Author Archives: James Cross

The Raw and the Cooked

In a 1964 book, The Raw and the Cooked, anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss charts a winding course through the myths of the Bororo people of South America. Beginning with a story of the rape of a mother and subsequent attempts at … Continue reading →

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Consciousness: Much Ado About (Almost) Nothing?

Consciousness is like the weather. Since everybody experiences it everybody has an idea about it. Philosophers take it as their unique prerogative since without it they would have no field. Neuroscientists want to make pictures of it and reduce it … Continue reading →

Posted in Brain size, Consciousness, Human Evolution | 15 Comments

Consciousness As a State of Matter?

Max Tegmark has a new paper Consciousness as a State of Matter. The paper is filled with mathematics which I am not going to try to explain or pretend to understand but there are parts of it which are fairly … Continue reading →

Posted in Consciousness, Origin of Life | 16 Comments