Recent technologies have had a profound impact on our self-image. The focus is on how you look, rather than on your qualities. The technologies encourage narcissism.

Storytelling is a universal human activity. We tell stories in order to communicate knowledge and fantasies, but also to resolve conflicts. The brain is apt at remembering stories.

How is free will possible? I propose controlling one's attention as a minimal criterion.

Self-consciousness is a very late product of evolution and cannot be expected to make us understand ourselves. We are more like animals than we want to admit.

What's most important to us varies based on time and circumstance.

Out-of-body experiences may be a sign of incomplete construction.

The trouble with a third-person experience of yourself.

The brain is built to search for connections even in random events.

When waking up, the self sometimes has lost itself. It may not know where it is. It may also have lost its identity.

We are not satisfied with mirrors because they do not show our "real" selves, but there is no true self, only the result of an ongoing negotiation with ourselves.

We are not satisfied with mirrors because they do not show our "real" selves, but there is no true self, only the result of an ongoing negotiation with ourselves.

Consciousness elevates sensory experiences to a performance. It is like an orchestra of instruments. What consciousness shows can help us evaluate reality and plan our actions.

Intuition is knowledge that is the most difficult to motivate. Intuitions depend on extended experience, so experts in an area have better intuitions than laypeople.

Self-deception is ubiquitous. For example, we tend to think we are more intelligent, honest, friendly, original, and reliable than average. Self-deception may provide advantages.

AI has made remarkable progress in recent years. However, AI lacks a fundamental quality that humans possess: judgment.