It is only the awareness of ourselves that differentiates us from the animal kingdom.

Our morality, philosophy and religion is a direct result of our ability to examine ourselves distinctly from our environment and separately from the moment in time. Human progress, science and art has been unlocked by our cognisance of our own consciousness.

The plasticity of our brains has allowed us to develop beyond all other species on the planet. We are convinced that this particularly unique development (which has also permitted us to become the dominant predator) is evidence that we are special.

The cerebral cortex (the seat of conscious thought) makes up 50% of our brain mass. Our conscious brain, however, can only process around 40 pieces of information per second. That may sound fairly impressive but the subconscious part of our brain is processing around eleven million pieces of information each second.

The part of us that permits the manifestation of self awareness is comparatively crude and underdeveloped compared with the parts that tie us to the rest of the animal kingdom. The thing that makes us special is not so special.

Something we should be aware of.