Dennett: Consciousness should emerge gradually, as we wake up from deep sleep. Idea that there is an all-or-nothing spark of consciousness is similar to vitalism.
Consciousness is a system of virtual machines that evolved genetically and memetically to play very specialised roles in the cognitive niche our ancestors constructed over millennia.
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Questions:
"Language was given to men so they can conceive their thoughts."
Marx: Language, like consciousness, only arises from the necessity to intercourse with others.
Nietzsche: Consciousness has been developed under the pressure to communicate with others.
Hawkins: consciousness is a subjective feeling that a brain has when it's able to recount its own recent thoughts.
Graziano: a certain region of the brain models attention. The model of attention leads us to believe we are conscious, in the same way as the model of the body leads us to believe we have an arm or leg.
Fields, Glazenbrook & Levin: ‣.
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