Simona Ginsburg and Eva Jablonka argue that the evolution of consciousness can be explored by means of a 'marker' of consciousness, which specifically is a form of open-ended associative learning, which they call unlimited associative learning (UAL). Learning, meanwhile, is described as an "an experience-dependent change in behavior," and "requires that we consider the kinds of stimuli that are attended to, the mechanisms of storage and of recall, the relevant rewards and punishments and the ways the organism responds." But what they call consciousness is very different from what I think most people would accept, requiring intentionality, agency, a sense of self, and more. And what they call evolution appears to me to be a very robust Lamarckian conception, where (say) the suffering experienced by one generation is inherited as changes in the nature of consciousness by the next generation.
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