ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the neural mechanisms underlying choice-making, including how the brain selects between options, perceives needs and communicates those needs emotionally and linguistically to the conscious mind. Scientists have to completely understand how the brain weighs all the welter of incoming signals, ultimately making the choices it does. A key premise of Edelman's theory of Neuronal Group Selection is that the basic organization of the brain, the way neurons are connected and function, is through a process of selective coupling of mechanical and chemical processes on a molecular scale. Teresa's narrative reveals dozens of conflicts between competing signals. Historically philosophers and social scientists assumed that choice-making was an inherently rational process. Most human choices and actions represent a blend of Well-Being Systems, often representing some combination of the seven modalities of Well-Being. Consciousness appears to have gone into hyper-evolution in humans, currently dominating how humans perceive the world.
