The Conversion Theory: Brain-Computer Interfaces, the Qualia Problem and the Irreversible Conversion

Karl Johannes Lierfeld

doi:10.14361/9783839478394

Summary

Qualia – the vivid hues of subjective experience – emerge from an irreversible neural alchemy. Objective sensory data streams into the brain, where amygdala and hippocampus forge it into private phenomenology through profound process dualism. Brain-computer interfaces capture upstream signals with stunning precision yet hit an »epistemic firewall«: the downstream qualia remain sealed, their essence lost in conversion. Karl Johannes Lierfeld analyzes this physicalist extension that reveals why sentience defies objectification, bridging philosophy of mind and neuroscience without metaphysical escape hatches. Conversionism charts the hard problem’s structural limits.

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Bibliographic data

Edition: 1/2026
Copyright Year: 2026
ISBN-Print: 978-3-8376-8237-3
ISBN-Online: 978-3-8394-7839-4
Publisher: transcript, Bielefeld
Series: Philosophie – Aufklärung – Kritik
Volume: 23
Language: English
Pages: 205
Product Type: Monograph

Frontmatter Full access Pages 1 - 6 Download chapter (PDF)
Acknowledgements Full access Pages 7 - 7 Download chapter (PDF)
Summary No access Pages 9 - 10
Introduction No access Pages 11 - 32
1. The Qualia Problem: The Unbridgeable Gap No access Pages 35 - 59
2. The Origins of Consciousness No access Pages 61 - 85
3. The Epistemic Reach of BCIs: Bridging the Ultimate Gap No access Pages 89 - 102
4. The Conversion Theory: A Physical Approach to Qualia No access Pages 103 - 139
5. Implications and Future Directions of the Conversion Theory No access Pages 141 - 159
Conclusion No access Pages 161 - 170
Glossary No access Pages 173 - 180
Additional Technical or Methodological Terms No access Pages 181 - 182
Standard Philosophical Terms Often Requiring Definition No access Pages 183 - 184
References No access Pages 185 - 201