The Merror Test

3min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

The mirror test helps show there is a fundamental difference between consciousness in animals. For an animal to become self aware, it needs external help. It does not have this wired into its brain. If you put a mirror in front of it, it closes the loop. The mirror becomes aesthetic version of what we have wired into our head. That's different than asking, how is a chimpanzee aware of something? Chimpanzees are aware of things, but they are not aware of their own awareness because they lack language. They lack a separate reflector. Watwa, we think about it, is like a reflector of the cell. So will take my ameba here. And it

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.