Smart and Conscious. 4 Billion Years of Brain Evolution

Our conscious mind is egocentric: it assumes it is where the psychological action takes place. But a person is more like a driver behind the wheel of a Tesla: if necessary, they can take control of the car, but at other times they may think about something else. If we really want to understand human nature, we will have to delve into the history of evolution, argues one of the world's leading neurobiologists, Joseph Ledoux • How did life appear on our planet? • How did sexual reproduction originate? • How did multicellular organisms arise from unicellular ones? • How did nervous systems evolve? • What do we know about consciousness and the brain? Joseph Ledoux step-by-step examines each of these points, demonstrating that the earliest unicellular organisms exhibited survival-oriented behavior, along with abilities for learning and memory, and views these mechanisms as key to understanding human behavior. Along the way, Ledoux shows how the evolution of the nervous system made it possible for beings with complex mental lives, endowed with what we call consciousness, to emerge, although we understand this poorly; he explores the origin and significance of emotions, and explains why our conscious mind may be unique in its kind.