# Without self-reference it would seem immeasurably harder to achieve self-consciousness by Marvin Minsky > "Without self-reference it would seem immeasurably harder to achieve self-consciousness." > **— Marvin Minsky**, *Jokes and their Relation to the Cognitive Unconscious (1980)* Verification Status: Unverified — exact wording/source has not yet been independently confirmed against a primary source; source clue: Jokes and their Relation to the Cognitive Unconscious (1980).