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 MIT professor Marvin Minsky rightly characterized consciousness as a “suitcase word.” By this he meant that consciousness packs many different meanings within it. This blog unpacks the term, ...

Deepak Chopra says consciousness is like the mythical Hydra — answer one question and two more spring up. (Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Brain Mapping Foundation ) After decades spent ...

Peter Coppola does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond ...

The science of consciousness has not lived up to expectations. Over the summer, the neuroscientist Christof Koch conceded defeat on his 25-year bet with the philosopher David Chalmers, a lost wager ...

Where in the brain does consciousness originate? Theories abound, but neuroscientists still haven’t coalesced around one explanation, largely because it’s such a hard question to probe with the ...

Conscious robots with the capabilities of human beings are one of the oldest sci-fi tropes; a threatening blend of human and machine that could turn from friend to foe at a moment’s notice. With ...