In preparation for Andrew's birth, I am re-reading the wonderful overview book by Alwyn Scott, Stairway to the Mind. He does not present a particular new or definitive theory (or, more appropriately an hypothesis) on the nature of consciousness, but gives a fabulous overview of current ideas and philosophies (up to "modern day" as of 1995).

This book is strongly recommended by Neuron News for anyone interested in obtaining a nice feel for the broad and wild fields covering the study of consciousness, and we are currently featuring it in our recommended books list. Sadly, Prof. Scott passed away last year at the age of 75 after dealing with lung cancer.

What is consciousness? What is the nature of the mind? A few initial, interesting, yet informal overviews may be found on Wikipedia under Consciousness, Self-awarness, and even Philosophy of Mind. But, the issue of consciousness from a scientific perspective is still so vague and so complicated... it is almost like we do not yet have the mathematical language to describe the seemingly miraculous phenomenon that we feel emanating from our heads.

As a vague beginning on outlining an approach to understanding the human mind, Prof. Scott emphasizes that consciousness is potentially the result of a hierarchy of a broad range of physical phenomena all interacting with one another in complex ways. So, borrowing his outline from the book, we present an interesting--although mostly intuitive--structure for considering the path through which consciousness might emerge during human existence:

Within a week, my wonderful wife, Michelle, will deliver our second child. Our little boy, Andrew, will be a lump of cells working in amazing synchrony to survive in a wild and scary universe. All of the actions are the result of a profoundly self-organized system that can successfully respond to its environment and maintain its internal cycles and processes in order to allow it to continue to develop and evolve as a living creature.

However, it is my understanding and hypothesis that the neuron network composing his infant brain is not yet entirely developed into what we would consider a fully-functioning conscious system. My son will certainly be a human being, and will have already been one for quite some time while growing in Mommy's tummy, but there is still something missing... that "something" behind his eyes that allows him to be self-aware and fully able to make decisions to guide his body's behavior, no matter how remedial the decisions might still be.

Our first child, Elizabeth Noelle, is nearly three years old now, and she, too--like all of us conscious beings--began as this glob of organized, interacting cells. And I noticed one day with her that something changed... it wasn't entirely clear... but, it seemed to me that one day when I looked into her eyes there was something more. Something was working at a higher level inside her head... my cute little human being that I helped create had developed into something more... a self-aware, conscious human being.

Unfortunately, my observations were mostly an afterthought and not documented in any way other than personal reflections. So, with our second child I intend to conduct a more thorough observational experiment and create a more scientific record here on Neuron News of his development from a human being into a conscious human being. Although I anticipate this transition to be quite fluid and difficult to pinpoint, I hope that something might be taken from the considerations that could provide at least a slight glimmer of understanding into the nature of the consciousness of my son.

Each of my observations will be recorded here under the Topical Category "Raising Consciousness." I am also very much interested in your responses, ideas, and feedback... and even observational guidance as we begin what I expect to be an exciting and interesting journey into what is the fundamental nature of human consciousness.