In his book "Consciousness and the Brain," Dehaene describes factors, such as the MCPH1 gene, that separate Monkey and Human ability to verbally report their experiences or thoughts. The question that plagues evolutionists in various fields is "can simple genetic changes be the determining factor of consciousness?" and if so, "what combinations of genes lead to the ability to be conscious?" These are great questions, and in this day in age, scientists have technologies available that can begin to answer some of these questions through behavioral, neurological, and genetic testing. However, these questions lack depth in the study of consciousness as genetic elements only account for a small percentage of cases in which consciousness is affected. In this short paper, I hope to provide significant evidence that the ability to communicate self-actualization may be the number one factor that allows for the identification of conscious experience and describe some methods that have been used to characterize various population groups' ability to be conscious.

Rene Descartes postulates the impossibility of any individual to deny their existence through the phrase "I think, therefore I am." The mastery behind this phrase is not so much in its definition or categorization of consciousness but rather in the inability to deny a conscious existence while maintaining skepticism towards any experience outside the vacuum of the mind. Summarized, as long as the ability to realize our existence stays true, then our existence stays true. Regarding consciousness, which is the awareness of our existence, Descartes has created a platform by which individual existence cannot be denied, and thus consciousness is established.

As the mechanisms of consciousness that allow for self-awareness are not understood as separate from the physical structures of the brain experimental postulations through theoretical modeling, as seen in Dehaene's global workspace theory, provide frameworks supporting consciousness as resulting from communication between major and minor neurological structures also known as top-down processing. The top-down processing method uses sensory input and previous experience to create an image that can be easily understood, defined, and acted upon. However, Dehaene proposes that without retrieval processes, external stimuli become jumbled neuronal exchange rather than a real-time interpretation of stimuli. Simply understood, if neuronal information was cooking ingredients and top-down processes the chef, then consciousness can be seen as the waiter, giving you the options of what food you can pick off the menu (limited by ingredients (stimuli) and chefs ability (interpretations based on experience). Dehaene stresses the importance of consciousness as more than a mechanism by which self-analysis takes place, but more importantly, the role of consciousness via conscious decision-making leads to present experiences. While top-down processing may be able to process and provide insight into experience-based living, it is impossible without bottom-up processing, understood as the incoming stimuli signal sent to specific brain structures. These signals are scrutinized over various brain structures and finally processed through complex analysis as a definitive sensory experience. Without bottom-up processing, top-down processing cannot piece together the big picture and lack the ability to interpret and simplify our present and experience of the world.

Now that Descartes's statement of conscious experience is aptly connected and grounded to the brain, we can begin to understand how the physical brain presents consciousness or this idea of self-analysis, as seen through active reporting. EEG has been used in many cases to correlate specific tasks with visualized brain activity. However, while this is a great use of EEG in the behavioral field, what if scientists reformatted this concept and used brain activity to correlate specific tasks with consciousness states? Dehaene provides evidence that EEG, while not used in the past to determine states of consciousness effectively, can do what patients in various lower level conscious states cannot: active reporting on their current experience. While the separation between life and death in the past had much to do with the perceived level of awareness, doctors can now use EEG to travel past awareness states for determining death and tap directly into the brain to visualize a patient's conscious state. Dehaene proposes that definitions of conscious states have been simplified due to the mistake of paralleling awake states with conscious states. Using EEG, Dehaene provided evidence that individuals with no awake state still show consciousness through brain activity. A famous example of this phenomenon is Locked-In syndrome, in which an individual is unable to present any state of awareness yet whose brain is fully functional. The patient's ability to experience life, think critically, self-analyze, and report, are untouched, yet due to their bodily condition, they cannot physically show their conscious ability. Descartes "I think therefore I am" statement suggests the inability to deny one's existence regardless of external experience as long as the ability to determine one's existence remains untouched. Dehaene supports Desacrete's statement by revealing through various techniques, including TEM, fMRI, PET, and EEG, that various states of consciousness affect patients' ability to determine one existence and therefore result in conscious death (Brain Death) or consciousness (as previously defined). To clarify, Brain death and brain activity are not necessarily related as one can be brain dead but show brain activity through tDCS activation of localized neurons. Brain Death differentiates from consciousness through a lack of self-excitation in the brain via internal mechanisms such as neurotransmitters, exciters, or inhibitors (for example, NMDA receptors).

While there is plenty of evidence that consciousness lies within the transfer of neurological information throughout the brain, how are "conscious beings" differentiated from insects, octopus, or dolphins? Perhaps they aren't! According to Dehaene, quantification of consciousness is necessary to conclude the state of consciousness various animals are subject to. Like humans, most animals can report on varying state of consciousness through learning, processing, use of working memory, and activation of brain waves directly linked with conscious processing (as opposed to unconscious awareness). The similarities between non-human animals and humans are evidenced through developed cortical regions such as the frontal lobe and represented by masking tasks, bi-partisan testing, and confidence analysis, requiring not only learning capability but also self-awareness and self-analysis. Dehaene states that the parietal and prefrontal lobes, required for working memory, processing, and decision making, are required in confidence analysis testing and thus refute the premise that non-human and human animals lack a sense of consciousness. However, the premise that animals are conscious does not necessarily provide evidence that animals can question their existence via non-direct-language-tools as humans do, i.e., mathematics, physics, and chemistry. Human beings can study the unobservable world through language development throughout time, leading to societal evolution, technology development, and self-oriented reasoning. The current literature states that unlike humans, ' animals cannot question their existence.

To conclude, Rene Descartes's statement provides a standard for consciousness that cannot be reduced. To be conscious is not only to be but rather consciousness is the arbitrary placeholder in which humans project their sense of self. It is through consciousness that self-awareness, self-actualization, reporting, and even decision making can exist. While consciousness can be seen throughout the animal kingdom, the unique qualities of consciousness in humans lies in the ability to report or make decisions and develop new ways of understanding the world in which we experience. Through various modalities, humanity has become the only species that actively portrays a sense of self beyond our experiences by developing languages that allow for the communication of ideas we cannot yet even fully understand. Descartes's statement is evidence of humanities' ability to self-actualize and evidence that consciousness in itself is used to justify our existence separate from the world.

What do you think? What else can be extrapolated from a theory of consciousness stemming from Independent experience?