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From: Martin Harran <martinharran@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: talk.origins
Subject: Re: Evolution of consciousness
Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2024 11:18:37 +0100
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On Mon, 29 Apr 2024 16:36:45 -0700, Mark Isaak
<specimenNOSPAM@curioustaxon.omy.net> wrote:

>My views on the evolution of consciousness are starting to gel.
>
>1. Rudimentary nervous systems evolve.
>2. Brains evolve, capable of memory and of decisions other than reflex.
>3. Those decisions probably work better if the brain has a model of the 
>world to work with. So such a model evolves.
>4. Some creatures live socially. Their brains need a model of that 
>important aspect of the world: the fellow beings one lives with, 
>including how they think.
>5. So we've now got a model of minds. How about if we apply it to *our 
>own mind*? That might make our thinking about interactions with others' 
>minds more efficient.
>6. Viola! Consciousness!
>
>Does that make sense to people?  Is it time for me to write a book on 
>the subject? (Do you think publishers will want the book to be more than 
>106 words long?)

Michael Tomasello has already done a lot of the work for you and it's
a bit more than 106 words.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Evolution-Agency-Behavioral-Organization-Lizards-ebook/dp/B09N6M6HDY/ref=sr_1_1



>
>There's also the problem of testing it. I'm open to suggestions there, 
>too. Step 4 implies that the model of how we think need not agree with 
>how we think, much as the mental model of our world is flat, not 
>spherical. This has at least some confirmation (e.g., blindness to many 
>biases). More would be better.