What is "Mind?"

Similarly, as has been suggested way up thread, there is no "mind," it is just our description of the behavior of our brain.

...from more fundamental ingredients.

This Vedāntic explanation that unitary Supreme Cognizant Being is the source of everything is founded on 2 scientifically verifiable axiomatic facts:
(1) Life comes from Life, and
(2) Matter comes from Life.

...species farther down the tree..."

the point at which "we" branched is "further down the tree" but we all occupy the here and now, all successful so far.
That is really the only measure.

down-tree and toward the root

Materialists and spiritualists will disagree.

I actually think this mischaracterizes both evolution and "celestial mechanics."

In both, there is an overarching theoretical organizing principle. These principles serve to "explain" the bulk phenomena of the respective sciences.


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The perihelion shift of Mercury's orbit was a well-known failure of "celestial mechanics" in the late 19th century. This failure is "righted" by using general relativity, as Einstein famously did, explaining how the Newtonian theory got it "wrong".


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there are a number of "predictions" that can be made from the "modern synthesis" (which goes beyond Darwin's original theory).

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I think we have more than "a clue" what will happen to life on the planet, though we cannot predict with microscopic precision (yet) how life will respond to the current changes.

Let's go over a few predictions that we can test:
1. We will not find a biological organism on this planet that is not based on the DNA molecule.
2. We will never discover a plant that has anything like the self-reflective consciousness of a human.
3. If a chimpanzee and a human could mate, they cannot produce offspring.
4. We will never identify human remains greater than 1 million years.
5. We will never identify a dinosaur younger than about 65 millions years.
6. We will never identify civilization in the lineage that includes turtles.
7. We will never discover trilobites in the geological record past the end of the Paleozoic.
8. We will never be able to claim victory over our mortal enemies -- microbes and viruses

To understand human behavior, it is not wrong to look for evolutionary hints. Like all science, eventual rigor is important for drawing conclusions; speculation and conjecture just the trailhead for adventure.

She’s claiming that everything can be explained almost entirely by the brain (neuroscience).