Panpsychism Makes a Comeback (General)

by dhw, Saturday, January 24, 2015, 18:17 (3351 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: You left out some interesting parts of the article which I finally found:

Article: "Or maybe it is: in the last few years, several scientists and philosophers, Chalmers and Koch among them, have begun to look seriously again at a viewpoint so bizarre that it has been neglected for more than a century, except among followers of eastern spiritual traditions, or in the kookier corners of the new age. This is “panpsychism”, the dizzying notion that everything in the universe might be conscious, or at least potentially conscious, or conscious when put into certain configurations. Koch concedes that this sounds ridiculous: when he mentions panpsychism, he has written, “I often encounter blank stares of incomprehension.” But when it comes to grappling with the Hard Problem, crazy-sounding theories are an occupational hazard. Besides, panpsychism might help unravel an enigma that has attached to the study of consciousness from the start: if humans have it, and apes have it, and dogs and pigs probably have it, and maybe birds, too - well, where does it stop? (my bold)-DAVID: Note the animals mentioned have nervous systems. To be animate I think that is necessary.-Not sure why you say “animate” instead of “conscious”. This is the paragraph I quoted in its entirety, including the section you have highlighted. Please see James Shapiro on nervous systems under “Intelligent bacteria?”. I'll answer your other comments without repeating the passages.-DAVID: Note the requirement for organized information (that pesky stuff I keep indicating is a part of life and evolution). And that necessity has been fully recognized and tested!-I don't recall ever disputing the need for organized information. Our great conundrum is how the organization and interconnection began. You say it had no beginning - somehow it was always there in the form of an eternal mind. I offer the alternative that somehow it evolved through interaction between matter and energy.-DAVID: And remember I think humans and animals have species consciousness! Required receiver for consciousness is a nervous system with ganglia, if not a brain, all of which appeared well after bacteria.-Jeffry Stock (a microbiologist) suggests that bacteria are possessed of what he calls a nanobrain. (Again see the discussion I've quoted under “Intelligent Bacteria?”.) You are of course talking of human and animal consciousness, but perhaps here we have a genuine case for saying that bacterial consciousness is different “in kind” from our own and that of our fellow animals.


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