Free The Future of the Mind by Michio Kaku Page A

course, because evolution is never clean and precise, there are caveats that we have to explain, such as the level of consciousness of social animals that are solitary hunters.We will do so in the notes.)
    LEVEL III CONSCIOUSNESS: SIMULATING THE FUTURE
    With this framework for consciousness, we see that humans are not unique, and that there is a continuum of consciousness. As Charles Darwin once commented, “The difference between man and the higher animals, great as it is, is certainly one of degree and not of kind.” But what separates human consciousness from the consciousness of animals? Humans are alone in the animal kingdom in understanding the concept of tomorrow. Unlike animals, we constantly ask ourselves “What if?” weeks, months, and even years into the future, so I believe that Level III consciousness creates a model of its place in the world and then simulates it into the future, by making rough predictions. We can summarize this as follows:
    Human consciousness is a specific form of consciousness that creates a model of the world and then simulates it in time, by evaluating the past to simulate the future. This requires mediating and evaluating many feedback loops in order to make a decision to achieve a goal .
    By the time we reach Level III consciousness, there are so many feedback loops that we need a CEO to sift through them in order to simulate the future and make a final decision. Accordingly, our brains differ from those of other animals, especially in the expanded prefrontal cortex, located just behind the forehead, which allows us to “see” into the future.
    Dr. Daniel Gilbert, a Harvard psychologist, has written, “The greatest achievement of the human brain is its ability to imagine objects and episodes that do not exist in the realm of the real, and it is this ability that allows us to think about the future. As one philosopher noted, the human brain is an ‘anticipation machine,’ and ‘making the future’ is the most important thing it does.”
    Using brain scans, we can even propose a candidate for the precise area of the brain where simulation of the future takes place. Neurologist Michael Gazzaniga notes that “area 10 (the internal granular layer IV), in the lateral prefrontal cortex, is almost twice as large in humans as in apes. Area 10 is involved with memory and planning, cognitive flexibility, abstract thinking, initiating appropriate behavior, and inhibiting inappropriate behavior, learning rules, and picking out relevant information from what is perceivedthrough the senses.” (For this book, we will refer to this area, in which decision making is concentrated, as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, although there is some overlap with other areas of the brain.)
    Although animals may have a well-defined understanding of their place in space and some have a degree of awareness of others, it is not clear if they systematically plan for the future and have an understanding of “tomorrow.” Most animals, even social animals with well-developed limbic systems, react to situations (e.g., the presence of predators or potential mates) by relying mainly on instinct, rather than systematically planning into the future.
    For instance, mammals do not plan for the winter by preparing to hibernate, but largely follow instinct as the temperature drops. There is a feedback loop that regulates their hibernation. Their consciousness is dominated by messages coming in from their senses. There is no evidence that they systemically sift through various plans and schemes as they prepare to hibernate. Predators, when they use cunning and disguise to stalk an unsuspecting prey, do anticipate future events, but this planning is limited only to instinct and the duration of the hunt. Primates are adept at devising short-term plans (e.g., finding food), but there is no indication that they plan more than a few hours ahead.
    Humans are different. Although we do rely on instinct and emotions in many