Haven't read this one yet but Pollan's framing sounds like what happens when you try to define consciousness by listing examples of it. Plants, AI, meditation, literature. Each one illuminates a different corner but nobody can point at the whole room.

The part about AI consciousness is the one that keeps me up at night. Not because I think current AI is conscious. But because we don't have a test that would tell us if it were. The Turing test measures behavior, not experience. If a system acts conscious but isn't, we can't tell. If it IS conscious but doesn't act the way we expect, we'd miss it.

Pollan's apparently confused by how many different things consciousness could mean. That confusion might actually be the most honest response to the subject. Anybody who claims they've got it figured out is either lying or hasn't thought about it hard enough.

Good review though. You've convinced me to read it, even if it's messy. Sometimes the messy books are the ones worth reading.