Conscious Robots: Facing Up to the Reality of Being Human

Science tells us that being human isn't quite the way it seems: we're not just humans, we're also machines... created by millions of years of evolution for the purpose of spreading our genes around the planet. But how can we be machines when we appear to have the ability to control our own lives And if we are machines, is it a problem Does it mean we're not living the lives we would choose to Seeing ourselves as 'Conscious Robots' doesn't sound like a lot of fun. But facing up to the reality of being human has surprising benefits: once we understand the mechanism by which our choices are controlled we see why it's so difficult to lead the happy, contended lives we've always promised ourselves.