What We Know (and Hate) About Consciousness

wildcat

5-5-2008 6:29 AM

369 views

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/c7c53cac-fe29-42a0-9082-2dfc48080e81/876F0B6E-2F76-4C76-8941-1711EBB88D7B/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.livescience.com/history/080502-hn-minds.html" href="http://www.livescience.com/history/080502-hn-minds.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.livescience.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.livescience.com/history/080502-hn-minds.html"><P>
In the language of psychology, this means I am a <A href="http://www.livescience.com/health/top10_mysteriesofthemind.html" linkindex="21">conscious being</A>, someone who thinks rather than reacts. Someone who takes in her surroundings and processes that information, milling it over in the mind, thinking about it.
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It also means I am self-aware. I know myself, know I exist and know I am a separate from others.
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According to anthropologists, many animals have a kind of <A href="http://www.livescience.com/health/050808_human_consciousness.html" linkindex="22">consciousness</A>, but only humans and the great apes are self-conscious. Apparently, the big and complex brains of humans and apes, which may have evolved for other tasks, blossomed with an added sense of self.   
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We know that humans are self-conscious because we can talk to our inner selves, but how do researchers know apes are also self-conscious? 
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In an existential way, apes seem to be aware of their existence, like people.
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We daydream while making dinner.  We listen to the radio while stuck in traffic. We drink, <A href="http://www.livescience.com/technology/ap_050719_video_games.html" linkindex="25">take drugs</A>, read books and watch movies, all ways to push consciousness and self-awareness to the side.
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