Integrated Information Theory and Consciousness

Dear Colleagues,

Maybe we are facing ‘the rise of the science of consciousness’ now. Among the variety of working hypotheses, integrated information theory of consciousness (IIT) would be one of the most ambitious and controversial scientific programs in the field. Since it was suggested by Giulio Tononi, IIT has evolved and been upgraded over and over. However, the current version, IIT 4.0, still needs some clarifications and developments.

IIT is unique in its methodology, mathematical model, theoretical framework, and philosophical perspective. For instance, methodologically, IIT starts from ‘axioms’ of consciousness and draws ‘postulates’ about physical substrates of consciousness. From these postulates, it suggests that a maximally integrated conceptual structure (MICS) generated by a system is a conscious experience. The Φ value of MICS, which measures the irreducible causal power of a system as a whole, captures the levels of consciousness, and the ‘shape’ of MICS represented in multidimensional space specifies the qualities of consciousness. Since IIT directly identifies MICS with consciousness, everything that generates MICS is conscious. All these features raise some questions: Is such ‘phenomenology first’ well grounded? Is there any precise and efficient way to get around the computational burden in applying IIT to real biological systems? Further, is Φ well defined enough to be generally applied to all physical systems? Is MICS-experience identification justifiable? Is there any problematic consequence of such an identification? If there is, what is it and how can IIT avoid it?

These questions naturally require wide, productive interdisciplinary research. In this Special Issue, we invite researchers from all disciplines concerned with the intellectual fever toward the science of consciousness.

Prof. Kyumin Moon
Guest Editor

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