Is a rock conscious?

Creationism, Evolution, and other science issues

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Swami
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Is a rock conscious?

Post #1

Post by Swami »

Contrary to popular belief, I view consciousness as being a simple phenomena rather than arising from a complex system. Here are my reasons:

1. Consciousness can exist as pure awareness state (without thought, emotions, forms, etc.) which is a state I reach during meditation. You can have one without the other!
2. Simple forms of life (no complex brain needed), e.g. plants and fish, possess consciousness.
3. Experience. This goes back to point 1 and how I perceived reality while in a pure conscious state. All matter is simply a manifestation of an indivisible field of Consciousness. Read more: Using field research (Meditation) to discover Consciousness.

When Danmark asks how a rock is conscious I think that he's supposing that it could only be conscious if it has feelings, processes information from sensory receptors, etc. But again, consciousness does not have to exist with all of these things. It comes in degrees; its most basic form is pure awareness. Consciousness exists and is expressed differently between awake humans and those in vegetative state or between fish and plants or computers and rocks. It seems scientists do not know where to draw the line when it comes to where consciousness exists.

One label for my view is "panpsychism". Here's a good article explains it:
Consciousness permeates reality. Rather than being just a unique feature of human subjective experience, it’s the foundation of the universe, present in every particle and all physical matter.

This sounds like easily-dismissible bunkum, but as traditional attempts to explain consciousness continue to fail, the “panpsychist� view is increasingly being taken seriously by credible philosophers, neuroscientists, and physicists, including figures such as neuroscientist Christof Koch and physicist Roger Penrose.

The materialist viewpoint states that consciousness is derived entirely from physical matter. It’s unclear, though, exactly how this could work.

Dualism holds that consciousness is separate and distinct from physical matter

Panpsychism offers an attractive alternative solution: Consciousness is a fundamental feature of physical matter; every single particle in existence has an “unimaginably simple� form of consciousness, says Goff. These particles then come together to form more complex forms of consciousness, such as humans’ subjective experiences. This isn’t meant to imply that particles have a coherent worldview or actively think, merely that there’s some inherent subjective experience of consciousness in even the tiniest particle.
Quartz article.

Given that consciousness can exist or function in a simple form, then what proof is there to show that consciousness is limited to mammals? Why not fish, plants, computers, and other inanimate matter? Perhaps you don't know?

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SkyChief
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Post #61

Post by SkyChief »

“If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it still make a sound?"

This age-old question can have only two possible answers - YES or NO.

Only one answer can be correct because they are completely opposite each other.

From a philosophical/spiritual standpoint, the answer is NO. If nobody can hear the sound of the tree falling, then it made no sound.

From a scientific/critical thinking standpoint, the answer is YES. What is sound but vibrations through a medium (in this case air)?

When the tree fell, the air molecules vibrated and a sound WAS produced. Whether anybody was withing earshot, is irrelevant.

The state of Consciousness is very much the same as the tree falling in the woods.

To a philosophical/spiritual person, anything can be conscious - - it's kinda neat to think that even a rock, or a molecule could be conscious. If you believe in God, nothing is absurd.

To scientific/critical thinker, however, consciousness requires at least for the subject to be alive and have a brain stem capable of detecting some form of stimuli.

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