"The last leap to the cortex is crucial, because this wrinkly top layer of the brain is believed to be the organ of consciousness, the generator of awareness of ourselves and things not ourselves (like a surgeon’s knife). Before nerve fibers extending from the thalamus have penetrated the cortex — connections that are not made until the beginning of the third trimester — there can be no consciousness and therefore no experience of pain."
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Paul, Annie (10 February 2008). "The First Ache". The New York Times Magazine.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Consciousness
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Consciousness
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