Books: Metazoa by Peter Godfrey-Smith

 (Drivebycuriosity) - How did consciousness develop? There is a lot speculation. The book "Metazoa" by Peter Godfrey-Smith gives an interesting version (amazon ). The author, a professor in the School of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney, focuses on the question how consciousness evolved in animals, because all share more or less some ancient ancestors with us. 

We inherited many items, like eyes and neurons, from common ancestors. Godfrey-Smith calls animals our cousins who "can teach us much about the evolutionary origins of not only our bodies, but also our minds." The book is based on the author`s own research & ideas, but also on knowledge we got from fossils mixed with musings by other scientists and philosophers.

Godfrey-Smith learned a lot about consciousness on Australia`s shore where he frequently goes for scuba diving. He explores not only the rich sea live, he seems to communicate with the animals. A chapter could be called "My friend the Octopus". But  Godfrey-Smith also cares about sponges, crabs, sharks and other sea creatures. These animals seem to have some consciousness because they respond to their environment and they react to the behavior of their fellows, prey ( food) and enemies (predators). And sometimes they respond somehow to the diver. In the course of the book Godfrey-Smith expands his exposition to birds, insects, other land animals and even trees. The behavior of all life forms gives valuable clues how our consciousness might have evolved.

Godfrey-Smith can write and serves his insights with a lot humor. Metazoa is a fascinating read and a valuable  study on evolution.