The human brain remains one of the greatest mysteries of nature, not only because of its extraordinary complexity, but also because of the remarkable capacities that emerge from its function. Despite significant advances in neuroscience, our understanding of how the brain truly operates is still partial and fragmented. We know its components; the living whole largely escapes us.
Its biochemical and genetic complexity continues to astonish neuroscientists. While certain basic functions and specific brain regions have been explored, the fundamental questions surrounding the brain’s structure, function, and behavior remain open. Memory, cognition, learning, emotion, and consciousness—all products of neuronal activity—give rise to the experience of the subjective self, the “I.” Yet how matter transforms into lived experience remains only tentatively explained.
The journey into the depths of the human brain is undeniably fascinating, but it is often accompanied by a sense of intellectual humility, even frustration, as vast regions remain inaccessible and unexplored.
At Homo-Naturalis.gr, we embark on a journey of our own, guided by Diotima. This exploration seeks not only to decipher the biological mechanisms of the brain, but also to propose a broader, alternative mapping—one that connects neuroscience with philosophy, cosmology, psychology, and human behavior. Through accessible interpretations, it aims to illuminate how even a partial understanding of brain function can shed light on humanity’s most enduring questions.
This inquiry inevitably intersects with the defining force of our era: Technology, and its most radical achievement, Artificial Intelligence, now rapidly evolving toward Superintelligence. What does the human brain reveal about the future of intelligence—and what does artificial intelligence, in turn, reveal about ourselves?
The journey has only just begun.
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PART ONE
Consciousness as a Biological and Philosophical Problem
By Diotima
Consciousness is perhaps the most elusive problem in the study of the human brain. It is not merely one function among others; it is the field within which all functions acquire meaning. Without consciousness, there is no experience, no subjectivity, no “self.”
Modern neuroscience has succeeded in linking specific brain regions and neural networks to aspects of conscious experience: perception, attention, memory, emotion. We know that consciousness does not reside in a single “location” in the brain, but emerges from the dynamic interaction of distributed neural systems. And yet, the central question remains unresolved: how does electrochemical activity transform into lived experience?
This is not only a scientific problem. It is a profoundly philosophical one. From Plato and Aristotle to Descartes and contemporary philosophy of mind, consciousness has stood at the core of inquiries into the nature of reality and human existence. Science can describe mechanisms; it struggles, however, to explain why experience exists at all.
Here, a new kind of mapping becomes necessary. Not to replace science with philosophy, or philosophy with science, but to bring them into a productive dialogue. Consciousness is not simply a product of the brain; it is the window through which the brain encounters the world—and itself.
In the continuation of this series, we will explore whether consciousness is an emergent phenomenon, an evolutionary tool for survival, or something deeper for which we still lack the conceptual framework. Inevitably, the question expands further: can Artificial Intelligence ever possess consciousness—or will it only simulate it?