Panpsychism Makes a Comeback (General)

by dhw, Thursday, January 29, 2015, 20:22 (3346 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: So the worm brain, bird brain, chimp brain also had to be specially preprogrammed or dabbled. But the human brain was extraspecially preprogrammed or dabbled, because although the worm, bird and chimp are special, humans are extraspecial. And the weaverbird's nest was also far too special for the weaverbird to design. Or at least half of it was. We're going backwards again.
DAVID: Remember I don't believe in itty-bitty. These jumps are big enough to require preprogramming or dabbling help.-I don't believe in itty-bitty either, since non-functioning innovations would not survive. Improvements, yes, but innovations, no. See under “Bacterial Intelligence?”” for what I regard as the big flaw in your reasoning re “jumps”.-dhw: Why “an” intellect? Why not the billions of intellects or intelligences contained within the billions of organisms that extend from bacteria to humans? 
DAVID: It is the only thing that fits. You haven't told me where bacteria get their intelligence from.-I have offered the unlikely alternatives at least 100 times: your God, some sort of panpsychist evolution, and atheistic chance. Just as you have told me at least 100 times that although intelligence must come from somewhere, your God didn't have to get his from anywhere, because he's always had it, which means intelligence doesn't have to come from somewhere after all. (You didn't put it quite like that, though!)-Dhw: Your reasoning seems to me to be dislocated....(No need for me to repeat the long list of contradictions.) 
DAVID: Thank you for summarising what we see has happened and describing my position to explain it. I'm quite comfortable with it, since no one knows how it happened anyway.-An atheist might say the same thing, and so long as you are both aware of the blinkered reasoning that buttresses your respective faiths (in a nebulous God or in blind chance), who am I to criticize? I'm an agnostic because “no one knows how it happened anyway”.


Complete thread:

 RSS Feed of thread

powered by my little forum