What reason is there to believe some things are conscious and not others?

… and …

Every cell in the body does what neurons do, meaning if brains produce consciousness your liver and your gut and your toe well might, too.

… and …

Somewhere back in the mists of time, some tens of thousands of years ago, the entire human species mutated and developed the capacity for symbolic thought. Art and religion happened, language evolved (and much later took on written forms like this). The archaeos sometimes refer to this as the Great Leap Forward, and say it happened about fifty thousand years before present–okay, maybe. Other people will tell you that God did it to us (see the book of Genesis), or the Aliens were responsible (see 2001: A Space Odyssey).

But if not, why did the evolutionary process make that sharp left turn?

Maybe the most profound question ever.

Also in this episode: what is hypnodermatology, and why do real doctors take it with utter seriousness?