I think that his theory is that the kinds of activity that the brain can carry on without the “attention modeling” and its consequent “conscious experience”/awareness is what most other animals haven’t managed to progress beyond, and that the “attention model” ( of the parietal junction etc ), is what has enabled the massively sustained attention span of humans compared to other animals, and other advanced kinds of cognitive function, a step up in complexity, rather like the M button on a calculator. It has enabled the human brain to optimise attention processes, plan and organise attention, avoid distraction, and even more importantly, compared to other animals, to pay attention to things which are not in front of us, not present in the here and now, to conceive of and focus on imaginary things, which are elsewhere or don’t exist/haven’t been built yet.
I think that his theory is that the kinds of activity that the brain can carry on without the “attention modeling” and its consequent “conscious experience”/awareness is what most other animals haven’t managed to progress beyond, and that the “attention model” ( of the parietal junction etc ), is what has enabled the massively sustained attention span of humans compared to other animals, and other advanced kinds of cognitive function, a step up in complexity, rather like the M button on a calculator. It has enabled the human brain to optimise attention processes, plan and organise attention, avoid distraction, and even more importantly, compared to other animals, to pay attention to things which are not in front of us, not present in the here and now, to conceive of and focus on imaginary things, which are elsewhere or don’t exist/haven’t been built yet.