Consciousness and Language

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The mind is not the sensory molecule. The mind is this constant interaction with the environment, which is generating new activity. So thinking about the mind in terms of that activity gives the best sense of what's actually going on in the mind. We get a little more baffled and confused and intimidated when we think about things like consciousness and language. But our definition says there is no distinction. There is no hard problem. Consciousness is also activity, at bottom, this loop of inputs into outputs. It's the same fundamental activity, just weigh more sophisticated,. way more complicated but it's the same thinking.

Why do you exist? How did atoms and molecules transform into sentient creatures that experience longing, regret, compassion, and even marvel at their own existence? What does it truly mean to have a mind―to think? Science has offered few answers to these existential questions until now.

Michael Shermer speaks with computational neuroscientist, Ogi Ogas, about his unified account of the mind that explains how consciousness, language, self-awareness, and civilization arose incrementally out of chaos, and how leading cities and nation-states are developing “superminds,” and perhaps planting the seeds for even higher forms of consciousness.