# From experience to competing theories of consciousness

This sequence first clarifies the target, then contrasts workspace, integrated-information and predictive accounts, and finally examines how measures and models enter an empirical test. It does not promise a settled theory of consciousness.

1. [Christof Koch -- The Puzzle of Consciousness](https://worldscienceu.com/lessons/1-1-the-puzzle-of-consciousness/)
   Start with the first-person/third-person problem in Koch’s introductory lesson before comparing proposed answers.
   Task: Write one question about what is experienced and one question about what an observer could measure. Explain why they are related but not identical.

2. [Can Theories of Consciousness Supercharge AI?](https://www.worldsciencefestival.com/videos/can-theories-of-consciousness-supercharge-ai/)
   Introduce a clearly named Global Workspace Theory application through VanRullen’s AI discussion.
   Task: Make two columns: success at an AI task and evidence about experience. Place each claim you identify in one column and write the extra argument needed to connect them.

3. [Integrated Information Theory](https://worldscienceu.com/lessons/4-1-integrated-information-theory/)
   Contrast the workspace-inspired application with Koch’s explicit integrated information proposal.
   Task: Write the starting commitment of the theory and one observation it would need to explain. Mark which statements are definitions, assumptions or empirical claims.

4. [Consciousness in Humans and in Other Things](https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/index.php/consciousness-humans-and-other-things)
   Add Seth’s embodied predictive perspective without substituting it for either of the preceding positions.
   Task: Identify the aspect of experience or selfhood being explained and formulate one question that would distinguish the explanatory target from the previous two talks.

5. [Moving beyond integration and differentiation in measures of neural dynamics](https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/index.php/pedro-mediano-moving-beyond-integration-and-differentiation-measures-neural-dynamics)
   Examine the construction of information-dynamics measures after learning why a theory needs measurements.
   Task: Create a glossary entry for redundancy and synergy using the source, then state what further argument would be needed before a measure could count as evidence about consciousness.

6. [Generative models of the mind: neural connections and cognitive integration](https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/index.php/ines-hipolito-generative-models-mind-neural-connections-and-cognitive-integration)
   Inspect how a modelling framework and its boundaries can influence an explanation.
   Task: Draw the system boundary assumed by a model discussed in the abstract. List one process inside, one outside and a reason that changing the boundary could matter.

7. [What Creates Consciousness?](https://www.worldsciencefestival.com/videos/what-creates-consciousness/)
   Return to the broader philosophical problem after comparing models and measurements.
   Task: Use the linked 2025 adversarial-study reading to make a five-column table: theory, preregistered prediction, measurement, result, interpretation. State one unresolved question rather than declaring a winner.

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