New work explores why consciousness evolved and what observing birds can teach us about its biological purpose.

Consciousness evolved in stages, starting with basic survival responses like pain and alarm, then expanding into focused awareness and self-reflection. These layers help organisms avoid danger, learn ...

The first rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club. The first rule of prospect development camp is: Take it with a grain of salt. It’s not like any of you elite commenters need a ...

These are good times to be a thinking, conscious creature, despite events in the world that might make us doubt that. These are even better times to be a creature who thinks about consciousness: the ...

Calling consciousness an "entropic engine" points to something psychologically obvious: selfhood costs energy. Maintaining a stable "me" model across time, contexts, and internal contradictions ...

So far on this page I’ve argued that human consciousness first began to radically diverge from those of other species when our ancestors started designing and using tools to transform the world, ...

Critical consciousness refers to the ability to understand and challenge oppressive forces such as racism, sexism, and classism. A growing body of research has found that youth critical consciousness ...