@article{2ffa71ee981f45b2943a5893d64fb366,
title = "What makes a theory of consciousness unscientific?",
abstract = "Theories of consciousness have a long and controversial history. One well-known proposal — integrated information theory — has recently been labeled as {\textquoteleft}pseudoscience{\textquoteright}, which has caused a heated open debate. Here we discuss the case and argue that the theory is indeed unscientific because its core claims are untestable even in principle.",
author = "IIT-Concerned and Micha{\l} KLINCEWICZ and ARNOLD, {Derek H.} and BAXTER, {Mark G.} and BEKINSCHTEIN, {Tristan A.} and Yoshua BENGIO and BISLEY, {James W.} and Jacob BROWNING and Dean BUONOMANO and David CARMEL and Marisa CARRASCO and Peter CARRUTHERS and Olivia CARTER and CHANG, {Dorita H. F.} and Ian CHAREST and Tony CHENG and Mouslim CHERKAOUI and Axel CLEEREMANS and COHEN, {Michael A.} and CORLETT, {Philip R.} and Kalina CHRISTOFF and Sam CUMMING and CUSHING, {Cody A.} and GELDER, {Beatrice de} and BRIGARD, {Felipe De} and DENNETT, {Daniel C.} and Nadine DIJKSTRA and Adrien DOERIG and DUX, {Paul E.} and FLEMING, {Stephen M.} and Keith FRANKISH and FRITH, {Chris D.} and Sarah GARFINKEL and GOODALE, {Melvyn A.} and Jacqueline GOTTLIEB and HANSON, {Jake R.} and HASSIN, {Ran R.} and HERZOG, {Michael H.} and Cecilia HEYES and Po-Jang HSIEH and Shao-Min HUNG and Robert KENTRIDGE and Tomas KNAPEN and Nikos KONSTANTINOU and Konrad KORDING and KVAMME, {Timo L.} and KWOK, {Sze Chai} and LANFRANCO, {Renzo C.} and Hakwan LAU and Joseph LEDOUX and Camilo LIBEDINSKY and LIEBERMAN, {Matthew D.} and Ying-Tung LIN and Ka-Yuet LIU and MACHIZAWA, {Maro G.} and Julio MARTINEZ-TRUJILLO and Janet METCALFE and Matthias MICHEL and MILLER, {Kenneth D.} and MITRA, {Partha P.} and Dean MOBBS and MOK, {Robert M.} and Jorge MORALES and Myrto MYLOPOULOS and Brian ODEGAARD and OR, {Charles C.-F.} and OWEN, {Adrian M.} and David PEREPLYOTCHIK and Franco PESTILLI and PETERS, {Megan A. K.} and Ian PHILLIPS and RADEMAKER, {Rosanne L.} and Dobromir RAHNEV and Geraint REES and RINGACH, {Dario L.} and Adina ROSKIES and Daniela SCHILLER and Michael SCHMITZ and Aaron SCHURGER and SCHWARZKOPF, {D. Samuel} and SCOTT, {Ryan B.} and SEBASTI{\'A}N, {Miguel {\'A}ngel} and SEITZ, {Aaron R.} and Joshua SHEPHERD and Juha SILVANTO and SLAGTER, {Heleen A.} and SMITH, {Barry C.} and SNYDER, {Joel S.} and Guillermo SOLOVEY and David SOTO and Hugo SPIERS and Timo STEIN and Vincent TASCHEREAU-DUMOUCHEL and Frank TONG and TSE, {Peter U.} and Jonas VIBELL and Sebastian WATZL and Taylor WEBB and Josh WEISBERG and Thalia WHEATLEY and Micha{\l} WIERZCHO{\'N} and WOKKE, {Martijn E.} and Karen YAN and Alan LEE",
note = "Co-author D.C.D. sadly passed away on 19 April 2024, in the final stages of preparing this paper for submission.",
year = "2025",
month = apr,
doi = "10.1038/s41593-025-01881-x",
language = "English",
volume = "28",
pages = "689--693",
journal = "Nature Neuroscience",
issn = "1097-6256",
publisher = "Nature Research",
}