8 fascinating theories about the evolution of human consciousness

BY PAUL BRIAN

1. Neural competition 

The Attention Schema Theory suggests that consciousness evolved from neural processes competing for attention, leading to a mechanism of selective signal enhancement and ultimately resulting in consciousness as we know it. 

2. Internal and external conflict creates consciousness

Carl Jung believed that humans are spiritual creatures connected to a deeper underlying reality, and our individuation process involves becoming conscious through internal and external conflicts. 

3. We became conscious through our perception and experience of time

Our evolving experience of time making us conscious is the theory that our perception of the passage of time as relating to events and experiences is what made us conscious, as we experience objects in space that exist within time. 

4. God made us conscious

Theistic view of consciousness posits that an all-powerful Creator made humans conscious to give them free will, and this view dominates religions like Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. 

5. Our consciousness is a divine signal interceptor

Our consciousness is a divine signal interceptor, acting as an inlet of God's will and designed to help him create reality, according to the theory that our consciousness is part of a divine evolution. 

6. Consciousness started at specific points in history

Human consciousness emerged at different points in societal development, including advances of homo sapien society 300,000 years ago, development of language 100,000 years ago, and more recently, advanced agriculture-based civilizations around 3,000 years ago. 

7. Everything is conscious (panpsychism)

The theory of panpsychism suggests that human consciousness is not unique and everything, including innate beings and souls that communicate, has some form of consciousness that started 13.7 billion years ago when the universe began. 

8. Consciousness doesn’t exist at all

According to the theory of illusion, human consciousness is just default conclusions and observations, which have little to do with us or our experiences, and was popularized by Daniel Dennett. 

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