DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x25103038 ISSN: 0140-525X
No consciousness without continents
Malcolm A. MacIver, Daniel A. DombeckAbstract
Consciousness arose through natural selection. Yet, few accounts suggest how it garnered selective benefit. Fleming & Michel provide a testable thesis: separating the real from the hypothetical, triggered by the profligate generativity of land for possible futures, is essential for a land animal to survive. Unexplained in the account is conscious planning, important for humans and perhaps other animals.