Reviews

Publishers Weekly|Book Review: “Neuroscientist LeDoux (The Deep History of Ourselves) presents a rigorously scientific yet eminently readable exploration of what it means to be human... the author delves into complex notions of personality and the self, the construction of internal narratives, and memory, elegantly making the case for the emergent properties of the mind without recourse to an undetectable soul or reducing the complexity of human existence to merely physical factors. The result is a finely wrought, thought-provoking feast for the mind. (Oct.)"

— Read the full review by Publishers Weekly

Nature|Book Review (30 October 2023): Consciousness: what it is, where it comes from — and whether machines can have it - To understand where artificial intelligence might be heading, we must first understand what consciousness, the self and free will mean in ourselves.
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Into the conscious realm: LeDoux agrees. In The Four Realms of Existence LeDoux, a neuroscientist at New York University, suggests that there are four basic varieties of life on Earth: biological, neurobiological, cognitive and conscious. The book provides an in-depth description of these realms (I found the cognitive one especially thought-provoking) and describes how they evolved, in a way that is reminiscent of Mitchell’s approach. In this scheme, most living things occupy only the biological realm. Organisms with nervous systems are also neurobiological. Of these, some animals show model-based behaviour — using past experience to predict the future effects of their actions, and in doing so optimizing outcomes. These count as cognitive creatures3.

— Read the full review on Nature|Book Review by Liad Mudrik