Consciousness in all its possible human and nonhuman varieties,
explored through words and images.
What is consciousness, and who (or what) is conscious--humans,
nonhumans, nonliving beings? How did consciousness evolve? Picturing
the Mind pursues these questions through a series of "vistas"--short,
engaging texts by Simona Ginsburg and Eva Jablonka, accompanied by Anna
Zeligowski's lively illustrations. Taking an evolutionary perspective,
Ginsburg and Jablonka suggest that consciousness can take many forms and
is found not only in humans but even in such animals as octopuses (who
seem to express emotions by changing color) and bees (who socialize with
other bees). They identify the possible evolutionary marker of the
transition from nonconscious to conscious animals, and they speculate
intriguingly about aliens and artificial intelligence.
Each picture and text serves as a starting point for discussion. The
authors consider, among other things, what it's like to be a bat (and
then later, what it's like to be a bat in virtual reality); ask if the
self is like a hole in a doughnut; report that women, children, and
nonwhite men were once thought by white men to be less richly conscious;
and explore what sets humans apart--is it music, toolmaking, cooperative
parenting, blushing, sentience, symbolic language? In Picturing the
Mind, questions suggest answers.
