Picturing the Mind: Consciousness through the Lens of Evolution

by Simona Ginsburg, Eva Jablonka, Anna Zeligowski (Illustrator)

Overview

Consciousness in all its possible human and nonhuman varieties, explored through words and images.

What is consciousness, and who (or what) is conscious—humans, nonhumans, nonliving beings? How did consciousness evolve? Picturing the Mind pursues these questions through a series of “vistas”—short, engaging texts by Simona Ginsburg and Eva Jablonka, accompanied by Anna Zeligowski’s lively illustrations. Taking an evolutionary perspective, Ginsburg and Jablonka suggest that consciousness can take many forms and is found not only in humans but even in such animals as octopuses (who seem to express emotions by changing color) and bees (who socialize with other bees). They identify the possible evolutionary marker of the transition from nonconscious to conscious animals, and they speculate intriguingly about aliens and artificial intelligence.

Each picture and text serves as a starting point for discussion. The authors consider, among other things, what it’s like to be a bat (and then later, what it’s like to be a bat in virtual reality); ask if the self is like a hole in a doughnut; report that women, children, and nonwhite men were once thought by white men to be less richly conscious; and explore what sets humans apart—is it music, toolmaking, cooperative parenting, blushing, sentience, symbolic language? In Picturing the Mind, questions suggest answers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262046756
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	02/01/2022
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	1,096,842
Product dimensions:	8.12(w) x 9.37(h) x 0.92(d)

About the Author

Simona Ginsburg is Associate Professor at the Open University of Israel, where she developed and headed the MA Program in Biological Thought. Eva Jablonka is Professor at the Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas at Tel Aviv University. Ginsburg and Jablonka are coauthors of The Evolution of the Sensitive Soul: Learning and the Origins of Consciousness (MIT Press). Anna Zeligowski is an artist and physician. Her illustrations have appeared in numerous books and articles on scientific subjects.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Vista 1 Consciousness: Metaphors and Conceptions 1

1.1 What Is the Mind? 4

1.2 Streams, Waves, Birds 6

1.3 The Butterfly 8

1.4 Dualism 10

1.5 Panpsychism 12

1.6 Physicalism 14

1.7 Aristotelian Naturalism 16

1.8 What Is It Like to Be a Bat? 20

1.9 Ways of Knowing 22

1.10 Self: The Hole in The Doughnut 24

1.11 Are You a Brain in a Vat? 26

1.12 Philosophical Zombies? 30

Vista 2 Who is Conscious? 33

2.1 A View from Biology 34

2.2 Are Bacteria Conscious? 36

2.3 Conscious Slime Molds? 38

2.4 Are Plants Conscious? 40

2.5 Are Sponges Conscious? 42

2.6 What's So Special about a Nervous System? 44

2.7 Enchanting Medusae, Graceful Sea Anemones 46

2.8 Brainy Worms 50

2.9 A Fuzzy Consensus 54

2.10 Are Fish Conscious? 56

2.11 Are Reptiles Conscious? 60

2.12 Birds and Mammals 64

2.13 Some Arthropods? 68

2.14 What about Cephalopods? 72

2.15 Are Only Humans Conscious? 74

2.16 What Are the Social Dimensions of Consciousness? 76

Vista 3 How did Consciousness Evolve? 79

3.1 Why Take an Evolutionary Approach to Consciousness? 82

3.2 Evolutionary Theory 84

3.3 Evolutionary Transitions 88

3.4 An Evolutionary-Transition Approach to Consciousness 92

3.5 The Transition to Life 94

3.6 The Transition to Consciousness; Compiling a List 96

3.7 Learning and Consciousness: An Unlikely Relation? 100

3.8 Unlimited Associative Learning (UAL) Is the Evolutionary Transition Marker of Consciousness 104

3.9 Feelings and Conceptions 108

3.10 The Functions and Goals of Consciousness 112

3.11 Which Organisms Manifest UAL? Who Is Conscious? 114

3.12 The Big Bang of Animal Evolution 118

3.13 The Origins of Suffering 122

3.14 The Evolution of Imagination 124

Vista 4 The Preeminence of Man? the Rational Soul 127

4.1 Human Nature 130

4.2 What Sets Humans Apart? 134

4.3 Why Take an Evolutionary Approach to Human Nature? 138

4.4 Before Sapiens 140

4.5 The Blushing Erectus 144

4.6 The Extended Mind: Hands, Tools, Memorials 148

4.7 The Symbolic Dimension 152

4.8 Language and Imagination 156

4.9 Thoughts and Feelings 158

4.10 On Some Peculiarities of the Symbolic Species 162

4.11 The Symbolic Explosion 166

4.12 A Split Soul? 170

Vista 5 Visions, Futures, Fantasies 173

5.1 Stretching the Limits 176

5.2 Savant Minds 178

5.3 Perceptual Memory and the Art of Forgetting 182

5.4 Consciousness Upheavals: Psychedelic Drugs 186

5.5 Mental Pains: Images of the Unconscious 190

5.6 "Higher" Forms of Consciousness? 194

5.7 How Did Our Ancestors Perceive the World? 198

5.8 Telling Artifacts 202

5.9 Conscious Robots? 206

5.10 Virtual and Cyborg Realities 210

5.11 Extended Ethics 216

5.12 Solaris: The Limits 220

Acknowledgments 223

Notes 225

Index 243

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Two of the central voices of evolutionary consciousness science present a remarkable work about the mind and its embodiments. Clear exposition of deep concepts, many new ideas, and incredible artwork will move readers on many levels. Most highly recommended.”
—Michael Levin, Distinguished Professor and Vannevar Bush Chair, Department of Biology, and Director of the Allen Discovery Center, Tufts University
 
“A unique and beautiful book, full of insights and delights. This rich mixture of science, art, philosophy, and poetry provokes many questions, and offers some answers, about the deep mystery of consciousness. Picturing the Mind is a work to treasure and to return to again and again.”
—Anil Seth, author of Being You: A New Science of Consciousness