There are a number of interesting fundamental questions about life and the universe. One is why and how humans evolved to have consciousness, really self-awareness. Researchers have tried using increasingly sophisticated tools to understand the exact nature of consciousness, how it arises in the brain. A new article proposes a new fundamental mechanism, although I have seen prior research suggesting “wave” theories of brain function in general. It is difficult to understand some aspects of the article and it requires further research, but the essence is that what we perceive as consciousness is a wave function arising in the thalmus. The thalmus has previously been identified as a potention network controller in the brain, coordinating various areas and processes.
Supposedly the thalmus keeps an analogue version of the 3D space a human occupies and actions occurring in that space and our awareness of that version is self-awareness or consciousness–I know that I am perceiving this sensation–a word I hear, a smell, a sound, a touch, etc. and I am even aware that I am aware of these perceptions. An interesting idea, kind of like there are places that keep a snapshot of the entire internet at any given point of time and those snapshots can be revisited. (Frontiers Article)
While I am not qualified to speak much about the actual biology of the brain, I don’t know if you need a “wave” theory to postulate that there is a part of the brain that monitors activity in other parts of the brain and that we can access that monitoring part. Some controller decides what brain activity reaches our conscious awareness and to some extent it seems, to me at least, that we can intentionally direct that part–we can consciously try to remember something or reconstruct our internal dialogue.
Why this capability, which is the essence of being human, arose is fascinating to consider. I think it has to do with problem solving. The problem for early humans was survival–how do I get enough to eat, how do I stay warm, how do I deal with existential threats from other life-forms, including other humans, and once I had consciousness, how do I make sense of my life. Self-awareness, the ability to monitor and course correct, seems to me to greatly enhance learning and problem solving, so I suspect this was the evolutionary driver.
