A definition of consciousness is given in terms of awareness, or information gained, and volition, or information created. The acquisition and creation of information are identified as unpredictable quantal processes, and the animal cortex as a quantal Turing machine in which the ambient electric potential in the electrolytic fluid serves as the ``tape''. The action of cells of the cortex in ``scanning'' the tape is represented as an application of the quantal theory of measurement. The process of amplification of submicroscopic periodic components of the potential by the cellular membrane is modelled at both the microscopic and macroscopic level. A general theory of consciousness is developed, and could find an application to the development of artificial consciousness; it is pointed out that preliminary steps in this direction have already been taken.
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