---
abstract: "Offline trial and error is probably the basic way of solving novel problems and, where fancier procedures such as algorithms are used, trial-and-error was probably the main way of evolving them. We need to know how humans evolved such simulation abilities. And it would be nice to know some alternative paths that an extraterrestrial intelligence might have followed. I'm going to give an example of the neural machinery that intelligence might require, a brief description of how it might have evolved, then discuss hominid evolution more generally and speculate about what might happen in the next century as we better understand the machinery underlying our own higher intellectual functions."
altloc:
  - http://williamcalvin.com/1990s/1991SETI.htm
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commentary: ~
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creators_name:
  - family: Calvin
    given: William H.
    honourific: ''
    lineage: ''
date: 1991
date_type: published
datestamp: 1998-04-25
department: ~
dir: disk0/00/00/01/65
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editors_id: []
editors_name:
  - family: Heidmann
    given: Jean
    honourific: ''
    lineage: ''
  - family: Klein
    given: Micheal J.
    honourific: ''
    lineage: ''
eprint_status: archive
eprintid: 165
fileinfo: /style/images/fileicons/text_html.png;/165/1/1991SETI.htm
full_text_status: public
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ispublished: pub
issn: ~
item_issues_comment: []
item_issues_count: 0
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keywords: ~
lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:53:42
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longitude: ~
metadata_visibility: show
note: ~
number: ~
pagerange: 311-319
pubdom: FALSE
publication: 'Bioastronomy: The Exploration Broadens'
publisher: Springer-Verlag
refereed: FALSE
referencetext: ~
relation_type: []
relation_uri: []
reportno: ~
rev_number: 8
series: ~
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status_changed: 2007-09-12 16:24:32
subjects:
  - bio-ani-behav
  - bio-evo
succeeds: ~
suggestions: ~
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thesistype: ~
title: 'The antecedents of consciousness: Evolving the "intelligent" ability to simulate situations and contemplate the consequences of novel courses of action.'
type: bookchapter
userid: 23
volume: ~
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