Francis Crick Memorial Conference 2012

Carboncopies.org founder Randal A. Koene will be attending the Conference on July 7, 2012 in Cambridge, UK.

This conference is being attended by and spoken at by so many luminaries of the fields that are highly relevant to SIM that it is 100% worth attending if you can make it there!

From the description at http://fcmconference.org/:

"The First Annual Francis Crick Memorial Conference, focusing on "Consciousness in Humans and Non-Human Animals", aims to provide a purely data-driven perspective on the neural correlates of consciousness. The most advanced quantitative techniques for measuring and monitoring consciousness will be presented, with the topics of focus ranging from exploring the properties of neurons deep in the brainstem, to assessing global cerebral function in comatose patients. Model organisms investigated will span the species spectrum from flies to rodents, humans to birds, elephants to dolphins, and will be approached from the viewpoint of three branches of biology: anatomy, physiology, and behavior. Until animals have their own storytellers, humans will always have the most glorious part of the story, and with this proverbial concept in mind, the symposium will address the notion that humans do not alone possess the neurological faculties that constitute consciousness as it is presently understood."

Dr. Koene live-blogged the conference to a photo album in his personal Facebook pages. The posts and photos are set to "public", so should be visible to most anyone. If you have difficulty accessing the notes, please contact us.

The entire event was also recorded and can be watched here:

http://fcmconference.org/watch/

Some more impressions:

Francis Crick being interviewed about the reasons why he chose

to investigate consciousness.

Melanie Boly describes the Information Integration Theory of consciousness. She begins by discussing altered states of consciousness. She points out the importance of finding a good marker of consciousness in brain function. Conversely, we might discover those things that cause a loss of consciousness. Her tools are TMS-EEG, navigating to target a specific location and then suppress activity there with TMS.

Philip Low presents the results and ambitions of his company NeuroVigil,

using their patented algorithms and their single-electrode iBrain device.

One of his strong supporters in Stephen Hawking. Philip is working with

Ed Boyden (MIT) to create a database, while Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking

and many others have signed on as early adopters of iBrain. For Stephen

Hawking and other ALS patients, they are using this to bypass all motor

control and detect intentions directly from the brain signals. Stephen

Wolfram and Terrence Sejnowski are also among those on the board of

NeuroVigil.

All the speakers appear on stage together to read and sign the

conference's declaration about Conscious states (and awareness

and feelings), and the support that evidence provides that these

exist not only in humans, but also in non-human animals.

For more information, please see information at the conference web site or contact the organizers listed at: http://fcmconference.org/