Science & Technology

Does human intelligence stem from a connection to 'the other side' ?

By T.K. Randall
September 4, 2026

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) The precise means with which our brains evolved sentient intelligence remains one of the most puzzling unanswered problems of the modern age.

One theory that attempts to explain this is being championed by psychologist Robert Epstein, founder and director emeritus of the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology.

He argues that, around 50,000 years ago, humans brains evolved the ability to connect to another dimension - or "the other side" as he calls it - through which we gained everything from the ability to dream to self-awareness and consciousness.

This would have given our ancestors a major evolutionary advantage.This idea, known as neural transduction theory (NTT), puts forward the motion that the brain acts as a transducer that connects us to this "other side" and makes sentient awareness possible.

Other animals, including modern apes and primates, never made that connection.

There are some issues with this theory, however, such as the fact that nobody seems to know exactly what this "other side" might actually be or how our brains connect to it.

We also don't know where this proposed transducer actually is inside the brain.

Even so, it's an interesting idea, and given the lack of any better explanation at present, it could very well be that Epstein has found an answer to one of the biggest mysteries in modern science.

Source: Popular Mechanics

Tags: Brain, Human