읽은 책: "The Feeling of Life Itself" "The God of Small Things"

-- 나를 위한 <독서 메모> --

 

 

Christof Koch, "The Feeling Of Life Itself: Why Consciousness

Is Widespread But Can't Be Computed" (2019)

 

"Consciousness is experience." (p. 1)

 

"[A]lthough consciousness is often entangled with all three

cognitive operations [thought, intelligence, and attention],

it can be dissociated with them." (p. 33)

 

"According to integrated information theory (IIT), consciousness

is determined by the causal properties of any physical system

acting upon itself.... The more the system's elements constrain

each other, the more causal power.... The theory takes the five

phenomenological axioms of experience ... -- any experience

exists for itself, is structured [has distinctions within it], is the

specific way it is [is informative], is one [is integrated], and

is definite.... The theory reveals or unfolds the intrinsic

causal powers of any system that obeys all [corresponding]

five postulates.... According to IIT, these causal powers

are identical to conscious experience." (p. 79)

 

 

 

 

인도 작가 Arundhati Roy 의 Man Booker Prize (for Fiction) 수상작

"The God of Small Things"를, 도서관 라운지에서 자주 보면서도

소설은 덜 읽으려는 데다 특히 인도를 배경으로한 소설은 그만

읽을 생각이어서 늘 그냥 지나쳤었는데, 이번에 읽어보게 된 것은

Wikipedia 에서(요 아래 'From Wikipedia') 그녀에 관해 읽고서다.

역시, 어떤 사회와 그 문화를 이해하기에는 소설만 한 것도 없다.

 

"Chacko told the twins that, though he hate to admit it, They were

all Anglophiles. ... [T]rapped outside their own history ...

He explained to them that history was an old house at night.

With all the lamps lit. And ancesters whispering inside." (p. 51)

 

"Twenty percent of Kerala's population were Syrian Christians,

who believed that they were descendants of the one hundred

Bramins whom St. Thomas the Apostle converted to Christianity

when he traveled East after the Resurrection." (p. 64)

 

"Pappachi would not allow Paravans into the house.

Nobody would. They were not allowed to touch anything that

Touchables touched. Caste Hindus and Caste Christians." (p. 71)

 

"She was perhaps too young to realize that what she assumed

was her love for Chacko was actually a tentative,

timorous, acceptance of herself." (p. 233)

 

 

From Wikipedia :

 

In an opinion piece in The Guardian titled "The Algebra of Infinite Justice", Roy responded to the U.S. military invasion of Afghanistan, finding fault with the argument that this war would be a retaliation for the September 11 attacks: "The bombing of Afghanistan is not revenge for New York and Washington. It is yet another act of terror against the people of the world." According to her, U.S. president George W. Bush and UK prime minister Tony Blair were guilty of Orwellian doublethink:

 

    When he announced the air strikes, President George Bush said: "We're a peaceful nation." America's favourite ambassador, Tony Blair, (who also holds the portfolio of prime minister of the UK), echoed him: "We're a peaceful people." So now we know. Pigs are horses. Girls are boys. War is peace.

 

In an August 2008 interview with The Times of India, Roy expressed her support for the independence of Kashmir from India after the massive demonstrations in 2008 in favour of independence took place. ... According to her, the rallies were a sign that Kashmiris desired secession from India, and not union with India. She was criticised by the Indian National Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party for her remarks.

 

 

Arundhati Roy (사진: Wikipedia 에서)