Intraoperative Recall: The Perplexing Phenomenon of People Who ‘Awaken’ Under General Anesthesia
January 6th, 2013Via: The Atlantic:
While subduing consciousness is the most urgent aspect of Tononi’s work, he is especially animated when discussing consciousness in its fullest, brightest state. In his office in Madison, he described a hypothetical device called a “qualiascope” that could visualize consciousness the same way telescopes visualize light waves, or thermal goggles visualize heat. The more integrated the information—that is, the more conscious the brain—the brighter the qualiascope would glow. Using the device in an operating room, you would watch a patient’s consciousness fade to a dull pulse. If he woke up mid-operation, you might see a flicker.
But if you turned your gaze away from the operating room, you would gain an astonishing perspective on the universe. “The galaxy would look like dust,” Tononi told me. “Within this empty, dusty universe, there would be true stars. And guess what? These stars would be every living consciousness. It’s really true. It’s not just a poetic image. The big things, like the sun, would be nothing compared to what we have.”
As one who has awakened during numerous surgeries, eyes wide open, to the point of asking technical questions about the surgery itself while the anesthesiologist scrambles to knock me back out, I am all in favor of such a device…and couldn’t care less about the stardust or flashbacks to Woodstock.