10 The Conscious Brain The contrast between Bene and I in the last chapter shows us a variety of distinctive features of the human brain. I have pointed out several times that most of the (head) brain is composed of modules that process data and make decisions for reasons humans do not consciously know. These modules are encapsulated (sealed off ) from the conscious part of the brain. The conscious part of the brain contains six systems. One is the Interpreter. The Interpreter uses whatever overt information it has to compose stories and explanations about what we have done or felt. These stories and explanations are often inaccurate, sometimes wildly so, for two reasons. First, we have no conscious access to a great deal of what goes on in our unconscious brain modules and in all the biological and chemical processes going on inside and around us, all of which affect us deeply. This means we are unaware of a good deal of information about why we acted or felt as we did. Second, as I have argued earlier, humans are not tropic to truth. They care much more whether their stories and explanations give them comfort and make them feel that things make sense and happened for a reason than they do about simple truth (accuracy). Simple factual © The Author(s) 2020 J. P. Gee, What Is a Human?, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50382-6_10 95