David Eagleman

Now what you do is you put a piece of cheese and an electrical shock at the end of the thing, and the poor little mouse gets stuck halfway and turns and turns and turns at exactly the place where the two vectors cancel out, which is to say he's running both networks. He gets the cheese and avoids the shock, and he gets stuck there in the middle. You see this across animals.

Now what you do is you put a piece of cheese and an electrical shock at the end of the thing, and the poor little mouse gets stuck halfway and turns and turns and turns at exactly the place where the two vectors cancel out, which is to say he's running both networks. He gets the cheese and avoids the shock, and he gets stuck there in the middle. You see this across animals.

Now what you do is you put a piece of cheese and an electrical shock at the end of the thing, and the poor little mouse gets stuck halfway and turns and turns and turns at exactly the place where the two vectors cancel out, which is to say he's running both networks. He gets the cheese and avoids the shock, and he gets stuck there in the middle. You see this across animals.

The approach avoidance conflict. Yeah, exactly. It's the conflict part. Okay, take another example. The stickleback is a bird that will attack things that are red. And if you give it something, what's that? Fish. Oh, fish, right. Yeah. No, wait. Stickleback? Stickleback gull. Wait, what's the? Oh, it's a bird. It's a gull? It's a bird, yeah. Okay, because there's a stickleback fish too. Okay.

The approach avoidance conflict. Yeah, exactly. It's the conflict part. Okay, take another example. The stickleback is a bird that will attack things that are red. And if you give it something, what's that? Fish. Oh, fish, right. Yeah. No, wait. Stickleback? Stickleback gull. Wait, what's the? Oh, it's a bird. It's a gull? It's a bird, yeah. Okay, because there's a stickleback fish too. Okay.

The approach avoidance conflict. Yeah, exactly. It's the conflict part. Okay, take another example. The stickleback is a bird that will attack things that are red. And if you give it something, what's that? Fish. Oh, fish, right. Yeah. No, wait. Stickleback? Stickleback gull. Wait, what's the? Oh, it's a bird. It's a gull? It's a bird, yeah. Okay, because there's a stickleback fish too. Okay.

Yeah, this is a bird. I'm 99% sure I got the name right. Stickleback gull. Okay, okay. Okay, it'll attack things that are red. It will sit on anything that's egg-shaped. It'll sit on it. So if you put a red dot on an egg, it'll both sit on it and attack it at the same time. Okay, what these represent are rivaling networks, right?

Yeah, this is a bird. I'm 99% sure I got the name right. Stickleback gull. Okay, okay. Okay, it'll attack things that are red. It will sit on anything that's egg-shaped. It'll sit on it. So if you put a red dot on an egg, it'll both sit on it and attack it at the same time. Okay, what these represent are rivaling networks, right?

Yeah, this is a bird. I'm 99% sure I got the name right. Stickleback gull. Okay, okay. Okay, it'll attack things that are red. It will sit on anything that's egg-shaped. It'll sit on it. So if you put a red dot on an egg, it'll both sit on it and attack it at the same time. Okay, what these represent are rivaling networks, right?

Okay, here's where I think the role of consciousness is, is in mediating this. And this is what we've gotten better and better at. And so when we have rivaling networks in a novel context... Well, that would be a novel context, right?

Okay, here's where I think the role of consciousness is, is in mediating this. And this is what we've gotten better and better at. And so when we have rivaling networks in a novel context... Well, that would be a novel context, right?

Okay, here's where I think the role of consciousness is, is in mediating this. And this is what we've gotten better and better at. And so when we have rivaling networks in a novel context... Well, that would be a novel context, right?

And now here's the thing, rats and cats have cortex, but what we have that they are not so good at is the ability to mediate well, such that we don't get stuck in the middle of the maze, but we can make a decision about, we can actually weigh in and say, okay, you know what? I'm not going to get stuck with these two networks. I'm going to decide on something.

And now here's the thing, rats and cats have cortex, but what we have that they are not so good at is the ability to mediate well, such that we don't get stuck in the middle of the maze, but we can make a decision about, we can actually weigh in and say, okay, you know what? I'm not going to get stuck with these two networks. I'm going to decide on something.

And now here's the thing, rats and cats have cortex, but what we have that they are not so good at is the ability to mediate well, such that we don't get stuck in the middle of the maze, but we can make a decision about, we can actually weigh in and say, okay, you know what? I'm not going to get stuck with these two networks. I'm going to decide on something.

This is what I think consciousness is about. It's the higher level abstraction that allows you to say, okay, look, This isn't something that's automated. This is, you know, this is a new situation I'm in. I don't know what to do here. And then the CEO, you know, gets called up. And yeah, there's like a large, you take a large company, the CEO can't possibly know what's happening in the company.

This is what I think consciousness is about. It's the higher level abstraction that allows you to say, okay, look, This isn't something that's automated. This is, you know, this is a new situation I'm in. I don't know what to do here. And then the CEO, you know, gets called up. And yeah, there's like a large, you take a large company, the CEO can't possibly know what's happening in the company.

This is what I think consciousness is about. It's the higher level abstraction that allows you to say, okay, look, This isn't something that's automated. This is, you know, this is a new situation I'm in. I don't know what to do here. And then the CEO, you know, gets called up. And yeah, there's like a large, you take a large company, the CEO can't possibly know what's happening in the company.

There's, you know, 100,000 employees, right? Yeah. The CEO's job fundamentally is to wait for the phone to ring and say, hey, there's trouble here. There's something going on that we don't know what to do. The CEO makes a decision. And also, of course, to do future planning. Yes. Consciousness is essentially about that.

There's, you know, 100,000 employees, right? Yeah. The CEO's job fundamentally is to wait for the phone to ring and say, hey, there's trouble here. There's something going on that we don't know what to do. The CEO makes a decision. And also, of course, to do future planning. Yes. Consciousness is essentially about that.