The Journey of the Mind

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In the journey of thinking on earth, from the simplest minds three billion years ago, to the most sophisticated minds to day human civilization, our own brains went through four specific stages. A share of the stage is really qick. And then talk about the transitions between the stages, because that's what the interesting part happens. So we just keep adding new layers of thinking on top of the old layers of thinking, all the way up. There's only one member of this club. We are in a super mind.

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.