Being You, by Anil Seth

How do self-awareness and consciousness arise from the meat computers in our heads? This is the so-called “hard problem”, which has long been considered intractable. Anil Seth argues that empirical methodology is chipping away at the foundations of the hard problem, and that Psychology is beginning to make real progress towards answers.

He starts by by examining how modern magnetoencephalograpy can yield an operationalised and quantifiable metric of brain activity which appears to accompany conscious experience, and continues to argue that perceptual inferences driven by Baysian logic may be identical to, and responsible for, consciousness. If true, this would mean that animals are conscious, and that AIs aren’t.

This book was published in 2021 and created quite an impact. It contains some very advanced thinking about the science of consciousness, and it is the first time anyone has attempted to make these ideas accessible for a popular audience. It is very readable and not too long, but the ideas it articulates are mind-bending, and worth reading slowly and more than once!