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Mærk Verden: En beretning om bevidsthed
The "user illusion" in computing is the desktop graphical user interface (GUI): the friendly, comprehensible illusion presented to the user to conceal all the bouncing bits and bytes that do the actual work. Tor Nørretranders writes that "our consciousness is a user illusion for ourselves and the world ... one's very own map of oneself and one's possibilities of intervenin...more
Hardcover, 550 pages
Published
2005
by Gyldendal
(first published August 1st 1999)
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"Mærk verden" af Tor Nørretranders er uden tvivl blandt det bedste faglitteratur jeg har læst. Af flere årsager.
Vores bevidsthed er enormt facinerende i dens ubeskrivelighed. I Mærk Verden sætter Nørretranders fokus på bevidstheden og dens forudsætning for vores oplevelse af vores eksistens, og dermed som mediet hvorigennem vi tillader os selv at mærke verden... på godt og ondt.
Nørretranders skriver i et samlet og flydende sprog, hvor der veksles fint imellem faglitterære og lægmands termer, hvi...more
Vores bevidsthed er enormt facinerende i dens ubeskrivelighed. I Mærk Verden sætter Nørretranders fokus på bevidstheden og dens forudsætning for vores oplevelse af vores eksistens, og dermed som mediet hvorigennem vi tillader os selv at mærke verden... på godt og ondt.
Nørretranders skriver i et samlet og flydende sprog, hvor der veksles fint imellem faglitterære og lægmands termer, hvi...more
Still good, still thought-provoking after many years.
I bought this about the time it first came out, and recently finished a re-read of it.
Some parts of it are a bit dated, some parts are perhaps a bit uneven, and the book is arguably as much philosophy as it is science. That said, it's still a good book, good enough to definitely not deserve the 1- and 2-star ratings. So, even though for me alone, it's probably closer to 4 stars, I give it a 5-star rating.
That said, philosophy and science can b...more
I bought this about the time it first came out, and recently finished a re-read of it.
Some parts of it are a bit dated, some parts are perhaps a bit uneven, and the book is arguably as much philosophy as it is science. That said, it's still a good book, good enough to definitely not deserve the 1- and 2-star ratings. So, even though for me alone, it's probably closer to 4 stars, I give it a 5-star rating.
That said, philosophy and science can b...more
Didn't read it through completely. It is interesting, but it didn't really grab me. I think it is the journalistic style, the style of an uninvolved observer, which makes it difficult to stay with the narrative for a long time. Maybe I will come back to it in the future.
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The author does a pretty good job of pasting together a collage of scientific research conclusions from multiple sources which, according to him, seems to indicate a split between the processing capacity, speed and purposes of the Self and the I.
There are very few original ideas in this book which mostly acts as a compendium of previously derived knowledge. Being already familiar with most of his sources, I was still surprised by his amazing ability to integrate them into a semi-coherent story,...more
There are very few original ideas in this book which mostly acts as a compendium of previously derived knowledge. Being already familiar with most of his sources, I was still surprised by his amazing ability to integrate them into a semi-coherent story,...more
This is one of the best books that I have read this year. The language is a little complicated but not as scientific, so it still is fun to read. I learned alot about myself through this book and it helped to shape my phylosiphy. I liked the relations between the mind and other physics that I can observe, I feel like I know so many new connections. If someone was into cognitive phychology, or any form of phychology I would recomend this book. Even if someone just wanted to learn about phylosiph...more
Oct 14, 2012
Matthew Carlin
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
too-weak-to-finish
This book lacks rigor, making a lot of loose and intellectually weak arguments in support of a very good but already very well known theory. The author makes inappropriate connections between many disciplines, mostly by misusing terms shared across these fields. He also draws grand conclusions from more narrow and more rigorous scientific theories and mathematical proofs. I sense that he doesn't really understand what he's talking about.
Note: Although I agree with the thesis, I put the book down...more
Note: Although I agree with the thesis, I put the book down...more
When I read books as a kid, I had a sense of mystery. In my innocence and my ignorance, every book was a exciting journey. But now I have lost it; I have lost the sense of mystery. Now - now with age - I know vaguely what to expect when I pick up a novel, because everything that can be written about has been written - or will be written, considering the amount of books being published and self-published today. And the world is so full of and straining under the load of information that non-ficti...more
2 likes · like · see review
This is an explanation of consciousness via a tour of;entropy,information theory,thermodynamics,philosophy,computing,Godel's theorem and experimental neuroscience,to name but a few of the subjects employed.The result is an understanding of consciousness that is compelling,informative and which is entertaining enough to overcome any dryness caused by some of the more technical areas covered.The author is a Danish science writer and seems to know his readership well and I didn't find his style as...more
This book has some really interesting stuff in it, but it was just plain a slog to read through. The chapters have loads of details that are of, at best, passing interest, and it feels as though the book could have been condensed immensely. I found myself zipping through other non-fiction reads by comparison.
If you know how to speed read or how to skim effectively then this book is a bit better of a read. Things improved when I stopped trying to read every word cover to cover and just skimmed th...more
If you know how to speed read or how to skim effectively then this book is a bit better of a read. Things improved when I stopped trying to read every word cover to cover and just skimmed th...more
Feb 05, 2012
Cassandra Silva
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
philosophy,
psychology-sociology
I found this book really hard to put down. It was surprisingly one of the better written texts describing Entropy I have encountered and I felt like the writer pulled from some magnificent sources for this work. It covered a broad number of fields from consciousness of course to philosophy, communism, cosmology, history, computer science and a whole host of other disciplines. There were really only three main points to it which in some instances became fairly repetitive but the scope of what he...more
The hard science version of Malcolm Gladwell's "Blink." The premise of the book is that our brains evolved to show us less, not more, information, much the same way our computer desktops spare us from all the code and computing going on under the hood ("User Illusion" is apparently a programming term for that sort of user interface.)
An absolutely mind-blowing book (no pun intended) and must-read for anyone interested in brain science and perception.
An absolutely mind-blowing book (no pun intended) and must-read for anyone interested in brain science and perception.
Apr 13, 2008
Richard
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
mullai, maybe
fascinating. an expose postulating that human conscientiousness is simply bits of data bumping around in the head. we've heard that before, but this is not essay upon essay of scientific or anecdotal evidence on human reason. no chimps or pavlovs dog. this attempts, very matter-of-factly, to explain what the human mind is, physically and theoretically (even religiously, not that i necessarily subscribe to his theory), beginning at the molecular level. from there we go to instinct, character, ind...more
I read this years ago and thought it engrossing and fascinating. It was blurbed along the lines of "if you read a single book about consciousness, make it this one." The only thing making it 4 star and not 5 was that I recall during the final chapter(s), where Norretranders started talking about a topic I actually knew about, it made me question the reliability of what I had read before...
Jul 26, 2007
Leila
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people interested in reality
Yo. This be a profoundly enlightening book; my all time favorite read, ever. It starts with a fantastically simple overview of the development of science, physics and technology. It then begins to talk about entropy versus order, and what they really mean to us when we talk about information. It then explains what information actually is and how much of how we communicate is based on what is not said ("exformation"). The author then draws an analogy to the way our bodies process so many trillion...more
Fantastic introduction to the history of consciousness understanding. Love how Norretranders digs deep into the history of knowledge advancement, particularly as it relates to the science of information to establish a framework to discuss the elusive "I" we all know so well, yet don't.
This book has some extremely interesting ideas about our conscious and unconscious minds - though the early chapters are somewhat repetitive.
It has certainly changed the way I think about how our minds actually work eg why it is that we go to bed with a problem on our minds, only to find that when we wake up the solution is miraculously waiting for us.
Well worth purchasing.
It has certainly changed the way I think about how our minds actually work eg why it is that we go to bed with a problem on our minds, only to find that when we wake up the solution is miraculously waiting for us.
Well worth purchasing.
This is an excellent book for the layman. The book asks certain questions relating to yourself that you need to think about. The book is well written and I can really recommend it.
A true companion in awakening yourself, witha scientific and proof-based approach, that says the same thing as yoga/ tao/ etc.
Intriguing ideas, sometimes boring reading, nevertheless, the thrill of the idea is the bright light to finish the book.
Very in depth information. Slogging though it but find it interesting.
Clarifies and connects concepts from physics, mathematics, algorithmics, communication theory, psychology and neuro-science. Explains how limited but intrusive "consciousness" may be as we get on with living. Science supports Taoism. Reading this gem for a second time.
Conscious thoughts on consciousness.
This was one of the most amazing books I've ever read. It's distracted me almost daily, thinking about it afterward. I'm planning on following up, reading some of the books he referenced, and hopefully following onward with other books like it. It's brilliant, creepy, cool, exciting. Really. Highly, highly recommended.
The ideas it presents are amazing, but the book itself is either poorly written or poorly translated.
A well written book that builds on math and science concepts to make a convincing case that our conscious mind takes far too much credit for the acts of our unconscious.
A little redundant at times, this book synthesizes everything from the physics of information to the phenomenology of consciousness and everything in between with an unusual unity and coherence.
This is one of those books that makes me lose all interest in writing or saying or thinking about anything, since everything I was cooking up has already been done here.
One part science, one part philosophy, this is an interesting (and humbling) look at how little we think we know, and how much we don't know that we do know.
I made it through the first half with all the physics and information science and am now enjoying the rest of it.
A bizzare non musical review of maybe two dozen other popular science books
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“Consciousness is not about information but about its opposite: order. Consciousness is not a complex phenomenon; it is what consciousness is _about_ that is complex. It is presumably this fact that is the reason many scientists over the decades have tended to perceive information as something involving order and organization. Because consciousness is about an experience of order and organization. Because consciousness is a state that does not process much information - consciously. Consciousness consists of information no more than a person who consumes large amounts of food can be said to consist of food. Consciousness is nourished by information the same way the body is nourished by food. But human beings do not consist of hot dogs; they consist of hot dogs that have been eaten. Consciousness does not consist of hots dogs but consists of hot dogs that have been apprehended. That is far less complex.”
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