# Two Levels of Integrated Information Theory: From Autonomous Systems to Conscious Life

## TL;DR

This paper analyzes Integrated Information Theory (IIT) and suggests that its two-level framework needs refinement to better explain consciousness.

## Contribution

The paper identifies a conceptual gap between the two levels of IIT and proposes a way to strengthen the theory.

## Key findings

- IIT's first level deals with autonomous systems, while the second level addresses consciousness.
- The gap between these levels contributes to criticisms of IIT.
- Improving the integration between the two levels could enhance IIT's scientific validity.

## Abstract

Integrated Information Theory (IIT) is one of the most prominent candidates for a theory of consciousness, although it has received much criticism for trying to live up to expectations. Based on the relevance of three issues generalized from the developments of IITs, we have summarized the main ideas of IIT into two levels. At the second level, IIT claims to be strictly anchoring consciousness, but the first level on which it is based is more about autonomous systems or systems that have reached some other critical complexity. In this paper, we argue that the clear gap between the two levels of explanation of IIT has led to these criticisms and that its panpsychist tendency plays a crucial role in this. We suggest that the problems of IIT are far from being “pseudoscience”, and by adding more necessary elements, when the first level is combined with the second level, IIT can genuinely move toward an appropriate theory of consciousness that can provide necessary and sufficient interpretations.