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15.2
What do we mean by "self aware" and "self aware life"?
  
  As introduced in the previous section, our understanding and knowledge of the similarities of humans to other animals has greatly advanced. We can now categorize similarities on a number of fronts from genetic code similarities, behavioral similarities, community similarities, language, technology and intelligence (IQ).  
  But what do we mean by the words "self aware"? In order to establish a common platform from which to discuss the notion of self aware life, UCA defines self aware life as:  
 

those complex forms of matter that have the capacity to dream, to project their own reality onto the world and self reflect, to display emotions. Principally on Earth, this represents the placentals, the most advanced of all lifeforms (usually called mammals).

  
  It is on the basis of this definition that we may compare similarities between lifeforms on planet Earth to establish exactly which ones qualify to be categorized as self-aware life.  
15.2.1 Physical intelligence systems  
  When we talk of self aware life, we are talking of triple neural lifeforms on planet Earth- the vertebrates and principally the placentals (mammals). These lifeforms have the most advanced neural network systems. Therefore, we can reliably use the structure and complexity of brain systems to categorize self-aware life on planet Earth.  
15.2.2 Dreaming  
  Dreaming is the effect of simulating a world in motion and different to the world you are, when in fact your body is at a period of rest. It is the most powerful example of a sophisticated brain and is a fundamental component to any contemporary theory of mind.  
  The example of dreaming is recognized as an excellent measure of determining self aware life forms.  
15.2.3 Conscious driven thought  
  We have discussed the will of UCA- as expressed in the fundamental 12 laws of creation. I WISH TO EXIST. We have also expressed this in the context of all matter. But what of conscious free will- the ability to initiate consciously chosen motion- to discern, to judge, to calculate?  
  While the philosophical field of consciousness and sentience is full of long written essays and arguments, it is recognized that consciousness thought, and the expressions of conscious emotions- of wants and needs is an excellent marker and distinction of self-aware life- "I am aware that I am".  
15.2.3 Biological or mechanical?  
  We use computers every day to perform increasingly complex tasks. Yet our contemporary view is that they are dead, devoid of the lifeform, that special essence that distinguishes living from non-living.  
  But as we have shown, the distinction between biologic machines and other machines made of carbon and silicon composites, differs only by the skill of construction. Human nano-technology is still crude in comparison to cellular machines structured in nature. Possibly in the future, humans will harness the most efficient biologic shape changers of the living kingdom (virus) to modify cells.  
  In our culture, the concept of machines that are self aware is recognized in famous films such as 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. In contemporary culture, we define this as Artificial Intelligence or AI.  
  Therefore the substance from which a machine is principally made, nor how it was made can represent a distinction of self-aware life. It might very well be, that super machines as envisaged by David Zindel in the Epic Series a Requiem for Homo Sapiens that vast arrays of silicon moons constituting a galactic super computer intelligence may exist in some part of the Universe.  
     
 
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