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memory, reasoning, creativity, the whole edifice of culture) as the curators of value inside our modern, very minded, very social beings. And we can imagine a long umbilical cord that links the barely weaned, perennially dependent conscious mind to the depths of very elementary and very un- conscious regulators of the value principle.
    The history of consciousness cannot be told in the conventional way. Consciousness came into being because of biological value, as a contributor to more effective value management. But consciousness did not invent biological value or the process of valuation. Eventually, in human minds, consciousness revealed biological value and allowed the development of new ways and means of managing it.
Life and the Conscious Mind
     
    Is it reasonable to devote a book to the question of how brains make conscious minds? It is sensible to ask if understanding the brain work behind mind and self has any practical significance besides satisfying our curiosity about human nature. Does it make any difference in daily life? For many reasons, large and small, I think it does. Brain science and its explanations are not about to provide for all people the satisfaction that so many obtain from experiencing the arts or cultivating spiritual beliefs. But there certainly are other compensations.
    Understanding the circumstances in which conscious minds emerged in the history of life, and specifically how they developed in human history, allows us to judge perhaps more wisely than before the quality of the knowledge and advice those conscious minds provide. Is the knowledge reliable? Is the advice sound? Do we gain from understanding the mechanisms behind the minds that give us counsel?
    Elucidating the neural mechanisms behind conscious minds reveals that our selves are not always sound and that they are not in control of every decision. But the facts also authorize us to reject the false impression that our ability to deliberate consciously is a myth. Elucidating conscious as well as nonconscious mind processes increases the possibility of fortifying our deliberative powers. The self opens the way for deliberation and for the adventure of science, two specific tools with which all the misleading guidance of the unaided self can be countered.
    The time will come when the issue of human responsibility, in general moral terms as well as on matters of justice and its application, will take into account the evolving science of consciousness. Perhaps the time is now. Armed with reflexive deliberation and scientific tools, an understanding of the neural construction of conscious minds also adds a welcome dimension to the task of investigating the development and shaping of cultures, the ultimate product of collectives of conscious minds. As humans debate the benefits or perils of cultural trends, and of developments such as the digital revolution, it may help to be informed about how our flexible brains create consciousness. For example, will the progressive globalization of human consciousness brought on by the digital revolution retain the goals and principles of basic homeostasis, as current sociocultural homeostasis does? Or will it break away from its evolutionary umbilical cord, for better or worse? 18
    Naturalizing the conscious mind and planting it firmly in the brain does not diminish the role of culture in the construction of human beings, does not reduce human dignity, and does not mark the end of mystery and puzzlement. Cultures arise and evolve from collective efforts of human brains, over many generations, and some cultures even die in the process. They require brains that have already been shaped by prior cultural effects. The significance of cultures to the making of the modern human mind is not in question. Nor is the dignity of that human mind diminished by connecting it to the astonishing complexity and beauty to be found inside living cells and tissues. On the contrary, connecting personhood to biology is a