I don’t know if we need to treat these basic concepts as “metaphors.” I think of them more neutrally as models that can have various uses. We try to explain patterns with our mental tools.

What I’m doing here is just suggesting that whereas we usually think our mind is the main tool-user, perhaps we should think of our brain as occupying that position, in which case the mental selves we identify with are more like vehicles or some other technology (programs or systems of control) that were developed over a long period of psychological and social evolution in the Stone Age.

But yes, there must have been some transition from awareness to self-awareness. What I’m saying, though, is that we’re not aware of our true inner self (the brain) since we don’t perceive that tool-using self directly. Our sense organs are mostly pointed outwards. What we’re aware of internally is our mental self, and we identify with that seemingly immaterial entity, which may turn out to be the brain’s primary tool or system of communication, self-modification, and control.

Your book looks like interesting but pretty complicated and academic. Could you perhaps summarize how it breaks new ground in arguing for the importance of critical thinking?