Consciousness; a radically new theory. Romansh? (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, June 30, 2015, 17:59 (3216 days ago) @ dhw


> dhw: It is not just you and I who differ. When one expert after expert another claims that bacteria are sentient, cognitive beings, as a layman I am in no position to reject their findings out of hand as you do. I would expect at least a degree of open-mindedness.-When I have an obvious alternative, which I fully understand, that the automaticity makes it look sentient, is just as open-minded and as plain as day. -> dhw: As far as living matter is concerned, most of us would agree that a rook is alive and a rock is not, but there does not seem to be any consensus on the precise borderline between life and non-life.-You are correct. It is a fuzzy line, especially with viruses and parasitism and symbiosis.-> dhw: I suggest that similarly no-one can be sure where the borderline lies between mentation and non-mentation. True mentation begins somewhere after neurons appear. I think that is a requirement.-> 
> DAVID: I think your theory lacks a beginning phase and therefore rings hollow to me.
> 
> dhw: All theories ring hollow (see below). Your own has no beginning either: supreme consciousness has apparently always been there.-That is a beginning.
> 
> dhw: Secondly, the three hypotheses (your God, chance, and the evolution of “mentation”) are ALTERNATIVES, which I neither accept nor reject. That is to say, I cannot decide which (if any) of them is true, and so I withhold judgement on all of them. After so many years, dear David, you still haven't understood what I mean by agnosticism!
> DAVID: I fully understand your brand of agnosticism. It admits to all sorts of possible theories with a shut mind against all.
> 
> dhw: I have come up with just three possible theories, as above, which I neither accept nor reject. That means I am aware of their flaws, but have an open mind towards them.....And yet you admit that your theory is so flawed that it requires a leap of faith for you to believe it.-It is your view that there are flaws. Because I don't see flaws, I take my leap of faith that I am correct.