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Mind

Will 2023 be the year we finally understand consciousness?

In 1998, two researchers made a bet that by 2023, we would have found a sign of consciousness within the brain. As the wager comes due, how close are we to an answer?

By Jason Arunn Murugesu

28 December 2022

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Neuroimaging studies could help us find signs of consciousness in the brain

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Will we ever be able to locate consciousness within the brain? It is a question that, a quarter of a century ago, two researchers aimed to settle with a wager that is due to expire in 2023.

In 1998, Christof Koch, now at the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, bet David Chalmers, now at New York University, that scientists would discover a specific signature – or neural correlate – of consciousness within 25 years.

“I was a young academic, I was at the world’s best …

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