no idea if that’s true for a creature like the hummingbird. As its heart races at over a thousand beats per minute, is the bird thinking, I’m tired ? That question comes out of self-awareness. Is it thinking, My heart beats really, really fast ? That’s a statement of simple awareness. We suppose, without knowing the truth, that a hummingbird isn’t self-aware, and it may not even be aware. Its entire life could be spent unconsciously.
Unconscious, Aware, Self-aware
Human beings exist in all three states, and which one predominates at any given moment is up to you. Super brain depends on reducing our unconscious moments while increasing both awareness and self-awareness. Consider the fourth item in the previous list: Be aware of your emotions and where they come from . The first part is about awareness, the second about self-awareness. I am angry is an aware thought, while flying off the handle is unconscious. That’s why we give latitude to someone who goes off into a rage, for example, at the scene of a car accident. We don’t take what they say seriously until their rage is over and they calm down. Some legal systems forgive unconsciousness, allowing leniency for so-called crimes of passion. If you find your wife in bed with another man and react by strangling him on the spot, you are acting unconsciously, without full awareness.
It’s good to be aware, but self-awareness is even better. I am angry gets you only so far if your aim is to control your anger. Knowing where your anger comes from adds the component of self-awareness. It allows you to see a pattern in your behavior. It takes into accountthat past outbursts haven’t worked out so well. Maybe a spouse has left you in the past, or someone called the police. Once you bring in self-awareness, reality shifts. You start to take control; the power to change is dawning.
Awareness irrefutably penetrates the animal world. Elephants gather around a baby elephant that has died. They linger there and even return to sites of past deaths a year later. They huddle close to the mother who has lost her calf. If empathy means anything outside our human definition of it, elephants appear to empathize with one another. For all we know, a tiny hummingbird migrating thousands of miles from Mexico to Minnesota may be aware of what route it is taking, including visual signposts, the movement of the stars, and even the earth’s magnetic field.
But we ascribe self-awareness only to ourselves. (This pride of possession may topple, however. When a dog is being scolded for peeing on the carpet, it looks for all the world as if it is ashamed. That would be a self-aware response.) We are aware of being aware. In other words, our level of self-consciousness transcends simple learning and memory in the brain.
Reductionist neuroscience does not explain how consciousness can allow us to separate ourselves from the activity of the brain. Reductionism gathers data and uncovers facts. In his research, Rudy wears a reductionist hat, since his primary field is Alzheimer’s and the genes linked to that disease. But reductionist neuroscience doesn’t explain who is actually experiencing the feelings and thoughts. There is a gulf between awareness and self-awareness. “I have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s” is a statement made from awareness; someone who is unaware would not notice that something is going wrong with their memory. “I hate and fear that I have Alzheimer’s” comes from self-awareness. So the facts of the disease embrace all three states—unconsciousness, awareness, and self-awareness—without explaining how we relate to those threestates. The brain is just doing what it’s doing. It takes a mind to relate to that.
Of course, this “awareness of being aware” is also made possible by the brain. We do not claim to know, in reductionist terms, where awareness and self-awareness might be located in brain maps; they are likely not confined to one specific region.
Unconscious, Aware, Self-aware
Human beings exist in all three states, and which one predominates at any given moment is up to you. Super brain depends on reducing our unconscious moments while increasing both awareness and self-awareness. Consider the fourth item in the previous list: Be aware of your emotions and where they come from . The first part is about awareness, the second about self-awareness. I am angry is an aware thought, while flying off the handle is unconscious. That’s why we give latitude to someone who goes off into a rage, for example, at the scene of a car accident. We don’t take what they say seriously until their rage is over and they calm down. Some legal systems forgive unconsciousness, allowing leniency for so-called crimes of passion. If you find your wife in bed with another man and react by strangling him on the spot, you are acting unconsciously, without full awareness.
It’s good to be aware, but self-awareness is even better. I am angry gets you only so far if your aim is to control your anger. Knowing where your anger comes from adds the component of self-awareness. It allows you to see a pattern in your behavior. It takes into accountthat past outbursts haven’t worked out so well. Maybe a spouse has left you in the past, or someone called the police. Once you bring in self-awareness, reality shifts. You start to take control; the power to change is dawning.
Awareness irrefutably penetrates the animal world. Elephants gather around a baby elephant that has died. They linger there and even return to sites of past deaths a year later. They huddle close to the mother who has lost her calf. If empathy means anything outside our human definition of it, elephants appear to empathize with one another. For all we know, a tiny hummingbird migrating thousands of miles from Mexico to Minnesota may be aware of what route it is taking, including visual signposts, the movement of the stars, and even the earth’s magnetic field.
But we ascribe self-awareness only to ourselves. (This pride of possession may topple, however. When a dog is being scolded for peeing on the carpet, it looks for all the world as if it is ashamed. That would be a self-aware response.) We are aware of being aware. In other words, our level of self-consciousness transcends simple learning and memory in the brain.
Reductionist neuroscience does not explain how consciousness can allow us to separate ourselves from the activity of the brain. Reductionism gathers data and uncovers facts. In his research, Rudy wears a reductionist hat, since his primary field is Alzheimer’s and the genes linked to that disease. But reductionist neuroscience doesn’t explain who is actually experiencing the feelings and thoughts. There is a gulf between awareness and self-awareness. “I have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s” is a statement made from awareness; someone who is unaware would not notice that something is going wrong with their memory. “I hate and fear that I have Alzheimer’s” comes from self-awareness. So the facts of the disease embrace all three states—unconsciousness, awareness, and self-awareness—without explaining how we relate to those threestates. The brain is just doing what it’s doing. It takes a mind to relate to that.
Of course, this “awareness of being aware” is also made possible by the brain. We do not claim to know, in reductionist terms, where awareness and self-awareness might be located in brain maps; they are likely not confined to one specific region.
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