Wherever you find a neuron, there - as a species - we are. It is time we say a Neural Namaste to our neural selves. It is time we - the neurons - dare to unconditionally anthropomorphize ourselves. We - the so-called "humans" - would get a better sense of who we are if we started thinking of ourselves as a "we" not an "I," as a neural plurality rather than a neural monad. (Not, as a "royal we," but as a "neural we"). The book is about playing with the definition of being human, about expanding our radius of identification across species, and about our place on the tree of life. The book was previously published under the title of "A Meeting of Neural Avatars," which is now included as a chapter in the book, along with the discussion of such topics as Steven Sevush's single-neuron theory of consciousness, multiple personalities (or Robert Ornstein's "multimind"), metazoan paradox of agency, possibility of single neuron cryonics, mirror neurons, "the fetish of cephalization," split-brain research, etc.

Review:

"'A Meeting of the Neural Avatars' is, neurally speaking, a mind-blowing trip. It just may redefine the distinction between me and you and we. A fascinating take on human connection and what it means to our mutual evolution." - Donald Altman, mindfulness teacher and author, The Joy Compass and One-Minute Mindfulness

Review:

"That human subjects are neurons, in colonies, and that 'persons' are no more than the narratives that these neurons like to share may be the most inescapable of scientific truths. The idea, together with the reasons why it is inescapable, was understood by some as soon as cells were discovered in the seventeenth century. Brain structure was at first uncertain but, as Pavel Somov explains, the individual nature of neurons as receiving and responding units has not been in doubt since the studies of Ramón y Cajál in the 1880s. Nothing bigger than a neuron has the capacity to have a viewpoint on its world.

The remarkable thing is how difficult it has been for this truth to be accepted. Two physicians independently 'rediscovered' the idea of cellular consciousness around 2001 but its inescapability had been discussed by William James in 1890, making it clear that it had never been lost. The idea is at first surprising, and perhaps unsettling, but it simply makes sense. Somov explores that simplicity in an engaging and personal way. There is no need to know about the vast complexity of neuroscience or, for that matter, quantum theory, to see that this is how things are. We are societies. Minsky talked of the 'Society of Mind' yet could not come to see that it is a society of minds. As Somov points out, our view of ourselves is cluttered with hubris. Seeing ourselves on a par with other colonies of neurons might help bring us to our senses in saving the only world we have."

Jonathan C. W. Edwards, Professor Emeritus, Division of Medicine, University College London, Author of "How Many People Are There In My Head?" (2006)

About the Author:

Pavel Somov, PhD is a licensed psychologist in private practice, and the author of 7 self-help books on mindfulness-based self-help; he speaks domestically and internationally on the topics of mindfulness; Somov is on the Advisory Board of the Mindfulness Project (London, UK); he has also published in peer-reviewed journals.