Study by Dr. Newen and Montemayor
TIM MCMILLAN · NOVEMBER 26, 2025
… Other animals, such as birds, lacking a cerebral cortex, were thought to operate on instinct rather than introspection.
Yet, in a pair of new studies published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, researchers at Ruhr University Bochum argue that consciousness is older than we once believed and also far more widespread across the animal kingdom.
This is a pretty hazy way of stating it.
I mean either it is a component of all living creatures, varying according to biological complexity. Rather than some have it, some don’t - since, that sets up an even stickier philosophical problem - defining who doesn’t possess consciousness.
The fly in that specific ointments is that scientists observe behaviors in single celled creatures that mirror the behavioral traits of more complex creatures. Arthur Reber (among others)
(note the difference between “solve” and “resolve”)
Dr. Albert Newen and Carlos Montemayor: "They argue that consciousness did not spring into existence fully formed. Instead, it unfolded across evolutionary time in three functional stages—basic arousal, general alertness, and reflexive consciousness—each with a distinct survival role. …
… Dr. Newen and Montemayor begin their paper with a blunt observation about how theories of consciousness have overlooked evolution from the start. “The evolution of consciousness is a neglected topic that plays a surprisingly insignificant role in all major theories of consciousness,” the researchers write.
Major frameworks such as the Global Neuronal Workspace Theory (GNWT) and Integrated Information Theory (IIT) attempt to explain the mechanics of consciousness but rarely address why it emerged in the first place.
According to Dr. Newen and Montemayor, the earliest form—basic arousal—is essentially an internal emergency alarm system. As they put it, “Basic arousal has the function to alarm the body and secure survival by intervening in the slow updating of homeostatic processes.”
This article and the backup paper is written with extreme caution, keeping judgement calls absolutely as conservative and minimalistic as possible. Still the overarching reality stands firm - time to stop imagining consciousness is a human invention. Learn to understand what respecting the Physical Reality ~ Human Mind divide, is all about.
Oh, and the answers are in Evolution. 