Human perception involves multimodal sensory integration - sight, sound, smell, touch, taste - which, depending upon circumstance, allows us to make meaningful representations of the world around us.
Each sensory mechanism comes at an energy cost. It is therefore expressed to greater or lesser degree - or not at all, defined by a species or individual's ecological niche.
Senses are innate, but clearly involve learning mechanisms. Attention is part of the energy rationing system - chemical (glucose) and the computational rationing system (combinatorial explosion management).
Reverse engineering human multimodal sensory integration may be useful in localizing the "Master Algorithm". It may also create superintelligence risks that might be mitigated by only "partial deployment" of capabilities.
