My Submission to the 2025 Berggruen Prize Essay Competition: Consciousness is Learned

Three months of intellectual work and this is what I came up with - and my submitted essay didn't win the competition and wasn't shortlisted:

From the birth of the ego to the emergence of individuality, consciousness – our state of awareness – has developed over the centuries for us humans and did not begin far back in animal evolution. While mental imagery has been regarded as divine authority in ancient cultures, we can today perceive it as imaginary – a process that involves focusing our attention on our inner mental life. Through a cultural development of double consciousness, we are able to hold two different beliefs, following a narrative while dismissing it as unreal. Furthermore, we are able to reflect on our perception of reality by telling stories through technological advancements, leading to mediums such as cinema and video games. What we can learn from these insights is that we should foster the ability and the will to introspect through fiction in order to understand the problem of consciousness. Through this cultural development of the West, we are gaining more agency and freedom through autonomy and individualism. However, this freedom is in danger due to our increasing social use of artificial intelligence (AI).

No AI could have written this essay - because AI isn't conscious (and can't quote out of printed books) - more on this here:   / can-ai-be-conscious  

The ideas presented in this video are my own - unless directly quoted. I recommend watching this video from start to end - or just listen to it. The sources of all quotations are titled in the video.

Check out my related essay "Walking Between Worlds and the Dangers of AI":   / walking-between-worlds-and-the-dangers-of-ai  

Timestamps/Chapters for this video:

Introductions:
00:20 What is the Berggruen Prize Essay Competition?
02:56 Introduction to my Essay Submission

04:17 From Divine Authority To Individual Autonomy: How The Development Of Consciousness Gave Us More Agency And Freedom
05:29 Changes In Mentality Throughout History
09:26 Creating New Realities And Thus Perspectives Through Technology
14:34 Switching Between Frames In A Post-Modern World
16:51 Creating New Realities: How Movies Are Made
22:55 The Development Of Consciousness In Children And Early Humans
31:27 What Is Real? What Is Not?
39:31 Insight Into Our Consciousness Through Deconstructing Reality
43:03 From The Spiritual To The Psychological
46:05 Advanced Awareness Through Self-Reflexivity
48:08 Conclusion: Consciousness Is Learned
49:32 Consciousness And The Dangers Of AI

55:02 Final Words for this Video

Resources here:   / my-submission-to-the-2025-berggruen-prize-...  

Tags:
#consciousness #dangersofai #psychology #essay #freedom #agency #cognition #introspection #autonomy #perception #fiction #filmhistory #filmmaking #visualeffects #mentality #linguistics #academia #academic