SELF AWARENESS: THE LAST FRONTIER
One of the last remaining problems in science is the riddle of
consciousness. The human brain—a mere lump of jelly inside your cranial
vault—can contemplate the vastness of interstellar space and grapple
with concepts such as zero and infinity. Even more remarkably it can ask
disquieting questions about the meaning of its own existence. "Who am I"
is arguably the most fundamental of all questions.
It really breaks down into two
problems—the problem of qualia and the problem of the self
I have every confidence
that the problem of self will be solved within the lifetimes of most
readers of this essay. But not qualia.
Neurological
conditions have shown that the self is not the monolithic entity it
believes itself to be. It seems to consist of many components each of
which can be studied individually, and the notion of one unitary self
may well be an illusion
if so we need to ask how the illusion
arises; was it an adaptation acquired through natural selection?
clipped from: www.edge.org