary site for the sensation of pain, which does not localize clearly to the cortex, and may provide the "flavor" of consciousness essential for sentient experience alongside cortical functions.
• The authors conclude that while the cerebral cortex handles complex processing, the brainstem plays a crucial role in producing consciousness, with brainstem damage causing unconsciousness, unlike cortical damage.