Global workspace theory

Global workspace theory

Continuing our insight into the study of consciousness, it is worth mentioning the Global workspace theory (GWT), which is attributed to Bernard Baars. It formulates the following: consciousness is a special form of information processing where different signals from the external world find their way into a kind of global workspace.

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Baars claims that the "workspace" allows this (what is meant by "this" remains a question) to be spread throughout the rest of the brain’s resources and capabilities. When information enters this global workspace, the subject is immediately conscious of that information, and the information gets a global access to the subject.

It can be assumed that consciousness, in addition to its personal, isolated version, can also be common. There may exist some external environment, some external world, with something coming from there in the form of signals to be transformed into particles of consciousness here. Consequently, a human being turns out to be an antenna that catches these signals to varying degrees and decides how to deal with them according to or taking into account the received data.

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The enumeration of theories is simply an attempt to show that people related to the subject in the broad sense of the word pay close attention to the issue of consciousness. And even such scientists as physicists who seemingly have nothing to do with the brain somehow get involved for various reasons.

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The idea is clear, and even, as presumptuous as it may sound, not new. Starting with the Buddhists and continuing on to Tononi who says the same thing—"integrated information" is not very much different from "workspace." Here, too, the use of the term "information" is unsatisfactory, for one thing. As in Tononi’s case, it is ambiguous and does not make anything clear at all.

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But these explanations are as badly crafted as all the previous ones. And we mean all of them: GWT, IIT, Konstantin Anokhin’s reasoning/theory, and especially those by Roger Penrose

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All of it is actually far from a complete insight into the study of the problem of consciousness and can be easily expanded to an endless number of facts and references.