Why do you exist? How did atoms and molecules transform into sentient
creatures that experience longing, regret, compassion, and even marvel
at their own existence? What does it truly mean to have a mind--to
think? Science has offered few answers to these existential questions
until now.
Journey of the Mind is the first book to offer a unified account of
the mind that explains how consciousness, language, self-awareness, and
civilization arose incrementally out of chaos. The journey begins three
billion years ago with the emergence of the universe's simplest possible
mind. From there, the book explores the nanoscopic archaeon, whose
thinking machinery consists of a handful of molecules, then advances
through amoebas, worms, frogs, birds, monkeys, and humans, explaining
what each "new" mind could do that previous minds could not. Though they
admire the triumph of human consciousness, Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam argue
that humans are hardly the most sophisticated minds on the planet. The
same physical principles that produce human self-awareness are leading
cities and nation-states to develop "superminds," and perhaps planting
the seeds for even higher forms of consciousness.
Written in lively, accessible language accompanied by vivid
illustrations, Journey of the Mind is a mind-bending work of popular
science, the first general book to share the cutting-edge mathematical
basis for consciousness, language, and the self. It shows how a "unified
theory of the mind" can explain the mind's greatest mysteries--and offer
clues about the ultimate fate of all minds in the universe.
