One way to look at consciousness is as follows: Our nervous system got so complex – much too complex to control – the brain got too complex to control itself. So, what it needed was something like your Windows desktop. It needed a user surface – a simplified model of what is going on there, and what can be done: what can be controlled… it is the one part of the overall model that tells the animal, You are here and now. You are this, and you are in control.
[Thomas Metzinger]
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