The Origin of Consciousness – How Unaware Things Became Aware

The Origin of Consciousness – How Unaware Things Became Aware

Sources and link to book by Rupert Glasgow:

Consciousness is perhaps the biggest riddle in nature. In the first part of this three part video series, we explore the origins of consciousness and take a closer look on how unaware things became aware.

This video was made possible by a grant from the Templeton World Charity Foundation.

Consciousness Poster here:


Kurzgesagt Newsletter:


The music of the video here:


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71 Responses

    • Robert Jones says:

      Video is heavily ‘in vogue’ with current trends in life sciences, promoting reductionism to objective physical reality from which the assumption follows that consciousness is an emergent property from the brain, i.e. the consciousness you experience as your own, private, internal movie/monologue is an “illusion” perpetrated upon you due to conspiration of your own biological parts after evolving over millions of years in the ongoing chemical chain reaction that is life as we know it from abiogenesis.

      On the one hand the video distinguishes consciousness from intelligence, but with the other hand conflates cognitive processes with consciousness in an effort to derive it from basic physical life processes.

      Another conclusion can be drawn from the focus on how cognitive processes developed from basic organisms and it should be given equal weighting in the video. As shown, the evolutionary environment selects the organisms that are capable of surviving (by finding food, etc.) just long enough to continue replication/reproducing, and these organism are not neccesarily the ones capable of best perceiving the correct, fundamental objective truth of physical reality. Furthermore, it is a very niche cognitive skillset, adaptable to only a thin slither of possible physical environments. This focus should therefore serve also to highlight the fallibility of the human mind and the possible limitations of scientific inquiry. Is it the brain which is perceiving the mind, or is it the mind which is perceiving the brain? It could very well be an incorrect assumption that consciousness is a physically emergent property and this should be addressed in the video as it is a line of enquiry not at odds with the scientific method albeit unpopular.

    • m shakir says:

      I really appreciate your hard work, and I hope you agree if I make a dub version of this, will you allow it?

    • Potato2840 Ali says:


    • Joseph Webley says:

      Where the birds

  1. Matyas Fekete says:

    For something to fully understand itself, it has to be smarter than it is.

    • jbentley8383 says:

      And this is why only God understands conciseness itself.
      Spirits know they exist because they do actions that state they are concise. So you don’t need your body to be just have to “be”.
      And God makes you “be”.

    • Subscribe to Pewdiepie God damn it!! says:

      +Matyas Fekete
      the amazing thing is that, when the deep learning AI finishes its job of learning then even the creator of the AI will never know how the finished software (created by the AI for that task) works, that is how complex it becomes.

      pretty cool comparison you got there

      BUT!! …….. WE cant unravel the complexity of consciousness (because of our limited brains) but a computer can probably do it IF we manage to connect a strong ass computer with a brain ie if we had the technology.
      So i believe that conscious computer may be a possibility if we are capable of connecting the brain to a computer.

      take me with a grain of salt cuz im only 17 and may be imagining some sci-fi shit here

    • MrWhite says:

      +starvetheego Exactly, i totally agree, never denied that

    • Pro Meliora says:

      So we should make something smarter than us to teach us what we are — at least in an abstract form that we can consider one piece at a time.

  2. aMulliganStew says:

    See also the previous Kurzgesagt video addressing the topic, “Is Reality Real?” (September 21, 2017).

  3. GohoR Arsen says:

    before watch : i eat for live
    after watch : i live for eat

    Weird flex but okay

  4. Ha _MOSSAD says:

    yall ever just take lsd and watch krutzge for 3 hours

  5. TheAdvertisement says:

    Creatures: *gain consciousness
    Humans: Oh hey we know stuff.

    *_But how?_*

  6. saschavona says:

    the “food” looks like a plumbus from rick and morty!

  7. dextrovix says:

    To see 2000 thumbs down makes me question some people’s lack of consciousness…

  8. TheMagicat says:

    I love how that creature “evolves” and develops throughout the video

  9. Kassoon says:

    “object permanence develops in babies at around 8 months”
    I have some multiplayer matches that refute this

    • Yasir Wazankash says:

      I don’t get it

    • Jaden Pelate says:

      +Yasir Wazankash when someone is chasing you in a game, but then you hide behind a door. Some people forge you were there and you can sneak attack them latter. But if they remember you were there they would have opened the door and get you.

    • SAITAMA says:

      thats merely due to lack of attention object permanence ocurs when ppl pay attention to the object

    • Cleric says:

      +Jaden Pelate depends tho
      if it’s a team game they may not want to risk other enemy teammates to gang on em if they enter the door, and even then when you enter a room you get a positional advantage cuz you can reposition yourself, which puts the pursuer in a disadvantage

    • Hasham Khan says:

      The rage is 4-7 months whatever your argument is doesn’t really fit well.

  10. Random Guy says:

    this video is a prime example of how Kurzgesagt can use aesthetic animation and soothing audio to introduce a concept to the masses that would otherwise only be found in writing in forums, papers, and books and generally is explained in a stuffy, less-inviting way.

    Goob Job, Kurzgesagt

  11. Schtaiv1973 says:

    You say “consciousness that we humans enjoy today”, as if I want to be alive.

  12. Pluff says:

    So… you’re basically saying that my intelligence was created in a drive for food?

    *Seems right*

  13. Lukyitr /NO says:

    Bold of you to assume I’m conscious.

  14. tapewormrage says:

    You lost me once the purple girl pulled her face off.

  15. Henry says:

    When this video makes you realize you’re like an animal, unable to delay gratification :/

  16. Reid Mock says:

    You didn’t meet your bird quota in this video. I hope you rectify this issue in the next one.

  17. Jason Klugh says:

    Props for the extra effort as promised in the previous video. I notice the video footnotes and the sources link at the TOP of the description no less. Good on your team for staying true to your word.

  18. mulg1 says:

    when the end goal is worldly success, it can hardly be called spirituality.

  19. joaquimvictor says:

    Hey, you should do a video about silicon based life! It would be pretty cool :3

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