·“How was our consciousness born?”
· A fierce exploration of the brain, mind, self, and free will.
An evolutionary journey that leads to the age-old question, "Who am I?"

Sapiens: The Consciousness of the World is the third and final book in the bestselling series, which has sold over 400,000 copies.
While the first book, "Lucy's Footprints," dealt with the birth and evolution of humans, and "The Death of Sapiens" dealt with aging and death, this new work explores in earnest the origins of "consciousness," a unique ability possessed only by humans.
This time, novelist Juan José Millas, with the perspective of a "questioning human," and paleontologist Juan Luis Arzuaga, with the language of a "cool scientist," accompany readers on a journey to discover the birth and operating principles of human consciousness.


“Is the mind a product of the brain?”
“Can the brain be programmed like a computer?”
“Is consciousness just an illusion?”

These questions, which appear in the book, are core issues raised by artificial intelligence and neuroscience today, such as memory, self, free will, and AI, and are also fundamental questions that divide humans from non-humans.
Sapiens' Consciousness interprets the language of science with the sensibility of literature, and connects the imagination of literature with the factuality of science.
Complex topics are unraveled through easy and pleasant conversation, but the questions left at the end are by no means light.

“What is consciousness?”
“Who am I?”
“How did we get here?”

With the debate over AI and transhumanism raging, this book confronts the essence of human consciousness, prompting us to question our attitude toward science and what it means to be human.

“The sense of smell is a very special sense.
Unlike other senses, it has a very special ability to evoke emotions.
This is because the smell goes directly to the neurons, the neurons we call the brain, without any receptors acting as intermediaries.”
“So then the sense of smell itself is the brain?”
--- 「0.
From "Brain"

“Laplace’s demon, like an algorithm, will continue to update the information it has about each and every one of us.
Because Laplace's demon is an algorithm.
“I think you have a hard time accepting that we are ontologically determined by things that influence us outside of our awareness.”
--- 「1.
From "It's already been written"

Are we free to think, or are we subject to a program? If the brain is a machine, where does consciousness come from? How is it created? Conversely, if computers are just like the brain, will they eventually become conscious? Or perhaps they already have consciousness, but we're just unaware of it? Everything we strive to build regarding the brain and mind will stem from a proper understanding of the difference between the analog and digital worlds.
That's where the starting point is.
If this doesn't happen, everything we do will become literature.
--- 「2.
Let's first surround the fortress"

But can the brain reflect on itself? Can the eyes observe itself? While I have a vague connection to all of this, the enigmatic words of a mystic whose name I've forgotten suddenly came to mind.
'The eyes through which I see God are also the eyes through which God sees me.' Is the brain that allows me to think about the world the same brain that allows the world to think about me?
--- 「3.
From "Crocodile"

“The brain is trapped in a black box called the skull.
It's black because no light comes in, and of course, no sound can be heard.
The brain can't hear anything, can't see anything, and can't smell anything.
You can't touch it or taste it.
Anglo-American neurophilosophers call this well-known thought experiment the 'brain in a vat,' meaning 'a brain in a flask or square bowl.'
--- 「6.
From "Nobody's Perfect"

“Subjectivity has nothing to do with adaptation.
It's of no use whatsoever.
Imagine a Roomba, a home vacuum cleaner.
We clean the entire house, perfectly mapped to the electronic circuits.
And when the battery runs low, it returns to the charging station and recharges itself.
But was it hungry? Does a robot vacuum need to sense hunger to automatically recharge?
"no."
“Then why do we do that? Why do we have to feel hungry in order to eat?”
“I don’t know.” I was really suspicious.

--- 「10.
From "Existential Crisis"

“Portuguese neuroscientist Antonio Damasio said that computers have no body and therefore no consciousness.
That is, I can't say what my current situation is or how I feel, and I can't open up about it either.
In short, the ‘intestines’ create a person’s ‘consciousness’.
We are the 'body', not the 'body' that has the 'body'.
“Descartes was mistaken.”

“Suddenly Baruch Spinoza appeared in the intellectual world of the West and changed everything.
God is neither a watchmaker nor a machine maker.
God is a machine.
Everything the teacher sees is God.
Besides, both you and I are gods.”

--- 「11.
From "The End of the Festival"