Chef Roy Choi immigrated from Korea to the U.S. as a young child and says growing up in Latin communities in Los Angeles helped shape his love of Korean-Mexican fusion. (Photo: Stella Artois; designed by Quinn Lemmers)

Because food connects us all, Yahoo Life is serving up a heaping plateful of table-talk with people who are passionate about what's on their menu in Deglazed, a series about food.

Celebrity chef Roy Choi is all about food that feels like home: simple delicious dishes that are the best in their class. Choi, who stars alongside actor Jon Favreau in The Chef Showand iscredited with being one of the fathers of American food truck cuisine, believes food should be intentionally crafted and memorable, and the notion began for him practically at birth.

"Food has been an integral part of my life my whole life ever since I was born," the 52-year-old founder of Kogi Korean BBQ, a fleet of Korean-Mexican fusion-serving food trucks, tells Yahoo Life. "I don't think I ever even had baby food growing up. I always had aunties in my house my house was just always in motion, whether it was pickling or fermenting or slow cooking or roasting it never stopped."

"My whole house was like a sourdough starter, always bubbling and evolving," he adds. "I guess for me, things are always in progress or in motion, whether that's a metaphor for life or my cooking itself."

As a young child, Choi and his family immigrated to the U.S. from Korea, an experience that wasn't always easy for him. Growing up, he says fitting in was difficult, but food helped his family form bonds with others.

"Being early immigrants in this country and for new immigrants today it's hard sometimes to fit in," Choi shares. "You have to navigate your whole existence while being ostracized and facing racism, prejudice, misunderstandings and language barriers ... so you endure the week to get through life and pay the bills. But outside of work, you can have the weekend to be your silly self, your family self."

Choi recalls as a child, it was this silly family time revolving around food that helped him feel at home and find a true sense of belonging and community.

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"One of our traditions we created here in America was going to the park every weekend to have our own little potluck picnics," he recalls. "It was a chance to be with others going through the same shared experiences and cook foods that reminded you of home."

"A lot of people think immigrants don't miss where they immigrated from, but that's not true," he continues. "So for us, we cooked to bring back those memories and battle that homesickness for where we came from. That was one thing we would always do: cook for each other."

Today, it's easy to see Choi's unique background a Korean immigrant living in Latinx communities in Los Angeles, Calif. has helped shape his journey as a chef.

"The taco is basically a yearbook portrait of my life," Choi says. "Korean and Mexican food were a natural expression and evolution of my immigration, because we moved to LA which is basically a Latino neighborhood. I was influenced by what was around me and mashed them together."

Choi still finds inspiration from the restaurants he grew up visiting. "My favorite restaurants growing up were not as we traditionally think of restaurants, but trucks and stands and shops within markets, or stands within markets," he shares. "Tacos, soups, stews, Koreatown, old-school hamburger joints: There's a very specific style of LA food late night food, little 'mom and pop' restaurants, Korean restaurants, taco trucks all melding at an intersection of foods that represent what I try to cook in my own food today."

The food Choi craves food is not necessarily elegant or complicated, but food you truly want to eat where every element is as thoughtfully prepared as it can be a concept he's bringing to his latest project.

Choi recently partnered with Stella Artois for "Frites Artois," a collaboration celebrating the beloved French Fry. (Photo: Stella Artois)

The Stella Artois "Frites Artois" program is a collaboration between Choi and his favorite beer. It's also a celebration of a simple-but-classic culinary delight: the beloved French fry.

"This program is perfect for me because we're talking about simple foods that I love," he says. "I love French fries. I can't eat them everyday, so when I do, I try to make sure to get the best fries I possibly can. I don't like to ruin that one moment I have with a certain food I've been craving."

To elevate the standard fry for the campaign, Choi looked to what he believes are the best of the best fries from Belgium and France for inspiration. The result? A immersive traveling food truck experience featuring music, art, cold beer and dressed up fries topped with everything from "spicy creamy yummy sauce" to sweet and sour sauce made with fresh Thai basil.

"I was thinking OK, if someone could only have one, single French fry, what would I want that fry to feel like? To represent?" Choi says, adding that the Stella Artois "Frites Artois" program will head to different cities around the country, each with their own unique and locally inspired take on the humble French fry.

This project is just the latest in Choi's portfolio of food experiences that aim to share his love of food through memories, culture and comfort.

"I try to cook comfort food," he says. "I like to cook food I would want to eat at a certain moment or hour of the day," he says, "or that brings back a certain feeling."

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The Chef Show star Roy Choi says as a child, his immigrant family 'cooked to bring back memories and battle homesickness' - Yahoo Singapore News

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

ESG is on everyone's radar, but many companies dont understand what is and isnt important about it or what to pay attention to.

Paul Washington leads The Environmental, Socialand Governance (ESG) Center at The Conference Board, a non-profit think tank that provides cutting-edge research, programsand access to expertise on corporate governance, sustainability, citizenshipand philanthropy.The Center has a membership ofover 180 public and private corporations with well over 1,000 actively engaged executives. Members receiveweekly alerts and access to a broad suite of world-class offerings, including multiplepublications as well as roughly 40 webcasts and podcasts on ESG topics that help improve individual, teamand enterprise performance. The Centers platform provides corporate leaders with the opportunity to have confidential discussions withother thought leaders and toaddress their most pressing challengeswith a global perspective.

I spoke to Washington to get his unique perspective on the state of ESG among corporations and whats next in integrating ESG best practices into how companies do business.

Related:HP CIO Ellen Jackowski Explains WhyESGIs Essential to Corporate Sustainability

There's so much information out there about ESG. Some is great, some not so much:

One of the challenges is that climate isnt talked about in human terms. People find that hard to relate to. You have to humanize the environmental side. Also, so much of what's said about climate change and the role companies play is conveyed with a scolding attitude. That's why we've suggested that if you're talking to your board of directors or trying to engage a company on climate, you talk about climate's impact on the company first, then about the company's impact on climate. The first is universal and gets them engaged on a human level. Then you can askIf that's the impact climate is having, what can we as a company do to help? This is something for everyone to be involved in, and you're not going to get it by lecturing or hectoring.

Companies often struggle with getting started, and consultants in the ESG space have often come from academia and nonprofits. They may not understand how companies work. They sometimes view companies as monolithic enterprises, but they're not. There are different departments, individualsand personalities, and you have to avoid only preaching to the converted to get other people on board. Even if you have advocates within the company, they need the tools and information to persuade and inspire others.

When and how did your organization begin engaging on ESG topics?

The ESG Center was formed in mid-2019, but The Conference Board has been focusing on these areas for decades. Its a successor to what was known as the Governance Center, which was founded in 1993, and The Conference Board was originally founded as a neutral convener in 1916 to address labor management strife, to address an S issue in ESG. It grew from there.

I think of todays iteration of the ESG Center as unique. Were a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank serving both the business community and society. Were not writing long papers for an academic audience, nor do we write partisan papers. Were here to provide trusted, actionable insights for our members, for the business community at largeand for society. Our secret sauce is that people trust us.

We also have global scope and scale and multiple disciplines. We're in Europe and Asia as well as in the U.S., and ESG Center is just one of several think tanks at The Conference Board. When you combine all that we bring to the table great research capabilities, databases, survey capabilities and bring our members and others together, we create practical insights that you literally cannot get anywhere else in the world.

For example, The Conference Board published a report in November on what the shift from stockholder to stakeholder capitalism means to the C-suite. We not only conducted an empirical survey of executives around the globe, but then convened CEOs, generals counsel, CFOs, chief communications officers, chief strategy officersand others to talk about what it meant for them in practice. It's a cutting-edge report that provides very practical business insight.

We also conducted a round table on the intersection of sustainability, compliance, and risk management. We had 168 attendees around a big virtual table, and the key takeaway was that there are factors causing these areas to come together. Whether it's supply chain issues, human capital, or climate, you need distinct perspectives of compliance, risk managementand sustainability brought to bear. You want convergence, but you don't want to lose the distinct nature of each of those areas. Like any good relationship, you have to know where there's common ground and where there's divergent ground. You can't just paper over differences. You have to understand them because those differences are often strengths.

Related:WhyESGConscious Companies are Resilient Companies

I particularly admire that youre bridging industries and functions. Thats a much-needed departure from how a lot of consulting operates.

The ESG Center has 184 members. We span every industry, every category. The really interesting work is often done at the intersection. If you're just living in your own sustainability bubble and not talking to people at different levels and in other disciplines, youre not going to have the same impact.

One of the things were working on is trying to understand where the sustainability function is located in organizations. What have you found?

Our report,Organizing for Success in Sustainability, provides survey research showing where the function sits in Europe and in the U.S., as well as based on the size of the organization. It provides really good insights regarding who it reports to, how large it isand even how a small organization can transform a company if they do it right.

Sustainable organizations will evolve over time. The ideal is where the sustainability function is embedded in the business and provides a coordinating goal, but it can sit in a lot of different places.

Theres been an evolution from sustainability, from the CSR wave, to ESG. Are we moving to a comprehensive overtaking by stakeholder capitalism? Or is ESG just another stage on the way to something else?

I think there are two trends. The first is the shift from stockholder to stakeholder capitalism. Where companies previously focused on customers, employees and others as a means to an end for creating profits for shareholders, with stakeholder capitalism they care about the welfare of other stakeholders as a legitimate goal in and of itself, and every company will decide where it wants to be along that spectrum. We published a report in November showing that 90% of global C-suite executives believe that shift is underway, and 80% believe it's underway at their company.

Along with that is a shift to ESG over sustainability. As you're serving different constituencies, companies are addressing a broader array of environmental and social issues. The two shifts thus involved both the who and the what. These trends are both significant and durable, and its the third great wave in governance. The first occurred after Enron and WorldCom collapsed and placed a focus on board accountability. The next was after the financial crisis, which focused on shifting power to shareholders.

The stakeholder shift is being driven by investors. The people youd think have the most to lose are actually leading the way. When you've got 30% of the S & P 500 held by the same top 10 institutional investors and they're focusing on systemic risks, they're thinking like and about stakeholders.

Are most companies at the same stage and place in terms of progress?

Companies go from compliance, to meeting basic expectations, to focusing on reducing risk beyond expectations, then to lowering costs. The final phase is showing leadership and seizing opportunities. Most companies we deal with are beyond pure compliance. They're grappling with how to meet investor and customer expectations, how to mitigate riskand how to seize opportunities.

Companies will not be leaders in every area. They have to choose where they want to play. What theyre really struggling with is identifying the big risks they need to address and the big opportunities they want to seize. Integrating sustainability into strategic planning, financial planningand budgeting processes really drives both risk mitigation and opportunity capitalization. That's what companies are working on. Even advanced ones are still trying to refine their understanding. They may do a good job at risk mitigation, but they're still trying to identify opportunities.

TheOrganizing for Successreport examines the need to strengthen connections between sustainability, finance, and strategy. There's a strong connection between sustainability, complianceand legal in the U.S. but not in Europe. Both need to be stronger, because finance and strategy control are the essential planning and capital allocation functions needed to incorporate sustainability into those processes. The legal department also needs to be a collaborative, problem-solving partner. It can be very helpful in thinking through governance at both the board and management level, on how to actually seize opportunities, how to structure the board and the C-suite, and how to structure an internal sustainability steering committee. A good charter helps maximize collaboration between strategy, finance and sustainability.

What does good look like when it comes to implementing ESG strategies in organizations?

Good generally looks like a company that has thought through each of the main challenges and opportunities. There are six issues each company faces when it comes to sustainability:

What issues matter?

How to integrate sustainability into strategy and operations?

How to set and reward goals?

How to organize for sustainability at the board of management level?

How to tell the sustainability story to multiple stakeholders?

How to deal with the ESG industry the three Rs of regulators, reporting frameworks, and rating agencies?

Good means a company has been particularly effective on those first five and is complying with regulations but is not as worried about the rating agencies and the reporting frameworks. They may have used them as a starting point, but a company that's really doing well has figured out what matters. They've integrated their business. They've set reasonable and stretch goals. They've organized themselves sufficiently, and they're telling their story well. If they're hitting those five things and complying with the laws, that's a company that's succeeding.

Related:Predictions for 2022: Workplace, Tech, andESGPoints

What do you see as the next frontier in sustainability?

Creating a culture that provides rewards, punishments, expectationsand tolerance when it comes to behavior and where sustainability is built into your ethic.Finding a way to embed the notions of sustainability into your companys DNA so that your board, your C-suite and your broader workforce think and act with it in mind. Once that exists, you can really unleash creative energy. The solutions may need to evolve, but if sustainability is built into your culture, youll be able to respond and adapt.

Are most companies ready for this?

They may not be fully ready, but they're definitely recognizing that this is the next frontier. There's a lot of employee energy around it, and you see that in the world of stakeholder capitalism, employees are first among other constituencies. Customers obviously matter, but employees are driving a lot of what's happening. Theyre more than just activists making companies do stuff. Employers need to think of them as their sustainability resource.

Whats keeping companies from making progress?

One of the barriers is terminology and having a shared understanding of what sustainability is. The lack of common language within a company can be a barrier. You have to have a discussion of what terms are going to be used and what they mean. It seems silly, but if you use certain words, people's eyes glaze over. You want to use terms that people understand and can relate to in their business and frankly, in their human, individual capacities.

The other thing you really need is an environment of trust and collaboration with the board, among the C-suite, and among the employees so you can talk openly about areas that are existing strengths and discuss challenges too.

None of these issues can be addressed by a single function within the company. If you've got trust, collaboration, and a common language, when issues come up, they can be addressed. That doesn't just happen. It takes real work. If you tolerate people who don't collaborate because they do a good job in their own silo, it can derail the entire effort. One senior executive who's not on board can derail an entire organization.

Where do you see the most opportunities as we move forward?

There's an opportunity for entrepreneurswithin and outside of companies. In addition to doing a lot of good for society and the environment, theres a lot of money to be made in both the sustainability field and in risk mitigation. With the massive investment governments are making in climate and the focus on human health, I have a lot of confidence that if you present ESG or sustainability issues as business opportunities you can get a lot of firepower behind them and we can see a lot of progress. Companies need to move beyond their focus on systemic risk mitigation and focus on the alpha in sustainability. If you've got a culture that embraces it, your company will be an innovation engine in sustainability.

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ESG Is the Next Frontier a Conversation With The Conference Board's Paul Washington - Entrepreneur

Do you ever wonder about the goings-on behind the scenes of your favorite soap operas? And for many Americans, inclusivity and diversity matter, especially when it comes to entertainment-related representation. Its important now more than ever for on-screenactorportrayals and off-screen culture to align with a more inclusive perspective, too.

The Young and the Restlesscontinues as one of daytime televisions biggest shows. And inclusivity may play a role in that success. Although it hasnt always been the case,Susan Walters recently applaudedY&Rfor providing a supportive and very inclusive environment. And in her view, its that open-arms atmosphere that allows her to tell Dianes story really well.

Diane Jenkins hasnt made anappearance onY&Rsince 2011. When fans last saw her, she was played by a different actor and left facedown in water with a pretty busted cranium. But strap in because Diane number 2, asSoap Opera Digestcalls her, is coming in with Susan Walters reprising the role.

With more than a decade of ground to make up, and a complex story to weave in bringing Diane Jenkins back, Walters said she was more than ecstatic to jump back in front of the camera. She tells interviewers how much she loves this medium as an actor at her age. Were the moms, attorneys, the doctors. She goes on to say further that these types of characters dont usually have a full life. But in daytime television, they do, and Walters is reveling in her return.

Additionally, Walters talks about the nature of lifeonset ofY&R, citing that its very inclusive. She says everyone on staff has been more than welcoming to her, making it that much more of an adventure to embrace telling Diane Jenkins story the best way she can. She goes on to say, and theres a lot to tell.

While Susan Walters expressed her gratitude and appreciation for the diversity and inclusion among her peers on the set ofY&R, others have cited issues in the past. Taking a closer look at internal policies is common practice today, as executives look for new ways to make a conscious effort to include and involve all people. Looking at the evolution of the storylines on the soap, its clear efforts are being made.

The Young and the Restlesshasnt been afraid to weave diverse characters into their storylines. If youve been a fan of the show for a while, you can probably name a few of your favorite scenes and characters displaying as much. For example, Adam Newman once had a relationship with another man. In another storyline, fans cheered forTessa Porter and Mariah Copeland, preparing to tie the knot.

It wasnt too long ago that the shows producers and Sony took criticism for their lack of inclusivity.Soap Opera Networkreported in 2020 that Victoria Rowell was calling out the executives for systemic racism. She had also been vocal through a series of tweets, pointing out a lack of diversity behind the scenes and on-screen, citing poor Black representation among the actors, in the editing room, and at the executive level.

In 2020,Soaps She Knowsreported that CBS announced plans to address diversity issues in its production bothThe Bold and the Beautifulas well asThe Young and the Restless. The network officially committed it would invest 25% of its script budget to projects by people of color for the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Another mandate would enforce a minimum of 40% BIPOC representation.

For now, Susan Walters feels absolutely at home in her new role and her sentiments could signify a greater movement behind the scenes to embrace a more inclusive environment.

RELATED: The Young and the Restless: Diane and Phyllis Reignite Their Rivalry

Continued here:
Susan Walters Said 'The Young and the Restless' is 'Very Inclusive' - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

When I began to think about writing a mystery, I realized that I had two advantages as a veterinarian. The first was that my profession was already all about solving mysteries. Human physicians have much easier access to a broader range of tests and specialists, and, to make an obvious point, they enjoy the benefit of having patients who can talk. We vets are often forced to approach our medical mysteries with much more limited data and with subjects who are, at times, uncooperative. I cannot think of another profession that parallels detective work as neatly. Just the other day I was presented with a situation where one cat out of three in a household was pooping out of the litterbox, but the owners had no idea who the culprit was. And the cats werent saying. The solution involved rainbow glitter. Ill leave it to your imagination to fill in the blanks.

But its the second advantage that I want to talk about today: veterinarians know animals better than anyone, and animals can be compelling elements in crime fiction.

To begin with, animals can be used to increase the tension in a scene. Which cat owner among us has not had the experience of seeing their cat sitting rigidly, staring at what appears to be nothinga blank wall, a quiet room, an empty chair. Imagine that the detective has received multiple death threats and is taking them seriously this time because two witnesses have already been killed. Its perfectly quiet inside and outside the house. She double checks all the locks and windows and arms the perimeter alarm before getting ready to go to bed. But then she notices that her cat is staring intently down the hall. Maybe its nothing, but maybe its something.

The veterinary explanation for this behavior is that animals live in a completely different sensory environment than we do. They see things we cannot see. They hear things we cannot hear. They smell things we cannot smell. And they sense things we cannot sense. These may not always be important things, but theyre there, nonetheless. Humans arrogantly assume that the reality they perceive is the true and complete version of reality. How can this house not be empty? And this night not be silent? And this air not be odorless? But of course, all of this is just mediated through our senses and is necessarily limited, or we would become overwhelmed by the input. Evolution equipped us with what we needed, no more and no less. Different animals have had different evolutionary needs, and thus their senses are equipped differently, and their experience of the world is different, sometimes very different.

Animals, especially dogs, are also very attuned to peoples emotions, far more so than most humans are. This is because emotional expression is their primary means of communication. We have glossed all of that over with our sophisticated language, yet we still feel a little prickle of discomfort when someones words dont quite match their facial expression. We may only be barely conscious that something is a bit off, so, to our detriment, we trust the words. Dogs, on the other hand, ignore the words, when its not a command directed at them, and only listen to the body language. They are fully conscious of the persons true state and intent regardless of the monkey noises emanating from their mouth.

Picture the detective answering her office door. An unfamiliar man is standing there. He smiles and apologizes for bothering her, but he thinks he might have some useful information. He hopes hes not wasting her time. Can he come in? The detectives dog, a scruffy little terrier, sniffs the mans pant leg and bristles. The dog looks up at the man, takes a couple steps back, and flattens his ears. The man is embarrassed, saying that dogs normally love him. He tries to coax the dog, but the dog is having none of it. Has the dog picked up on something the detective needs to worry about? Or is this a red herring, and theres just a weird smell on his pants?

I also love how animals can be used to humanize people. For years Ive told any veterinary student willing to listen that our job is not an animal job that happens to involve people, but a people job that happens to involve animals. People of all kinds and from all backgrounds own pets, and there is something about being around an animal that encourages people to let their guard down, to be more real, more themselves, more human. The veterinarian is often witness to this transformation, and it is such a heartening thing. I have seen hardened bikers break down sobbing over their dying dog, and I have seen depressed elderly widows beam with delight at the antics of a kitten. Animals are always innocent, and innocence often brings out the best in people.

In crime fiction, this can be used to add depth to a character. Perhaps that detective who at first seemed to be so crusty and aloof and tough does have a soft heart in there somewhere when you see how she dotes on her pet. But it can also be used to throw the readers scent off. Emmanuel Kant said, We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals. I love that quote. In fact, I had it stenciled on the wall above the reception desk in my clinic. But Im sad to have to report to you that it is nave. Adolf Hitler loved his German shepherd, Blondi, and by all accounts treated her extremely well. He was also a vegetarian and used descriptions of the horrors of slaughterhouses to try to persuade the Nazi inner circle to join him. The mind reels. But back to our detective, we can imagine her narrowing down her list of suspects but hesitating because one important suspect was a fellow cat lover. He was so gentle with his cats when she interviewed him at his house. How could such a man be capable of such cruelty to other people? She crosses him off the list. Was she right? Was she wrong?

Finally, and you dont need to be a veterinarian to know this, animals add life and color and depth to any story. A world without them is distinctly lacking. You may not be able to put your finger on what is missing when you read a novel that never mentions an animal, but something is missing. The detective wakes to the sound of sparrows squabbling at the bird feeder. She is shadowed by a crow as she walks through the forest. She startles a rabbit when she sits down to think. She is watched by a deer when she slows down to look at a house. She hears a lonely dog barking across the street. She is greeted by her cat when she comes home. The cat arches its back, purrs, and rubs up against her leg. It doesnt matter what kind of day she had and what sort of bad people she had to deal with; her cat is happy to see her. The detective smiles. Humans are annoying and unreliable and dangerous at times, but her cat is nothing but love.

(If you havent figured out the rainbow glitter, the veterinary detective directs the owners to sprinkle non-toxic glitterit doesnt have to be rainbowon one cats food at a time, a few days apart, until voila, glittery poo reveals the perpetrator.)

***

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A Veterinarian's Perspective on Writing Animals CrimeReads - CrimeReads

Where does Violet Grey fit in? There's a lot to learn from the LA retailers content and community-driven strategy, says Rogers. Exceptional curation has set Violet Grey apart, comments Michelle Kluz, a partner in the consumer practice of global strategy and management consulting firm Kearney. Sephora and Ulta dont have that same level of curation any longer. By virtue of getting large, theyve had to become more mass. By contrast, says that Violet Grey has done an incredible job of tastemaking and creating relevant content.

Luxury beauty brands are excited to sell on Farfetch. Farfetch [has] a sizable audience of the most discerning Gen Z and millennial shoppers, says Alessio Rossi, executive vice president of Shiseido and Cl de Peau Beaut US and head of digital transformation for the Americas at Shiseido. We see an opportunity to create an exciting touchpoint for both existing and new consumers who appreciate design, product performance and are open to testing new ways to experience beauty.

I am always looking for ways to find and service new and existing customers in the most convenient and effective way possible. Farfetch invited me to be a partner skincare brand and I accepted, not because my business needs a new distribution partner, but because I dont like to follow the typical beauty industry marketing playbook, says eponymous founder Dr Barbara Sturm. While the cornerstone of my brand is proven science-backed solutions for skin health and wellness, every product innovation is based on fresh thinking and new ideation.I am excited to find an innovation partner in FarFetch to take my brand message to the next level.

Behind the scenes at Farfetch is a newly formed team including head of beauty Sophie Wayman, who joined the business in January 2021 after senior beauty merchandising roles at Sephora and Net-a-Porter, and Sophia Panych, named as head of beauty content in February after nine years at Cond Nast, most recently as deputy digital beauty director at Allure. Both will focus on reaching millennials and Gen Z shoppers, who already make up a huge percentage of Farfetchs customer base, according to Rogers. A dedicated makeup buying team and in-store beauty specialists have also been recruited at Browns.

Violet Grey founder Cassandra Grey plays a pivotal role in Farfetchs global beauty collective, a committee of industry experts and creative visionaries assembled to educate and inspire through sharing tips, advice and personal beauty stories on Farfetch and their own social media platforms. At launch, they number 16 in total, including makeup artists Erin Parsons and Isamaya Ffrench; hair stylist Jawara Wauchope; dermatologist Michelle Henry; cosmetic chemist Michelle Wong; and drag queen and performer Violet Chachki. Browns has also developed its own beauty community of experts and enthusiasts. These are great people we identify with. We want to be able to utilise their expertise and they also talk to a different consumer, says Browns buying director Ida Petersson.

A global beauty community platform is also being launched, enabling potential customers to create a profile with their age, location and a custom biography detailing skin type, hair texture, skin and hair concerns and makeup and fragrance preferences. Users can leave reviews, post tutorials, provide advice and find inspiration. They can also track community points they have earned, enabling them to achieve three different statuses fan, expert and pro with a variety of benefits and discounts.

Link:
Farfetch wants a slice of the beauty business. Heres how - Vogue Business

Feb 23, 201910 min read

By The Human Origin Project

Consciousness can first be traced back to the Cambrian explosion 520 million years ago. Since then, a fair bit has happened in the evolution of consciousness.

On earth, trillions of organisms have evolved traits to ensure their survival.

None is more mysterious than consciousness.

The brain and neural system is a highly adapted tool that helps organisms interact with the environment. The laws of evolution tell us that traits are adapted to increase the chances of survival of a creature.

Of traits found over the planet, consciousness, is rarely studied in the context of evolution. Human evolution is heavily centered around how our brain enlarged and expanded its function. The origin and very nature of consciousness is a mystery that scientists are yet to truly understand.

In this article, well explore the evolution of consciousness, the human brain, and its associated traits.

Is the tectum the source of the evolution of consciousness?

Consciousness is thought to have evolved during the Cambrian Explosion. This is when vertebrates were tiny wriggling creatures competing with a vast range of invertebrates in the sea.

Fossil and genetic evidence reveal vertebrates evolved around 520 million years ago. Vertebrates are unique from invertebrates due to the presence of a skeleton. The spine or skeletal system is necessary to house a complex immune neural system.

In all vertebrates, the forebrain vesicle initially forms a simple hollow tube. Its the presence of the tectum that separates vertebrates from invertebrates.

All vertebrates fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals have a tectum. Even lampreys have one, which is an ancient, jawless fish.

Tectum means roof in Latin, and it often covers the top of the brain.

It acts as a central controller for attention that coordinates sensory input. Also, it organizes something called overt attention. That helps a creature to aim the satellite dishes of the eyes, ears, and nose toward anything important. It then combines this information together as attention to the environment.

The tectum allowed vertebrates to develop complex neural systems. That then assisted in the evolution of a conscious neural system.

As creatures evolve, brain complexity increases. Evolution has changed the shape and function of the brain.

The reptilian brain compared to mammals lack the outer cerebral cortex. Source

The evolution of consciousness is related to ways that brains become more complex in nature.

The relationship between brain size and body size is highly ordered. In most vertebrates, brain size varies approximately 10-fold. Brain size increases with body size, although this increase is not proportional.

Both birds and mammals have brains that are 610 times larger than the brains of reptiles of the same body size.

An increase in neural centers with an increase in relative brain size allows new functional areas of the brain.

As brains increase their neural centers, they are able to process and transfer far more information.

Its best illustrated in the forebrain, particularly the cerebral hemispheres.

There are more cell classes in the cerebral cortex of a mammal than in the entire neural system of a lamprey. The brain centers where cells classes can be measured with data to include: the cerebellum, the olfactory bulb, and the optic tectum.

Brains use different tools as they evolve and become more complex.

Three evolutionary divisions of the human brain. Human consciousness can be attributed to higher centers in the neocortex.

The neocortex or six-layer cortex appears to be a distinguishing feature of mammals. It is involved in higher functions that are attributed to consciousness. These include sensory perception, generation of motor commands, spatial reasoning, conscious thought, and language.

Variability of brain size and in different animal species. Source

If we look at the human body, the brain is he in relation. According to our body mass, it should be six times smaller than it is. Being this big, it also eats almost 20% of the energy of our body.

Brains also get larger when there is more mental demand. As brains get more complex, stronger mental demand also fuels further growth.

The human brain has a larger and far more expanded neocortex than primate ancestors. As the human brain evolved, it increased in volume from roughly 400cm3 to 1500cm3.

At 1.8 million years ago, Homo erectus was able to create the first bifacial tools. It was a measure of cognitive ability above Australopithecus.

Homo heidelbergensis, existed 650,000 years ago and had a larger brain (cranial capacity of 1,350 cm3) than Homo erectus (brain volume between 800 and 1,200 cm3)

However, it doesnt hold true for all measures of brain function.

Studies have looked at whether the brains of people with higher intellectual abilities are bigger or different in any way. The results showed that for historys greatest thinkers, there appeared to be no anatomic pattern or brain size of intelligence.

Human evolution from primates included a tripling in brain volume mainly in the cerebral cortex.

One question scientists are grappling with is how to classify a creature as conscious or not.

Consciousness is a difficult trait to define. Some characteristics line up with what we consider a creature conscious or not.

Awareness and wakefulness represent the two main components of consciousness. Its a state defined by the content of consciousness, and arousal is defined by the level of consciousness.

Awareness contains self-awareness, which perceives the internal world of thoughts, reflection, imagination, emotions, and daydreaming. There is also external awareness, which sees the outside world with the help of the five senses.

Its known that non-human animals have the substrates of conscious states. They can also exhibit intentional behaviors. The weight of evidence indicates that human neural systems are not unique in generating consciousness.

Non-human animals classed to have evolved consciousness include all mammals and birds, and many other creatures. These include octopuses who possess intelligent neural systems.

Evolved consciousness may be attributed to nonhuman primates, social carnivores, cetaceans, rodents, and birds.

Beyond wakefulness and awareness, certain human traits have evolved in the path of consciousness.

Nearly all creatures have language and communication. Human brains, however, have developed areas equipped for complex language. It is perhaps the most recent and big leap in the evolution of consciousness.

Its unknown when human language first evolved. We know that it was present 70 thousand years ago. This was when its thought that people began to disperse around the world. Language began to diversify and spread to the vast amount that we see today.

The relationship between language and consciousness is often debated. One big advance for humans is that when complex language developed. From then, consciousness could be discussed and compared amongst other people.

Consciousness is often associated with intelligence. There is no universally accepted definition of intelligence. One is the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend ideas and language, and learn.

However, intelligence can be argued to have evolved independently among the animal kingdom. In evolutionary terms, its named convergent evolution. Intelligence and consciousness are measured in birds, dolphins, and other mammals.

Intelligence is found in environmental, spatial learning, and foraging strategies in insects. Its also used for social learning in certain fish and remarkable in spatial orientation and navigation in birds.

For humans, the evolution of hominid intelligence can be traced for the past 10 million years. Its thought specific environment changes allowed the perfect learning environments in primates.

The situation a brain is placed in does seem to matter. For example, not all primates evolve higher intelligence. There are primate species which have not evolved any greater degree of intelligence than they had 10 million years ago. Its thought that their particular environment has not demanded this specific adaptation of them.

Amongst primates, high general intelligence has independently evolved at least four times. These include in capuchins, baboons, macaques, and great apes.

Its unknown exactly why intelligence seems to develop in some species, and not others.

The idea of right and wrong is something that mainly exists within human consciousness. Humans bring together sensations, thoughts, and intentions, which feed to an inner judgment process.

Science has struggled to measure these tools of consciousness. It is improbable that science would ever be able to explain why there are brain events that equate to morality or a conscience.

Regarding the timeline of evolution, conscience develops much later. Its the logical combination of morals and ethics that guide thought process and action. Conscience is not a feeling or an emotion, more like an inner choice which reflects a value system.

Morality does evolve with cultural experience. For example, by observing your elders and people around. Once you get to know the consequences of any action, you make judgments in your head whether something is right or not. The decision can be influenced by observing punishment. If something was punished, it must be wrong. If it was appreciated or rewarded its a good thing to do.

The conscience appears in separate environmental situations. Amongst the global cultural conscience evolutions, it appears that morality has properties that convergently evolve.

For example, in cultures of Eskimos, Japanese, Africans, Asians, Europeans, North Americans there are distinct differences in environmental evolution. However, all cultures know and agree on some basic concepts regarding morality.

Arguably the latest step in the evolution of consciousness was that of human creativity. Imagination appears in the gap between the first appearance of our species some 100,000 years ago. Then a creative explosion some 60 000 years later. This included cultural, technological and artistic change which took place across human populations.

It may be the most striking species-specific feature of consciousness on earth.

Creativity relies on the mental ability to build pretense or to pretend. It seems that its in place from at least the advent of language. The most obvious place its observed is the frequent pretend play in childhood served to practice and enhance creative abilities.

Creativity may have been selected for due to its relationship to problem-solving in adults. Our ancestors with the most creative brains could have solved problems that enhanced this survival.

In childhood, pretend play and imagination is a known human trait. It may be that childhood imagination helps to mimic adult behavior which allows children to develop faster.

Later, in human art and literature, consciousness is attributed to characters in a story. That may be puppets and dolls, storms, rivers, empty spaces, ghosts, and gods.

Justin Barrett explains creativity as the Hyperactive Agency Detection Device or HADD. One speculation is that its better to be safe than sorry. If the wind rustles the grass and you misinterpret it as a lion, no harm done. But if you fail to detect an actual lion, youre taken out of the gene pool.

Many argue that creativity goes way beyond detecting predators. Its a consequence of our hyper-social nature. Evolution turned up the amplitude on our tendency to model others, and now were supremely attuned to each others mental states. It gives us our adaptive edge. One downside could be taking up energy detecting of false positives.

1920th-century philosophy of language described intention as a linguistic function. The bias has been criticized in contemporary philosophy, e.g., in the work of Ruth Millikan relating meaning with proper biological functions.

The idea of intentionality may occur without language or consciousness. It can be unconscious, for instance when we are hungry we pay more attention to what may possibly be food. This is an unconscious mechanism driving conscious attention.

Some have argued that imagination is necessary for consciousness, others argue that its not. Thnk constructing maps of the body and environment that is essential for conscious activity. What may be crucial is the presentational aspect of imagination; it could be involved in the self-consciousness process.

In ancient texts, the idea of higher states or evolved states of consciousness is discussed. Technology has allowed the progression of consciousness and may be what philosophers were discussing.

In the last decades, the advent of computers and technology have allowed us to extend human consciousness.

Today, your smartphone, for example, is an extension of your consciousness. Our school and university courses are stored digitally, as well as ideas and everyday activities.

The internet and connectivity to this human consciousness database is arguably the next step in the evolution of the human mind. The future direction is the understanding between quantum mechanics of the brain and dimensions beyond the three-dimensional world.

Human consciousness has taken a long winding path in its evolutionary path. While answers are yet to be fully clarified, consciousness remains a part of the human origin story.

Where it leads us? Well have to think of that ourselves.

Now its up to you. What do you think about the evolution of consciousness? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

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How Did The Evolution of Consciousness Happen? | by The Human ...

bySteve Pavlina:In the bookPower vs. Force by David R. Hawkins, theres a hierarchy of levels ofhumanconsciousness

Its an interesting paradigm. If you read the book, its also fairly easy to figure out where you fall on this hierarchy based on your currentlifesituation.

From low to high, thelevels of consciousnessare: shame, guilt, apathy, grief,fear, desire,anger, pride, courage, neutrality, willingness, acceptance, reason,love, joy,peace,enlightenment.

While wecanpopin and out of different levels at various times, usually theres a predominant normal state for us. If yourereadingthis blog, chances are youre at least at the level of courage because if you were at alowerlevel, youd likely have noconsciousinterest in personal growth.

Ill go over these levels in order, mostly focusing on the ones between courage and reason, since thats the range where youre most likely toland. The labels are Hawkins. The descriptions of each level are based on Hawkins descriptions but blended with my own thoughts. Hawkins defines this as a logarithmic scale, so there are far fewerpeopleat the higher levels than at the lower ones. An increase from one level to another will result in enormous change in your life.

Shame Just a step abovedeath. Youre probably contemplating suicide at this level. Either that or youre a serial killer. Think of this asself-directed hatred.

Guilt A step above shame, but you still may be having thoughts of suicide. You think of yourself as a sinner, unable to forgive yourself for past transgressions.

Apathy Feeling hopeless or victimized. The state of learned helplessness. Many homeless people are stuck here.

Grief A state of perpetual sadness and loss. You might drop down here after losing a loved one.Depression. Still higher than apathy, since youre beginning to escape the numbness.

Fear Seeing the world as dangerous and unsafe.Paranoia. Usually youll need help to rise above this level, or youll remain trapped for a longtime, such as in an abusiverelationship.

Desire Not to be confused with setting and achieving goals, this is the level ofaddiction, craving, and lust formoney, approval,power, fame, etc. Consumerism. Materialism. This is the level of smoking and drinking and doing drugs.

Anger the level of frustration, often from not having your desires met at the lower level. This level can spur you to action at higher levels, or it can keep you stuck in hatred. In an abusive relationship, youll oftenseean anger person coupled with a fear person.

Pride The first level where you start to feel good, but its a false feeling. Its dependent on external circumstances (money, prestige, etc), so its vulnerable. Pride canleadto nationalism, racism, and religious wars. Think Nazis. A state of irrational denial and defensiveness. Religious fundamentalism is also stuck at this level. You become so closely enmeshed in yourbeliefsthat you see an attack on your beliefs as an attack on you.

Courage The first level of true strength. Ive made a previous post about this level:Courage is the Gateway. This is where you start to see life as challenging and exciting instead of overwhelming. You begin to have an inkling of interest in personal growth, although at this level youll probably call it something else like skill-building, career advancement,education, etc. You start to see your future as an improvement upon your past, rather than a continuation of the same.

Neutrality This level is epitomized by the phrase, live and let live. Its flexible, relaxed, and unattached. Whatever happens, you roll with the punches. You dont have anything to prove. You feel safe and get along well with other people. A lot of self-employed people are at this level. A very comfortable place. The level of complacency and laziness. Youre taking care of your needs, but you dont push yourself too hard.

Willingness Now that youre basically safe and comfortable, you start using yourenergymore effectively. Just getting by isnt good enough anymore. You begin caring about doing a goodjob perhaps even your best. You think about time management andproductivityand getting organized, things that werent so important to you at the level of neutrality. Think of this level as the development of willpower and self-discipline. These people are the troopers of society; they get things done well and dont complain much. If youre inschool, then youre a really good student; you take your studies seriously and put in the time to do a good job. This is the point where your consciousness becomes more organized and disciplined.

Acceptance Now apowerfulshifthappens, and you awaken to the possibilities oflivingproactively. At the level of willingness youve become competent, and now you want to put yourabilitiesto good use. This is the level of setting and achieving goals. I dont like the label acceptance that Hawkins uses here, but it basically meansthat you begin accepting responsibility for your role in the world. If something isnt right about your life (your career, yourhealth, your relationship), you define your desired outcome and change it. You start to see the big picture of your life more clearly. This level drives many people to switch careers, start a new business, or change their diets.

Reason At this level you transcend the emotional aspects of the lower levels and begin to think clearly and rationally. Hawkins defines this as the level ofmedicineandscience. The way I see it, when you reach this level, you become capable of using your reasoning abilities to their fullest extent. You now have the discipline and the proactivity to fully exploit yournaturalabilities. Youve reached the point where you say, Wow. I can do all this stuff, and I know I must put it to good use. Sowhats the best use of my talents? You take a look around the world and start making meaningful contributions. At the very high end, this is the level ofEinstein and Freud. Its probably obvious that most people never reach this level in their entire lives.

Love I dont like Hawkins label love here because this isnt the emotion of love. Its unconditional love, a permanent understanding of your connectedness with all that exists. Think compassion. At the level of reason, you live in service to your head. But that eventually becomes a dead end where you fall into the trap of over-intellectualizing. You see that you need a bigger context than just thinking for its own sake. At the level of love, you now place your head and all your other talents and abilities in service to your heart (not your emotions, but your greater sense of right and wrong your conscience). I see this as the level of awakening to your true purpose. Your motives at this level are pure and uncorrupted by the desires of the ego. This is the level of lifetime service to humanity. Think Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Dr. Albert Schweitzer. At this level you also begin to be guided by a force greater than yourself. Its a feeling of letting go. Your intuition becomes extremely strong. Hawkins claims this level is reached only by 1 in 250 people during their entire lifetimes.

Joy A state of pervasive, unshakablehappiness.Eckhart Tolledescribes this state inThe Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. The level of saints and advancedspiritualteachers. Just being around people at this level makes you feel incredible. At this level life is fully guided bysynchronicityand intuition. Theres no more need to set goals and make detailed plans the expansion of your consciousness allows you to operate at a much higher level. A near-death experience can temporarily bump you to this level.

Peace Total transcendence. Hawkins claims this level is reached only by one person in 10 million.

Enlightenment The highest level of human consciousness, where humanity blends with divinity. Extremely rare. The level of Krishna,Buddha, and Jesus. Even just thinking about people at this level canraise your consciousness.

I think youllfindthis model worthy of reflection. Not only people but also objects, events, and whole societies can be ranked at these levels. Within your own life, youll see that some parts of your life are at different levels thanothers, but you should be able to identify your current overall level. You might be at the level of neutrality overall but still be addicted to smoking (level of desire). The lower levels you find within yourself will serve as a drag that holds the rest of youback. But youll also find higher levels in your life. You may be at the level of acceptance and read a book at the level of reason and feel really inspired. Think about the strongest influences in your life right now. Which onesraiseyour consciousness? Which ones lower it?

One thing I like about these levels of consciousness is that I can trace back over my own life and see how Ive been moving through them. I remember being stuck at the level of guilt for a long time as achildI was indoctrinated into a belief system where I was a helpless sinner, being judged according to the standards of someone at the level of love or higher. From there I graduated to the state of apathy, feeling numb to the whole thing. By high school I had reached the level of pride I was a straight-A student, captain of the Academic Decathlon team, showered with accolades and awards, but I became dependent on them. I hit the level of Courage in my late teens, but the courage was very unfocused, and I overdid it and got myself into all sorts of trouble. I then spent about a year in neutrality and moved through willingness and acceptance during my 20s with a lot of conscious effort. At present Im at the level of reason and getting closer and closer to completing the leap to love. I experience the state of love more and more often, and its guiding many of my decisions already, but it hasnt yet stuck as my natural state. Ive also experienced the state of joy for days at a time, but never with any permanence yet. That state is a pervasive feeling of natural euphoria, as if Im exploding on the inside withpositiveenergy. It literally forces me to smile. Ive been in that state for most of this morning, probably because I havent eaten anything yet today (I find it easier to hit that state of consciousness when I eat lightly or not at all).

Well naturally fluctuate between multiple states throughout the course of any given week, so youll probably see a range of3-4levels where you spend most of your time. One way to figure out your natural state is to think about how you perform under pressure. If you squeeze anorange, you get orange juice because thats whats inside. What comes out of you when you get squeezed by external events? Do you become paranoid and shut down (fear)? Do you start yelling at people (anger)? Do you become defensive (pride)? What happens to me under pressure is that I become hyper-analytical, but recently I just had a pressure situation where I handled it mostly by intuition, which was a big change for me. This tells me Im getting close to the unconditional love state because in that state, intuition can be effectively accessed even under pressure.

Everything in your environment will have aneffecton your level of consciousness.TV. Movies.Books. Web sites. People. Places. Objects.Food. If youre at the level of reason, watching TV news (which is predominantly at the levels of fear and desire) will temporarily lower your consciousness. If youre at the level of guilt, TV news will actually raise it up.

Progressing from one level to the next requires an enormous amount of energy. I wrote about this previously when discussingquantum leaps. Without conscious effort or the help of others, youll likely just stay at your current level until some outside force comes into your life.

Notice the natural progression of levels, and consider what happens when you try to short-cut the process. If you try to reach the level of reason before mastering self-discipline (willingness) and goal-setting (acceptance), youll be too disorganized and unfocused to use yourmindto its full extent. If you try to push yourself to the level of love before youve mastered reason, youll suffer from gullibility and may end up in a cult.

Going up even one level can be extremely hard; most people dont do so in their entire lives. A change in just one level can radically alter everything in your life. This iswhypeople below the level of courage arent likely to progress without external help. Courage is required toworkon this consciously; it comes down to repeatedly betting your wholerealityfor the chance to become more conscious and aware. But whenever you reach that next level, you realize clearly that it was a good bet. For example, when you hit the level of courage, all your past fears and false pride seem silly to you now. When you reach the level of acceptance (setting and achieving goals), you look back on the level of willingness and see you were like a mouse running on a treadmill you were a good runner, but you didnt pick a direction.

I think the most important work we can do as human beings is to raise our individual level of consciousness. When we do this, we spread higher levels of consciousness to everyone around us. Imagine what an incredible world this would be if we could at least get everyone to the level of acceptance. According to Hawkins 85% of the people onearthlive below the level of courage.

When you temporarily experience the higher levels, you can see where you must go next. You have one of those moments of clarity where you understand that things have to change. But when you sink into the lower levels, that memory becomes clouded.

We have to keep consciously taking ourselves back to the sources that can help us complete the next leap. Each step requires different solutions. I recall when making the shift from neutrality to willingness, I listened to time management tapes almost everyday. I immersed myself in sources created by people at the level of willingness until I eventually shifted. But a book on time management will be of little use to someone whos at the level of pride; theyll reject the very notion with a lot of defensiveness. And time management is meaningless to someone at the level of peace. But you cant hit the higher levels if you havent mastered the basics first. Jesus was a carpenter. Gandhi was a lawyer. Buddha was a prince. We all have to start somewhere.

Look at this hierarchy with an open mind and see if it leads you to new insights that may help you take the next leap in your own life. No levels are any more right or wrong than others. Try not to get your ego wrapped up in the idea of being at any particular level, unless youre currently at the level of pride of course.

Source: Body Mind Soul Spirit

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Levels Of Consciousness - David R. Hawkins | Awaken

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Marx is one of the most important of all Socialist thinkers. One of his greatest sociological insights centered on the thought that social class was the deciding principle of social life. Much of his work focused on the plight of the working class, and he felt it imperative that the class structure of society be changed. In Marx's view, the relationship between people was determined primarily through who controlled the mode of economic production, such as land or factories. The land, resources, and factories were controlled and owned by the wealthy citizens; thus, the working class had little choice but to work according to the terms dictated by the upper, controlling class. For this reason, Marx detested the concept and practice of capitalism; he felt that it only allowed the rich to become richer and the poor to become poorer.

Marx saw the exploitation of the working class as a catalyst for change. He felt that the capitalistic system of the time could and should be destroyed, and Marx called for a revolution by the working-class members. However, before the revolution could occur, Marx felt that the working class first needed to develop what is known as class consciousness. This is a subjective awareness of common vested interests and the need for collective political action to bring about social change. Simply put, the workers needed to see themselves as one unit and, together, could revolt and change their working conditions.

There was one stumbling block to Marx's hope of a working-class revolution, and that was the fact that the working class did not see themselves as one unit, but individually, in terms of 'I' and 'me.' This is known as false consciousness. A false consciousness is an attitude held by members of a class that does not accurately reflect their objective position. Basically, workers would see themselves as 'I,' as in 'I am being exploited by my boss,' rather than 'we:' 'We are being exploited by our boss.' Marx's revolution to end capitalism and bring down the wealthy controlling class would not come to light as long as the working class was viewing life through a false consciousness.

While Marx hoped for revolutions in large industrial countries, such as Britain and Germany, smaller ones occurred in Russia and China. Many factors that Marx did not foresee may be the very reason the revolutions did not occur - factors such as the development of labor unions and political ideologies teaching people that they controlled their destinies within their circumstances. Nor did Marx see the rise of Communism, which gave government complete control. To date, Marx's political vision has not been seen; however, his economic theory of the gap between the wealthy and the poor growing larger has never been truer than today.

Karl Marx is one of the greatest socialistic thinkers of all time. His works and his ideas influence those in a variety of arenas, such as historians, economists, sociologists, political scientists and more. His writings were seen by many as radical, and he was expelled from his homeland of Germany and other countries throughout his life. Karl Marx felt that one's social class dictated one's social life and that those who owned the modes of production - land, resources, factories, businesses, etc. - would be the ruling social class, which controlled the lower working class.

Marx focused a great deal on the exploitation of the working class by the wealthier controlling classes of society. He had hoped for the working class to revolt against the ruling class to create an equal collective-type society. However, before this could happen, Marx stated that the workers needed to overcome their false consciousness (their thinking in terms of 'I' and 'me') and reach a thinking of class consciousness (thinking in terms of 'we' and 'us').

Marx's revolutions did not occur on the grand scale that he had hoped for, but many of his economic theories are being proven, even in today's society. He is seen as one of the greatest contributors to the study of sociology.

This lesson on Karl Marx should help you to:

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Karl Marx: Theory of Class Consciousness and False ...

One example of a sci-fi struggle to define AI consciousness isAMC's "Humans" (Tues. 10/9c starting June 5). At this point in the series, human-like machines called Synths have become self-aware; as they band together in communities to live independent lives and define who they are, they must also battle for acceptance and survival against the hostile humans who created and used them.

But what exactly might "consciousness" mean for artificial intelligence (AI) in the real world, and how close is AI to reaching that goal? [IntelligentMachines to Space Colonies: 5 Sci-Fi Visions of the Future]

Philosophers have described consciousness as having a unique sense of self coupled with an awareness of what's going on around you. And neuroscientists have offered their own perspective on how consciousness might be quantified, through analysis of a person's brain activity as it integrates and interprets sensory data.

However, applying those rules to AI is tricky. In some ways, the processing abilities of AI are not unlike those that take place in human brains. Sophisticated AI systems use a process called deep learning to solve computational tasks quickly, using networks of layered algorithms that communicate with each other to solve more and more complex problems.

It's a strategy very similar to that of our own brains, where information speeds across connections between neurons. In a neural network, deep learning enables AI to teach itself how to identify disease, win a strategy game against the best human player in the world, or write a pop song.

But to accomplish these feats, any neural network still relies on a human programmer setting the tasks and selecting the data for it to learn from. Consciousness for AI would mean that neural networks could make those initial choices themselves, "deviating from the programmers' intentions and doing their own thing," Edith Elkind, a professor of computing science at the University of Oxford in the U.K., told Live Science in an email.

"Machines will become conscious when they start to set their own goals and act according to these goals rather than do what they were programmed to do," Elkind said.

"This is different from autonomy: Even a fully autonomous car would still drive from A to B as told," she added.

One of the pitfalls for machines becoming self-aware is that consciousness in humans is not well-defined enough, which would make it difficult if not impossible for programmers to replicate such a state in algorithms for AI, researchers reported in a study published in October 2017 in the journal Science.

The scientists defined three levels of human consciousness, based on the computation that happens in the brain. The first, which they labeled "C0," represents calculations that happen without our knowledge, such as during facial recognition, and most AI functions at this level, the scientists wrote in the study.

The second level, "C1," involves a so-called "global" awareness of information in other words, actively sifting and evaluating quantities of data to make an informed, deliberate choice in response to specific circumstances.

Self-awareness emerges in the third level, "C2," in which individuals recognize and correct mistakes and investigate the unknown, the study authors reported.

"Once we can spell out in computational terms what the differences may be in humans between conscious and unconsciousness, coding that into computers may not be that hard," study co-author Hakwan Lau, a UCLA neuroscientist, previously told Live Science.

To a certain extent, some types of AI can evaluate their actions and correct them responsively a component of the C2 level of human consciousness. But don't expect to meet self-aware AI anytime soon, Elkind said in the email.

"While we are quite close to having machines that can operate autonomously (self-driving cars, robots that can explore an unknown terrain, etc.), we are very far from having conscious machines," Elkind said.

So, for now, if you want to see "conscious" AI in action, you can watch the Synths vie for their rights in "Humans." The third season debuts June 5 at 10/9c.

Editor's Note:This feature is the first of a three-part series of articles related to AMC's "Humans."

Original article on Live Science.

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Will AI Ever Become Conscious? | Live Science