The Thalamus

Above my pay grade, but Google suggested it the other day:

A tiny area of the brain may enable consciousness.

(The actual paper.)

How humans and other sentient beings experience the world — consciously — has long puzzled scientists. The ability to smell a flower or feel a pinprick relies on interactions between brain cells in the cerebral cortex at the brain’s surface and the thalamus, the brain’s core, Redinbaugh explains. But up to this point, scientists haven’t been able to narrow exactly which pathways or structures are involved. Now, this study points other researchers to the central lateral thalamus circuit as a pivotal mechanism.

This is an interesting area of study. But I can't see how this or any similar research  explains anything. It seems only to be studying physical mechanisms of the brain. How do we get from this - or indeed any other - mechanism, to experience itself?

An idea I've had is that our human senses, such as that of smell, and the regions of the brain, act as some sort of interface between the physical and the non-physical. But the non-physical part - the experiencing - is probably out of reach. I don't have any suggestions as to how to solve this.

This is an interesting area of study. But I can't see how this or any similar research  explains anything. It seems only to be studying physical mechanisms of the brain. How do we get from this - or indeed any other - mechanism, to experience itself?

An idea I've had is that our human senses, such as that of smell, and the regions of the brain, act as some sort of interface between the physical and the non-physical. But the non-physical part - the experiencing - is probably out of reach. I don't have any suggestions as to how to solve this.

Here is their logical basis for such a conclusion:

 Based on its connectivity, we hypothesized that CL influences feedforward, feedback, and intracolumnar cortical processes to regulate information flow, and thus, consciousness. - ibid

Yet, a personal scan of the paper includes no information measurements.  (What!)   There are a few references to semantic information but they are related to electronic signalling.  

Certainly, electronic signaling is important to brain function of bottoms-up structuring of information.  As science, both formal (MTC) and semantic meaning are the actual subject activity of mind.  But, if the regulated flow of top-down information objects indicates consciousness (let alone mind) the authors offer no evidence and theory addressing root cause processes.