Introduction -- The beginnning of consciousness -- The varities of conscious experience -- We each experience our own reality -- Consciousness and the physical -- What truly exists -- Consciousness and the brain -- Expanding consciousness -- Transforming lives by transformative experiences -- The end of consciousness -- The future of consciousness -- What computers can never be

"Christof Koch explores the only thing we directly experience: consciousness. At the book's heart is integrated-information theory, the idea that the essence of consciousness is the ability to exert causal power over itself, to be an agent of change. Koch investigates the physical origins of consciousness in the brain and how this knowledge can be used to measure consciousness in natural and artificial systems"--