title: Consciousness from neurons.
abstract: Consciousness derives from a neural process that requires unceasing metabolic support, and probably involves only a select population of neocortical elements. The essential process must operate for roughly more than 100 ms for sensorial registration (Libet). It is highly unlikely that the essence of the process lies in its computational logic and hence it can never be produced by inanimate machines. Since the process is thus unique to neurons, and since the consciousness of the left hemisphere normally communicates with that of the right (and probably vice versa) via the forebrain cornmissures, at least some portion of the nerve impulse traffic across the commissures must possess a wholly mysterious property enabling its transcendent compilation into a unified conscious experience. Comprehending the nature of this property which couples ionic fluxions into mentality is the quintessential problem of science. The forebrain commissures may ultimately provide the clues for its solution.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000166:cytology; D003243:Consciousness / Q000502:physiology*; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*