Far out cosmology (Introduction)

by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Tuesday, January 28, 2014, 21:40 (3950 days ago) @ dhw

DHW: The design we know may come from within the materials themselves, and whatever degree of awareness is necessary for each design may have evolved within individual collections of matter. -Not until those materials themselves exist and have some measure of awareness, which in turn requires something to design them. ->DHW: This is the form of panpsychism that attributes mental aspects to all spatio-temporal things. Instead of one single conscious being, we have untold billions of consciousnesses (though I prefer to use the term intelligence) of varying degrees, gradually evolving into more and more complex entities. It all comes down to the origin and nature of consciousness, and BBella has given us a masterly summary of the problem. Theists hide behind the cop-out argument that their God's consciousness was always there so they don't have to explain it. -Actually, I only say that it is more likely that a single entity became self-aware and eventually grew to the point that it could begin to create. Now, I will freely admit that it is an unknown, and is unknowable. However, I did admit that faith is a requirement for any of these solutions.-Atheists rely on the cop-out argument that it evolved by way of random chance starting things off. The third possibility is the cop-out panpsychist hypothesis outlined above.
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> DHW: My agnostic answer to your question can only be that none of these three hypotheses offer a convincing explanation of the origin of consciousness (and by extension the designs that have stemmed from consciousness). Each is equally possible, but I see no reason to give one precedence over the others.-This is the thrust of my question here. How many lines of evidence would be required to meet the criteria of a 'convincing explanation', given the understanding that any answer will require some measure of faith?

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What is the purpose of living? How about, 'to reduce needless suffering. It seems to me to be a worthy purpose.